DOES PROHIBITION PROHIBIT?

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1726, 3 December 1887, Page 2

DOES PROHIBITION PROHIBIT?

The following extracts from a letter signed by " Colonist," appearing m the Cimstohurch " Press " of a recent date, will be read with interest by those who are desirous of knowing, how prohibition succeeds m other quarters of the world : — Here m New. Zealand, far away from the operations of prohibitory liquor legislation, one hears such diametrioally opposed state* ments concerning the effects of prohibition m the United States of America that it becomes a difficult matter to know what is the real truth on the subjeot. Many years ago some* one rather flippantly asserted that the Maine liquor law was a failure. The statement was eagerly adopted by those who hoped it was true, and m course of time, through iteration and reiteration, the assertion was generally credited as being reliable. More recently the same tactics have been pursued by interested persons m regard to prohibition m Kansas and the other States that have adopted prohibitory legislation. But whilst untruthful statements have been circulating, the success of prohibition has been growing into an accomplished fact, as the following statistios will dearly show ; — "In 1880 the population of Kansas was 996,096 ; now it is fully 1,650,600. 11 In 1880 Kansas had only 3104 miles of railway; now about 7000 miles— more than double. "In 1880 the assessed valuation of property, real and personal, aggregated only 160,891,689 dollars ; now the returns indicate a total of 300,000,000 dollars— nearly double. " In 1880 Kansas had 5153 schoolhouses, 25] -1 churches, and 347 newspapers; now 8500 schoolhouses, 3500 ohurohes, and 700 newspapers. " In 1880 only So towns had populations "m excess of 1000 ; now over 200 towns have eaoh over 1000 inhabitants, 25 towns eaoh over 5000 inhabitants, and 4 havo each over 20,000. "In 1880 only 8,868,000 were planted m crops ; this year the area planted is 16,000,000 — nearly double, "In 1880 the value of the farm produota was about 84,521,000 dollars ; m 1886 over 900,000,000 dollars. "During the past two and one-half years 17 new counties have been organised ; 4 more are about to be organised, with only 2 un< organised oounties remaining." Governor (Martin, who formerly Bided with those who considered the " Prohibitory Amendment " a mistake, is responsible for the aoouracy of the foregoing information, closes his communication with the following strong and terse statement of tbe case : — "The cities and towns of Kansas, with hardly an exception, have kept pace m growth and prosperity with this marvellous develop, meat of the State. Many of them have doubled their population during the past year, and it is a remarkable faat that several cities and towns languished or stood still until they abolished their saloons, and from that date to the present time their growth and prosperity has equalled, and m some instances surpassed, that of other places with equal natural advantages. " Tho Bumming up of the faota of a oensus confute and confound those who assert that tbe material prosperity of any community is promoted by the presence of saloons. So far as Kansas and all her cities | and towns are concerned, the reverse of this assertion is true. The moat wonderful era of prosperity, of material, moral and intellectual 1 development, of growth m the country j cities and towns every witnessed on tlje American continent has been illustrated m Kansas during the past two years, the period of its most energetio and complete onforoement." _ Canon Wilberforce, who has reosntly been visiting America, writes that " tho temperance question is rapidly being recognised as transcending all others m importance. Intelligent Americans are awakening to the fact that unless they conquer the liquor traffio the liquor traflio will conquer them, and they are lighting it resolutely and, courageously over he whole gon,tjn,eßt,"