MR LLOYD GEORGE AND THE LIQUOR QUESTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3107, 11 June 1917, Page 6

MR LLOYD GEORGE AND THE LIQUOR QUESTION

Sir,—l am gratified to note that the Rev Archibald E. Hunt admits that the Rt 'Hon. Lloyd George has modified his • opinions on the liquor question. My point was this,' that the rev. gentleman had misquoted the Chancellor of tho Exchequer when he said, in his rectifyin- letter to you, that Mr. Lloyd George had declared to be "a greater enemy of onv country than .the armies ot Germany and Austria." The. misquotation lay in this, that Mr. Uoyd George said nothing at all about the armies ot Germany and Austria, but his reference was to the submarines of Germany only; and he did not mako that assertion as Prime Minister of Great Britain, as the rev. gentleman has stated. But the reference to tho submarines of. Germany and liquor was made two years and a half ago nearly, when Mr. Lloyd George was Chancellor of the Exchequer. I trust that point is clear now to the least intelligent of your readers. The Rev. Archibald E. Hunt is at a loss to know how lie would speak of true patriotism without introducing politics and controversial matters on a Sunday afternoon. If the 'rev. gentleman had discussed tho ethics of patriotism, and left the eternal drink question alone, ho would have avoided politics and controversial matters. There is nothing controversial about true patriotism; and just as there can be nothing controversial from a religious point of view when the Ten Commandments are discussed, let the rev. gentleman stick to true patriotism and tho Ten Commandments, and he won't go astray in the future. Now lot us consider for a moment the Rt, Hon, Lloyd George, The Rt, Son.

Lloyd George was to all intents and pur-« poses a prohibitionist. Ho was ready ttl accept tue statements of prohibitionists, being one (in sympathy, at all oventa),. without Question. But the prohibitionists deceived him. They told him things that' were not true. They told him that the intemperance of the working clas=c3 of Great Britain was delaying the output of munitions. It was on the ipso dixit of these prohibitionists that Mr. Lloyd George instituted tho comparisonbetween liquor and German submarines. And ir was not long after that Mr. ■ Lloyd Georgo discovered that ho had been woefully misled. And he wrote to tho "Daily News" of London, and retracted the statement which he had made on the.assurance of his prohibition, friends, that the working classes, by drinkin" were hindering the output of munition's. That about March, 1915 The Rev. Archibald Hunt says that tho Loudou "Times" wrote a leadin" article, if he remembers rignUy, aloV the Mime lines. Tho rev. genticman may be right in thinking so; out 1. have a- copy-of the London limes of: Am-il 10 1915, which concludes witli: these words: "Not whisky, not the worki ing man, but lack of torosight and organisation is tho true, the ultimate, and tho most serious of all causes oi: the present insufficiency of munitions at. war" That immediately became the conviction pf all England Lloyd George himself was converted. The then Primo Minister of England declared that there was no foundation for the allegation oi: the prohibitionists that the working: classes were wasting their tmio and. money n> alcoholic liquors. In all the. lar-e armament linns, lie said, the averago was from 67 to 69 hours per week per man. That was on April 20, 1915, at Newcastle, that the then Prune Minister made that statement. Yet it w marvellous that the prohibitionists ot this country arc still bslievmg, and stall endeavouring to persuade our people ta believe, what the Kt. Soa. Lloyd George discarded as unworthy of cadence more r«an two years ago. Is it tKM tliafc the Rev. Archibald E. Hunt should introduce such a controversial matte? oa an Umpire celebration day? The ftev. Archibald K. Hunt tells us that the Eight Hon. Lloyd George has never swerved from the opinion. Mr. Hunt attributed to him, and he claims ■to have as full a knowledge of Mr. Lloyd George as I have. Let us see.-Mr. Lloyd George was once a total abstainer, a Prohibitionist, and didn't smoke. Ilr. Lloyd George is not now. total abstainer. He is in favour of 'State purchase on just terms." His one seli-in-dulgence is a good cigar. How do I know this? Mr. T. 1 , . O'Connor, in.the "Strand Magazine" for March, 1917, ira an article on "Tho P>cal Lloyd George.-' tells mo that Mr. Lloyd George drinks a glass of wine occasionally and smokesa cigar. A cablegram in The Dominion. dated London, May 13, 1917, contained ~ this sentence: "Mr. Lloyd George said that it was his -personal opinion that . State purchase "was the best way to progress and temperance." Prohibition is. a dishonest proposition. It is opposed: to Christianity. It can have no acceptance by statesmen, • generals, or leaders of men. If Prohibition were advocated . as an honest policy among politicians, Prohibitionists would adopt the "Spectator's" and Mr. Xloyd George's view, and declare that State purchase on just terms was the instrument for obtaining what 'they desired, and what Mr. Lloyd definitely declared as "the best w.ay to/ prosress and temperance." But the Eev. Mr. Hunt endeavours toobscure the moaning of Mr. Lloyd George's statements, and he wishes to put a reading upon the cablegram published by you that it will not bear in the eyes of intelligent men. "If tho best is not obtainable," the best being State purchase—for Mr. Lloyd George said that was the best way to progress and temperance—"and the second best is" (which is management under the Central Con'trol Board for the promotion of sobriety).' then, he would say, let us have the'second best. And the Her. Archibald E. Hunt cannot expect the intelligent: readers of The Dosmnoir to believe that when the lit. Hon. Lloyd George says , that his personal opinion is that State purchase is the best way to process and temperance, that his personal opin* . ion is for prohibition.—l am ,etc, JOHN PLOWMAN, JUKE. "'E&™f DAY~ AND THE DRINK TRAFFIC. Sir,—The Ite'v. Archibald Hunt Jasit .Sunday gave the cosmopolitan audience iu. the Town Hall something to think about., i'or 'this he deserves the public thanks. "■Plowman, Jun." and"T.L.," per medium of your columns, apparently do not think so. According to custom, they reached iof the ink bottle and promptly branded him a one-eyed ignoramus, a flagrant hyperbolish, and, have us all! a niisrepresenter oblique and direct. All, of course, in the public interest—reminding one of tho3e legal pettifoggers, who, when, fact and argument are irrefutable, put. in the boot, and infer the witness lies or asserte him a scoundrel. The cleric, I have no doubt, hardly requires reminding that every beneficent move in the interest of humanity at large, or even of a small community like this, is one long struggle against misunderstanding, inertia, and stupidity, and tho good old cross, wide-spread, awaits the man who attempts and has not the power to enforce. / The liquor trade is rich, and is surrounded by roughs, toughs, and hirelings, who will make the people tremble by tongue or pen, and prove i' faith that any interference with this special life of service is treason to the State, ais infringement of our liberty, and heaven knows what dire cnlamity will follow should the etables bo hosed. Governments in the past, who onlyrecognised private enterprise, handed ,& monopoly to the Trade on which it has grown smart, fat, and powerful. They have to-day a monopoly or benevolence, of the same nature as the concessions sold by our Kings a few hundred years back, the abuse of which helped somewhat towards that drre catastrophe when the people beheaded Charte I. In peace times our system of vending wines, beer, and spirits resulte in a big handicap to our efficiency—ask anyone connected with business that requires a dozen hands — while fighting for our national existence it is no subject for argument, its conduct surely comes within tho scope of tho War £«gulations. The Rev. Mr. Hunt was quite right in charging a supine administration with negligence in this crisis. Adam Smith once said, "Iher-o are three parties to every transaction, >the buyer, the seller, and the public, and s>o long as the buyer and seller do not injure each other, and the public does not suffer, they are free to do- as they wish." If pawky Adam was right, then there, should be an end of the liquor trade as a private enterprise. This does not iequire proof; after long experience results demonstrate the truth of it. Wo want full efficiency to-day, and where is tho leader who will commandeer the hotele and merchants' stocks-pay for them, of course—and put State officials in where private ownership is a menace. Anybody can get a license and impair the public health and efficiency, but a doctormust spend 'years and money before ho can get a permit to cure a derelict. The man who is big enough to buy back the grog monopoly will Hvo in history as New Zealand's .greatest statesman to date. ' 'The liouisiana Purchase will bo a poor second in comparison. Jefferson bought acres, this .will be * purchase of souls. (Here you get away, from that mule's _ heels. What do you know about electricity?) Quite right George, it won't be a cureall. But take it from mo the efficiency limit will go up twenty per cent., and wo want that now, and it must obtain after the war if wo want to hold our place in the sun.—l am, etc., TOLERANCE.