EFFICIENCY CAMPAIGN
PROHIBITIONISTS' EFFORT
MEETING IN THE TOWN HALL
SPEECHES BY CANADIAN VISITORS
A public mailing was held in the Town Hall last night to inaugurate in this city tho campaign of the New Zealand Alliance,. which has for its object tho securing of a poll on the question of prohibition with a maximum of four and a half millions compensation—the recommendation of the National Efficiency Board, There were about 2000 people in the hall.
The speakers of the evening were the Kev. It, S. Gray, organiser of the campaign, and the three Canadian visitorsMr. George Bell, member for Victoria in the British Columbia Legislature, Mr. W. D. Bayley, a specialist in history and economics in Winnipeg, ami Mr. James Simpson, vice-president of the Canadian Trades and Labour Congress. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke, M.P.) said that it wa.s his privilege to extend a welcome to the visitors on behalf of tho citizens of Wellington. He did not wish to say anything about the visitors' mis- v sion.'but a welcome from the city to such distinguished visitors from the sister Dominion of Canada was fit and proper. He was sure that tho gentlemen to address the meeting would be fair and just in all that they might say. Ho referred to tho qualifications of tho visitors to speak on their subject—one a parliamentarian, one an educationist, and one a representative of Labour. Especially were they welcome guests of New Zealand because they belonged to a Dominion which had, like New Zealand, done everything possible to assist inwinning the war against Germany. On behalf of Wellington he extended a hearty welcome and good wishes to tho visitors.
The welcome over, the 'Rev. It, S. Gray, national organiser for the campaign, took the chair. Rev. R. S. Gray. Tho Eev. 'It. S. Gray said that he had been requested by tho executive of the New Zealand Alliance to place before tho meeting briefly the reasons that had guided the Alliance in accepting tho proposal of the National Efficiency Board for tho extinction of the liquor traffic. Ho would- say first that he had a high opinion himself of tho members of the Efficiency Board. (Applause.) He was not thoroughly conversant with all their recommendations. Apparently the Government was not either, since it had not carried all the recommendations into effect. Ho believed that when the labours of- the board were viewed in right perspective people would como to the conclusion that the most valuable suggestion the members had made was that the liquor traffic should be extinguished immediately. The members of the board wero not extremists or partisans. They wero successful business men, holding high places in the business community; They had been selected by the Government to report regarding national efficiency, and they had told the people of New Zealand that in the interests of efficiency, present nnd permanent, it would be wise to abolish the liquor trade, even at' a cost of M,iW,M for compensation. They had not considered tho liquor trade from any sentimental aspect. They had made their recommendation because they believed that the trade was a menace to efficiency. The war had made the grounds for tho recommendation abundantly clear. Why was it that in tho early stages of tho war the BtiEsian armies had been mobilised so much quicker than the Germans and tho Austrians had oxpected, with disastrous results to tho enemy's campaign in France? The reason had boon the order of the Tsar that no vodka should be supplied to the soldiers. The Russian Army at the beginning of the war had been a sober Army. Franco bad- decided that in order to secure military efficiency absinthe must bo prohibited. Rumania) Austria, Serbia, and Germany had all banned alcohol when they required the highest efficiency from their people. Every belligerent nation had found it necessary to deal with tho liquor trade in 6ome way.
A voioe: With every trade. Mr. Gray said ihat the liquor tradei was not on the same footing as other trades. There had been exploitation iif* many trades, and ho hated exploitation as ho hated tho devil. He did not believe that any man or any trnde had a right to make any profit at all out of the nation's calamity. But the profits made by other trades wero made while they were at least in some measure helping the countrj - , whereas tho liquor trade made its profit while hindering and injuring the country. (Applause.)
Liquor and War, There had been days in the end of last year and the beginning of this year, continued Mr. Gray, when the leaders of the nation had not known if tho submarine menace could be Thero had been anxious weeks and montns when the ships were being sunk in increasing numbers'and when scarcity of food was producing' famine conditions in tho Mother Couniry. Lord li-hondda had told the people at /hat time that the sul> marines were destroying 7,000,000 rations a week. But he had not told the peoplo that the brewers and distillers wero destroying 7,000,000 rations per day. Tho equivalent of 50,000,000 quartern loaves had been destroyed in the United Kingdom in one year in tho manufacture of alcoholic liquor, and this at a timo when tho nation was pressed for food. _ Tho Italian debaclo had been attributed to German propaganda. But it had been due in part to hunger in Italy, and yet England had told the Italian Food Controller that thero was nothing to spare for Italy at the very time when thousands of tons of 'grain were being wasted by the browers and distillers. Shipping equivalent to forty ships of 0000 tons each had been employed during tho war period bringing foodstuffs across the Atlantic to the United Kingdom for tho use of the liquor manufacturers. If these ships had been used instead to create a reserve of foodstuffs in Britain, there would have been by this time a reserve large enough to provide against all danger of starvation, aud the ships would havo been free now to move American troops to France. Tho fact was that the liquor trade was so powerful iu the United Kingdom that it had a stranglehold upon the strongest man m the Empire, Mr. Lloyd George. Mr. Lloyd Georgo had saved tho Empire. He had said tiiat .the Empire had thrco enemies, (jermany, Austria, and Drink, and that of these the greatest was Drink. But he had not been able to s.unprcss the drink trade. He had merely restricted it. Payment of. Compensation. The New Zealand Alliance was appealling to the people of the Dominion now to destroy the liquor trade before it had grown strong enough to control them. There was the opportunity now to clear away the evil thing at a stroke. Whon fho boys came hack from tho front, Io assist in the great reconstruction that had to follow the, war, let them find the path of progress clear. (Applause.) It was to secure a quick decision that tho Alliance had adopted the Efficiency Board's proposal to pay'a maximum sum of ,£4,500.000 for the immediate extinction of tho liquor traffic. He believed himself that tho amount of compensation to b" niid would be less than that. He would like to have a scat on the J valuation board and to assist in preparing a pinner balance-sheet showing on the one side what the Trade was worth I to tho men who controlled it, and on tho other side what the Trade owed tho country for injury inflicted upon the people.' The amount of compensation proposed to bo paid would appear to some people to bo very large. But when the maximum amount of compensation was slated at .CL500.000 it should 'bo remembered that the Trade was at present costing the country ,£10,000,000 a year, £5,000,000 directly, and tho rest
indirectly. The existing law, moreover, provided that if prohibition were carried at a referendum, it would not come into operation for four years. During those four years the Trade would cost the Dominion ,£40,000,000. The payment of compensation was intended to, 6ecuro immediate extinction of the Trade and so avoid the cost of those four years.
Tho officers of the Alliance, when first approached on the subject, had refused to assent to the payment of compensation. They liad held then, and they still maintained, that the liquor trado had no right, moral or legal, to compensation for the extinction of the licenses under which its business had been conducted. But they had been asked if they cared to tako the responsibility for extending tho life of the Trado, by neglecting an opportunity to secure its prompt extinction at a cost small compared to the benefits to be derived. They had decided after consideration' that they daro not take that responsibility. They would not oppose principles they had long held to the interests _ of the country. They did not charged with inconsistency if theK could servo the interests of the nation. \ Appeal to Prohibitionists. "I appeal- to every Prohibitionist to tako that attitude," said Mr. Gray. "I know that you will. I know that when you are asked to sign the petition to Parliament for a referendum, you will sign • it, and that when you get tho opportunity to vote this trade out you will vote it out. (Applause.) Tho New Zealand Alliance is insisting, and has told tho Acting-Prime Minister that it insists, that this matter must not be settled without the soldiers. The soldiers who are away fighting for us must have tho vote.. (Applause.) Wo are insisting that tho vote shall bo taken on a bare majority. (Applause.) Wo have no official pronouncement from the Efficiency Board, but 1 am given to understand that the baro majority was in the minds of tho membeii's of the board. They took it for granted that the vote would be an honest vote, that the vote would |iot be loaded in favour of those who support the liquor traffic. If the people vote tho Trado out under this scheme, their decision will 4 become immediately operative. A board will be set up to assess the compensation to be paid by tho nation to the Trade, the difference, that is, between tho present value of the trade under_ licenso and tho value without license. " That amount will bo paid to the men engaged in tho trade, and they will bo told to take their money and get out. And if some of you tiiink that tho price to bo pnid is a long one, I ask you to remember that our nation, paid 4!20,000,000 'for the liberation of the slaves, and wo think it. nothing except an additional ray of glory in the nation's crown. The real glory was that they liberated the slaves. The glory pf this day will be I hat when the boys como home and when other boys rise to manhood to take the ; places of those who have fallen, this' day and generation will have said: We will deal with this liquor traffic, once and for all, for tho sake of having a clean nation under theso southern skies. (Applause.) I commend to you, therefore, the proposal that the National Efficiency Board lias made, not merely from moral consideration, but on a strong and iinshakcablo economic basis, as being in tho highest and deepest nnd most permanent interests of the nation to which wo belong." From a Sister Dominion, Mr. Bell, who, followed, said that his first words must be of thanks for/the very cordial welcome that had been ex-' tended to himself and his f'rionds from the sister Dominion. Ho accepted the compliment as a compliment offered to his country. Ho was glad that the people of Now Zealand felt that way towards his country. Although there were, differences of opinion in the hall, and differences of opinion wero quite proper and legitimate—on a, subject like Prohibition—ihoy thought that they wero welcomed partly because they woro on their present mission. They had certainly found it so everywhere that they, had gone throughout tho country. They had not had thoir welcome from any one cliquo or class alone. In every city in which tltey had appeared tho chair at the meeting had been taken by the Mayor, anil in sonio measure at any rato the Mayor was the representative of fho people. Ho would suggest that as they were going to report merely how Prohibition worked in Canada, and not to dictate to the people ltore in any way, they could not be severely criticised for coming hero and delivering their messages as they had been invited to do. Ho would appeal to those of their friends in the audience who wore in opposition to play the game. And surely the reasonableness of the proposal, especially that relating to compensation, would appeal to the friends of the liquor trade. He had not an unkind word to say against the man who was in the Trado. It was a legitimate trado, the, business was licensed, and the men in it had as good a right to engage in it as other people had to be in their businesses. A Country's Best Property. They proposed to tell how and when they obtained Prohibition in Canada, and how it had worked since they had got it. They had got' it because tlio people of Canada wero awake, and they realised that although their country was good, tho beat thing they had in the country was the people—the men and the women, the boys and the girls. Everybody agreed with this, and agreed also that anything that was tho foe • of tho people was' worthy of strong criticism. For many years tho liquor traffic had brought down upon itself the criticism of everybody. Twenty years ago a vote on the question of tho abolition of the traffic was de•nianded by, the people, and that voto" was takcu in 1898. Even away back in that year thflre was a majority for Do-minion-wide prohibition. The Legisla- . ture of that time apparently thought that it was running the people instead of representing them, and the Legislature did not give it to the people. Tho best that tho people could get was a measuro of local option. That had worked Out very well. Thousands of licenses had been ended, less liquor had been consumed, and in the meantime there had been an educational campaign going on all the time. Then the war came upon them and the demand for Prohibition hecame so strong that the Legislature had to sit up and take notice. It should be understood that there were in the Dominion of Canada nine provinces, every One of thorn with a Legislature of its own, and that over all was the Dominion Government. The Dominion Government said to the provinces: "This thing is up to you," and every ono of tho nine provinces had, since tho war commenced, carried Prohibition. It was in effect at tho present time in every province except Quebec, nnd the greater part of that province was dry already under local option. (f\pplnusc.) But as every province legislated only for itself, even provincial Prohibition had not been the success they had hoped it would be, on account of inlorproviuciiil trade. But since November last (he Federal Government had passed five dilfercnl Ordcrs-in-'Conncil .supplementing fho provincial legislation. Theso Ordt'i's-iii-Coiiiieil had prohibited the use of grain for dislilling and malting. Then a further Order had been passed Io say that on and after April 1 of this year it would be illegal anywhero in the Dominion of Canada to manufacture or sell or carry from ono province to another any intoxicating, liquor above 2J spirit proof for beverage purposes. (Applause.) There was this restriction on the operation of the Order, that until May 1 of next year the Order
must not take effect in tho Province of Quebec, but by that time ike wkole oi Canada would bo entirely dry. In the States. Just now; the Washington Government of the United States had decided that if tho people of their country wanted Prohibition they could havo it. . The arrangement made was that each of the 43 States should say through their State Legislatures whether they wished it or not. Already twelve of tho State Legislatures had met, and every one of the twelve Legislatures had said that it wanted national Prohibition. It was certain that the United States was going dry, and that there would bo another clause added to the Constitution' of the United States providing for national Prohibition. That would coma in the course of a few months, and when it did come the whole of the North American continent would be dry. Thej should all be glad that the United Slates had taken hold so strongly of this liquor trade, which drained the efficiency of any country io such lii extent And it was because America had taken hold of the drink traffic in such a way that America was able to do the things she was 'doing to-day. Each and every day America sent across the Atlantic 10,000 men, and also many shiploads of food for the supply of the people of Europe. They were doing all this so efficiently because ihey had banished "booze" from the army. The Financial Test, Why did they ask for Prohibition in that country? To answer the question ho supposed that he must givo attention to tho financial side of the argument. He understood that if he pressed any other button ho stood in danger 'of being called "a wowser." He was not very much afraid of being found in the company of wowsers, oven though ho had heard that the namo meant opposition to all joy. Certainly that description did not fit the people of Canada, at any rate the people in those parts of Canada which were dry. He must say, however, that if all consideration-of' the social and moral and domestic influence of liquor were ieft out of account -the argument for Prohibition lost much of its- punch. He told a story of a sweet little wife, who, after having been married only three months, was cruelly murdered by her husband, "a good fellow," too, who cams •homo one evening tho worse for liquor. Ho told also of an uncle of his own who had met his end by being run over by a train and cut to pieces. That man had been "a good fellow." T.t was most often the good fellows who suffered through indulgence in drink. He mentioned this personal case as a preliminary to the statement that there was nowhere a family that had not been, stricken by drink at some time.' This could not be forgotten, and they should ne<-er forget this phase of the drink ovil. Revenue and Cost. As to the financial 'point of view, he gave a few figures to show that the'Trat'/s cost a country very much more than it yielded in revenue to the State. In British Columbia they had received from licenses a million dollars before Prohibition came, and thev wero spending on tho Trado eleven millions—a ten to one game. In the Dominion of Cnnada they 'got in revenue 19 million dollars and tbey were spending 215 million dollars. No one would, play that kind of a game personally—a ten to one loss. Anybody would quit in such a game, and the Dominion of -Canada had quitted. That was tho story in 'a nutshell. Tho United States had quitted for similar reasons. They wero spending two and a half billion dollars—and they received in return for it 45.000 little dead babies, G5.000 suicides, 100,000 orphans. 100,000 criminals, 100,000 in the insane asylums, and every year 75,000 filled drunkards' graves. They had all been greatly shocked wjieu they hoard of the loss of the great shii)"Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean, when 1500 people perished. Every day in flip year in the United States the liquor traffic -sanlv a "Titanic"! How It Works! How was Prohibition working? Hi answer to this question ho read extracts from a liumber of letters he had received from eminent public men in Prohibition areas, and ulso some facts of common knowledge. Since they had carried Prohibition in British Columbia two of their largest gaols had been closed, and there had been only six gaols in. the province. In Saskatchewan there had been seven gaols, and three of them had been closed sinco Prohibition had been carried. In Manitoba, another prairie province, two gaols had been closed down. The Premier of the province of Saskatchewan had declared' that tho benefit of Prohibition in his 'Stato had been past debate. The people would not return to licenso if they,wero able to do so. As a midway measure in British Columbia there had been Government stores for liquor, but they hail not proved acceptable to the people, and -they wero abolished on January 1, 1915. Thu people asked for a voto on the question of their abolition, and tho result of the vote was that a nine to one majority declared in favour of the banishment of the lust vestige of the liquor trade from the province. The effect of Porhibition had been good in business. Ho had once been directing a business in three different places in his province, and he had lost 2000 dollars in bad debts. He went to the trouble of analysing these debts, and he had found that he had lost 80 per cent, of tho money because of liquor. In Saskatchewan there was a big penitentiary liear liegina, tho capital town, and in that prison the' prisoners had to grow vegetables and so on to' feed themselves. This year, sinco the introduction of Prohibition, there were not enough men in the prison to gather the crops. Men had to bo hired for tho work. Prohibition had depopulated the gaols, the asylums, the charitable institutions, and public men declared that there was a distinct improvement in tho moral constitution of the people.
Ho would say ono word about tho social evil. Wero tho people of New Zealand aware that in North America it had been found that two out of three young men who went astray in this way went wrong first when they wero under the influence of liquor. Coming down on Uio steamer to New Zealand thero was a woman coming from America to Honolulu with some girls, with the intention of "starting a house" there. Tho doc-, tor asked her why she did not start in her own country, and she replied that "a dry town is no good for our business." He had been asked if drink "killed" a town. Experience in his province, and in other provinces of which ho had knowledge was to the contrary. The opponents of Prohibition had a system of tirculating reports to state that Prohibition had been a 'failure in every one of tho places where it had been tried, and that it had ruined the towns everywhere. This wns part of a plan to induce peoplo to vote against it, but tho reports" wero wot true. Kansas and Missouri were two neighbouring States of the union, both prairie States, with only an imaginary line between them. Missouri had the better natural resources—and it had breweries j Kansas had less resources and U had been dry for thirty years. The property per head of Kansas was 1750 dollars, and of Missouri, with the hotter natural resources, 300 dollars, per head. That was what Prohibition had done for Kansas. Also Kansas had the lowest death-rate in the wAalo world.
"Good Results Everywhere." The results of Prohibition in North America, hiul been good everywhere. The change had been good for the employers and good for the workers. It had been good for traders. The loss to the- liquor interests had not been nearly as largo as expected, since very many of the hotels and breweries 'had been used profitably in other directions. The hotel accommodation in Canada, from the travellers' point of view, had not been changed for the worse by Prohibition. Tho accommodation had been improved. The Canadian Commercial Travellers' Association had testified that there was no ground for complaint in the effect of Prohibition on tho boarding accommodation. It was true that there had been an increase in charges, but he thought that change would have taken place anyway. It was dun to the rising cost of living, a movement that was being felt in all parts of tho world. Three breweries in his own district had been closed. Ono of them, formerly employing 100 men in tho production of liquor, was now | a furniture factory employing 500 men. Another, formerly employing 150 men, was now a tannery employing IGOO people. The third was a boot and shoo factory, and employed 2500 people instead of 125. How could there bo commercial stagnation as a result of Prohibition when the
results were as shown by tlteso figures? lie had no hesitation in giving a message to tho people of Now Zealand. Ho had not exaggerated tho beneficial results of Prohibition, and ho spoke from actual knowledge of tho facts in the districts in which he lived. Prohibition had proved n. good tiling in North America, and it would bo a good thing for New Zealand. If tho peopio of this country banished the liquor trade from tlieir midst they* would never.regret it. Ho added that in Canada there had been no proposal to pay compensation to the. Trade for the extinction of licenses. But there wero special conditions to bo considered hero. It would be well'worth while getting rid of the Trade at the price proposed,' and he hoped that tho people of New Zealand would do it. (Applause.)
While a collection was being taken up the Rev. John Dawson stated that helpers were wanted for the campaign that the Alliance was inaugurating. Ho invited Prohibition sympathisers to attend a meeting to be held next Thursday evening.
"Camouflage."
Mr. Bayley produced a leaflet, ornamented with a Union Jack in colours, issued by the Merchants' Protective Association of British Columbia. He said that British Columbia, like New Zealand, had camouflaged organisations that really represented the liquor traffic. There were moderate leagues, leagues for the preservation of personal liberty, and so forth. There had been a great agitation in his province three years ago for Prohibition, and vthe Government had been compelled to pass a Prohibition law and take a vote of the people on the subject. The prohibitionist wanted the soldiers then at the front and in England to have the vote, and provision had been made for the distribution and collection of the ballot-papers among the soldiers. It had been provided also that a representative of each 6ide 6hould be present when the soldiers were voting, and provision had been made for securing the secrecy of the ballot as far as the soldiers were concerned. When the home votes were.counted it found that the "drys" led by about 6000. But when the soldiers' votes camo to bo counted it was found that there were 8500 ballot-papers instead of the ■1500 shown in the • official records, that there were ten "wet" votes for every "dry" vote, and that the Prohibition majority had been wiped out for the time being. In consequence of representations then made, the Government of British Columbia sent a commission of threo prominent business men to England and France to investigate matters connected with the soldiers' votes. The commission had made a prolonged investigation, with the assistance of a staff of auditors., It had found that five men bad taken the votes, or alleged votes, of 5701 soldiers. It found among the names of the 5701 alleged voters tlte names of 50 men who had died before the time of polling. It found that 583 men had apparently voted twice, that 39 had apparently voted three times, that 689 men had apparently cast votes in England while they were actually in the trenches in France, and that over 2000 men had allegedly voted wliobb names wero not in the Canadian records at all. Then 781 men who had not come from British Columbia appeared to have voted. No fewer than '1149 votes were ruled out as being absolutely fraudulent, and tho commission stated that probably the number could have been inareased. This was no reflection on the soldiers who had really been entitled to vote. He was stating the facts because .they threw a lurid light on the-attitude of the liquor trade when its interests were threatened Ho wanted New Zealand peopio to understand what the trade really waß like when it was fighting for its existRum for Soldiers. Mr Simpson referred first to the issue of rum in tho trenches. Ho said some people seemed to have an idea that because rum was issued to Bntislrsoldiers, alcohol must be a good thing. He would point out that the American soldiers were lighting. without liquor, which was banned as tar as they were concerned right from the camp to the firing-line. Medical experts of the highest standing had stated emphatically that liquor was bad for every man who wanted to maintain the best physical and mental condition. He had come to New Zealand as a representative of Labour. .He ■had .recently visited the United Kingdom and while there ho had addressed the Labour mombers of the House of Commons on Prohibition. Ho wished to deny tho assertion that tho British workers were opposed to Prohibition. The statement, had ton made that the workers there would not do without, their beer. But ballots that had been taken among large bodies of them in England, Scotland, and AVales had shownHhat there were majorities everywhere in favour of Prohibition. In six districts of Lngland the majority of organised workers .in favour of Prohibition had been over 53,000, in two districts of. Wales over 7000, and in twelve districts of Scotland over 32,000. When tho people of Scotland had the right to vote on the subject in 1920 he believed that tlioy would banish the liquor traffic altogether. The workers of Canada had voted for Prohibition by very large majorities, because they believed that the change was in the national interest.l The natives of Porto Rica had voted for Prohibition, although they were so largely illiterate that the ballot-paper had 10 be decorated with two emblems—a coconut and a bottle. The natives preferred the milk in tho coconut to the liquor in the bottle. Labour and Liquor. - Labour had not been opposed to prohi-i bition in Canada and the States. Ho mentioned the cases specially of Denver State and the province of British Columbia, where in both places there had- been I opposition to prohibition before it came, but they had come round to the idea that it was good now that they had had experience of it.' And he cited evidence in support of his statement. While tho great labour leaders and officials in Canada had been among the strongest opponents of prohibition before it came, they were now among those who most approved it. The brewery employees introduced a resolution into their labour council proposing to nsk the Provincial Government to increase the strength 'permitted in' beer, but the labour council refused to approve the resolution. Right through Canada to-day one did not find even the brewery workers' and the 'bartenders asking for the restoration of tho distilleries. All that they could ask for was this little increase in the strengthof beer. Even to this request the Governments of tho provinces wero not "yielding. He would have nono .of State ownership of. the .liquor trade. The fundamental idea of Socialism was Stato ownership of the means of living. But the liquor traffic was not a means of living; it was a means of death. , Ho went on to discuss the four standards of value, which he enunciated—real value, exchange value, use value, and sale value. He argued that a- man was not satisfied to pay for an article in common use moro than the equivalent . in his own labour of the labour and material used in the production of the article purchased, and ho /showed that liquor required less labour and material for its production than any other articlo of like selling value. The worker who purchased liquor gave of his own labour more than there was given him in return of the labour of the employees in tho brewery which made the beer.
Liquor and Democracy. He discussed the complication in tho Labour movement inUte relation to Prohibition because of the alliance with tho movements of the bar-tenders and brewery employees. He declared that in his experience brewery workers and bartenders were an undemocratic force within a democratic organisation. Always they fought for themselves and against any change which seemed to threaten their immediate interests. Mr. Simpson emphasised that he regarded tho men connected with the liquor trade, employers and employees, as being outside the ranks of democracy. Thojrwero men fighting for their own hands, without regard to the interests of tho community. They had always oppose) such reforms as woman suffrage and tho referendum, because they knew that every advance of democracy shortened tho life of the liquor trade in the country where the advance took place. Tho workers of the. world wanted truths in these days. They were seeking Hie facts of science, and one of those facts was that alcohol did harm and not good to the man who consumed it. It attacked the portion of the brain controlling the intellectual and, moral faculties even more quickly than it attacked the lierves of locomotion, and its effects always wore
impaired efficiency and weakened control. Mr. Simpson declared that the movement for Prohibition' went on as irresistibly and as inevitably as a glacier. Ho could look back to the (lays -when it was supported only b ya humble minority, but now it was everywhere supported by a big majority. When men stood alone for a principlo they needed backbone, needed iron in their'blood. For the Prohibition movement were required, men who could stand alone against odds, bold men, men above the crowd in public duty and private thinking. (Applause.) No resolution of any kind was submitted at the meeting, a'nd the proceedings closed with the singing of tho National Anthem.
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Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 275, 9 August 1918, Page 6
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5,743EFFICIENCY CAMPAIGN Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 275, 9 August 1918, Page 6
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