NO LICENSE CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 27, 26 October 1918, Page 9

NO LICENSE CAMPAIGN

TOWN HALL GATHERING

ADDRESS BY MR. J. SIMPSON "A CRIME AGAINST GOVERNMENT" (Extended Deport, Published by Arrangement.) -Mr. James Simpson, one of the Canactum delegates, addressed a large meeting m the Town Hall last evening on tno subject/of "A Crime Against Government." Mr. George Bell, another of the Canadian delegates, presided. Thero woro about 1500 people present. The chairman, in the eourse of somo introductory remarks, said that the delegates were' thankful to the Government for courtesies extended to them during their visit to New Zealand. He went on to remark that' as soon as it entered tho war the United States grubbed hold of the liquor traffic. No liquor was supplied on transports, in' camps, or to the troops at the front. But for so dealing with the liquor trade he believed that the United States would not havo handled its war work so effectively. In connection with the referendum petition, New Zealand had done magnificently; tho result should mako" them deeply grateful. He'believed that there would have been 300,000 signature.? to tho petition if there had been no reference to compensation. Anyhow, it would be worth tho ■£4,500,000 to'do away with the liquor trade. Alcohol and Children. Mr. Simpson was enthusiastically received. Ho said that he would show that the liquor trade was the enemy of every -department of government. After the war there would be reconstruction, and unless there was progress toward democracy he did not see what good reconstruction would be. It was a responsibility of the Government to look after tho rights and health and prosperity of the people. As a member of a board of education in Ontario it was found that of the feeble-minded children a majority were off-sprung from drinking parents. Analysis showed that a greater percentage of those who were children of drunkards were defective than those' who were tho children of others. In Austria, .where children drank wine, beer, etc., it had been ascertained by careful investigation that this iiabit had an effect on the children's progress in education. Of the children of such habits 42 per cent, obtained the necessary marks to receive their scholarships; of those who were "habitual occasional" drinkers 32 per cent.; with those •who drank once a day it dropped to 20 per cent.; and with those who drank twice a day it dropped to 25 per cent. There was the effect of alcohol on tho scholastic attainments of the children of Vienna. In the. course of an investigation in Toronto he found 117 .mentally backward children, and it was clear that the liquor traffic had to do with their condition. The interest taken by the Education Department led up to tho teaching in the schools of scientific temperance. .Scientific temperance had a great influence on things in North America today. It was taught in the rchoolg that aJcanol was a narcotic, a water-absorber, an irritant, and that it must be compared with three of the deadliest poisons known i i y ; J! ley hu ' ifht tlle Children, what alcohol did to the great brain activities and.its effects on tho brain. In New Zealand tho Education Department had : sent round its charts to explain the fc Um a k colll)1 (lid to thc human body. It.the Government'took pains to wain children against alcohol, could any pertlL'n* t - h ? t th-osamo Government should go into the liquor business. (Applause.) 1 Then the Government of New Zealand had a -Health Department, and provenSlrln a W& tha , n c , ure - In A ' m «ioa children in the schools and women in tho. homes were urged to swat the fly because the ily was. the bearer of disease. In the Panama Canal zone disease used to be rampant, and it was discovered hat the mosquito was the bearer of the trouble, aiid « campa »n o exterminate tho luosriuito was S" taken, ihe. mosquito had been wiped out and the disease had disappeared SJ"," 1 ""stance of prevention fe-i teril T cure - tt ra> «o longer ■the privilege of a person to keep a dirty backyard. He -had to keep ,t clean for the good ot the community. (Applause) In America health officers" in their bulletins advised people not to drink intoxicating liquor because it lowered the resistance power of the body. How could any Government be advised to go in for a business which modern authorities stated was detrimental to the people? Dcfenco Precautions, In the year 1916 over.2ooo prohibitions of persons were made in New Zealand there wore over 700 cases of assault part Jy due to In. condition of the p,r SOU charged, and there were 230 cases for violationsrot (lie liquor laws by the publicans. iW Zealand was no exception. In America if was tho same. Much of the.divorce-,l n America was directly traceable to drink, and 40 per cent, of the cases ot .domestic' infelicity in America were due to drink. AVas it in tho interests of •government, in the interest of New Zenland, that the State should be asked to undertake the trade which had such an important bearing on the criminality of this country? 'then, as to defence. What had been done iu New Zealand? We all knew. In America, too, precautions had been taken Besides making a dry nrea five miles round the military camps,- the. people of the United States were prohibited from giving or selling a drop of liquor to a man m a United States uniform. (Applause.-) A man who did give a soldier liquor was sentenced to six months' imprisonment, and the Bench said that any man who did a thing of this kind was a traitor to his country. In New Zealand the hotels within a certain radius of the port at which troops landed had to bo closed at about tho time of the landing. In England tho restrictions which had been enforced, proved that tho liquor traffic had been doing evil among the people. It was a ,pity the people of New Zealand did not know the harm that liquor was doing in retarding tho recovery of New Zealand soldiers. Misery Caused by Drunkenness,

When cro3sinir tho Atlantic recently ho was much struck with tho precautions that 'had been taken to prevent) even a ray of light from showing through to tho outer ocean. Only a few days before a ray of light had escaped from a transport, and enabled the captain of a submarine to direct his aim well and sink thc.ves.sel. Yet with all the precautions on the vessel ho was travelling by there was 1 a bar on board, and he observed a man' in a drunken condition falling through the door of tho bar and showing onough light, for any submarine which chanced to lie about. It was a. ahamo that .liquor should he on vessels in war time. (Hear, hear.) He knew of a case in America where a woman who was drawing military pay used lo neglect her home and spend tho money in liquor, till one day the clothes of one of the children caught lire, and all three children wero burned to death. Ho mentioned a case in which an English soldier, homo from eighteen months' active service, bad found bis homo wrecked by drink, and said he was roing back to Prance and did not care what happened to him. Was it any wonder that people in England cried out for the abolition' of a traffic which brought such misery? And should a Government be asked to go in for tho sale of a commodity which the Department of Defence takes such pains to prevent its men from getting? Investigation on- tho North American Continent showed that not only' the employers required to know something of a man's drinking habits, hut that tho railroad brotherhoods hold that a man who lost time, etc., by drinking was not entitled to the same 'benefits «s the other members of tho organisation. Tlie big railroad concerns in America reckoned it better to employ a sober man than a drinker, but I hey did not come to that conclusion for any other reason than that they ■.•calised it was cheaper to pay a sober man than to foot .the bill for the accidents a drunkard might cause. The Financial Side. A great deal had been said as to the financing of a nation's affairs if Prohibition were carried. This side of, tho question had been investigated in North i America, and over a, period of twenty-

five years it had been shown that civic' debts were S per cent, less in No-License districts than in licensed districts; that the cost of the police administration was 22 per. cent, less; their appropriations for education were 41 per cent, more; they were giving 48 per; cent, less to charity; and .rere contributing 25 per cent, more to good, roads. Tho whole financial statistics.in those places proved beyond doubt that the state of dwellings was better in the No-License areas than in the licensed areas. He need not go awav from his own city of Toronto to find'the financial effect of Prohibition. There had never lieen such financial records in that city as since the carrying of Prohibition. 2\ T o Finance Minister would dare go on any public platform to-day and declare that tho liquor traffic was a source of revenue to tho country. If he could reduco to figures New Zeat land's losses through the liquor traffic the result would be very striking. In New Zealand, to remove the drink traffic, a three-fifths majority was needed, and there was then four and a half years to elapse before' the traffic could really be removed if defeated at the polls. On the same ratio of loss as operated in America wo would lose 850 lives per year through drink, and in the four and a half years the lost lives would be 3300. As each life was worth to New Zealand the loss in productive valno would be .£20,500,000. There was ono drunkard fp every 100 people in New Zealand,- aiid every drunkard lost at least a week's work' in a year, and that loss had' to be added to the .£26,500,000 mentioned. In Canada crime had been so reduced through the change in the licensing system that gaols were being closed. Trade Petition Deemed Undemocratic. The New Zealand Allianco had been charged regarding its" acceptance of the Efficiency Board's recommendations, but if they had not accepted it tho, whole of the consequences of the continuance of, the traffic would have been charged to the New Zealand Alliance, because they were not big enough to accept it. (Applause.) He considered that tho Labour Party's petition was more .democratic than that of the Allianoe. The petition of the Trado was not democratic. Its three issues were iniquitous. It. saw that to get prohibition there must bo a clear majority over ill other issues, or that to get State control there must be a clear majority for that issue. "For instance, my friend Bell is in tho chair, and I want it, .and my friend..Gray wants it too. There are 100 people, and the vote is cast. Gray gets 50 votes, I get 49, and Bell gets one, and stays on in the chair. (Applause and laughter.) Tho Prime Minister of New Zealand claimed that he represented a democratic Government. They would see if that was so when they saw the attitude of tho Government on the question. Mr. Simpson said that he was a Labour man, and that ho would not be true to his trust if he did not do his best to get rid of tho trade which, had done so much harm to mankind. In his Labour career he had seen hundreds of men go down through drink. As he loved his fellow-man ho felt it his duty to always oppose the sale and the. licensing of intoxicating beverages. The great movement for Prohibition was irresistible; it was.like nn avalanche. The enemies of the moyonient might cry out against it, but truth would prevail. God give them true men, tall men, sun-crowned, who •lived above tho fog. (Loud applause.) The meeting concluded with the singing of the National Anthem. In the Town Hall at 8 o'clock to-mor-row, night a big after-church "rally" will be held under tho auspices of the New Zealand Alliance. The AMcar of St. Thomas's Church (the Rev. W. Fancourt, M.A.) will preside, and the speakers will bo the Rev. R. E. Davies. M.A. (Dnncdin), tho Rev. J. J. North (Christchurch), and the Rev. AV. A. Sinclair (New "Plymouth). A united choir will be led, by Mr. :H. Temple White. •