LIQUOR QUESTION IN FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 277, 19 August 1919, Page 7

LIQUOR QUESTION IN FRANCE

A PROHIBITION MOVEMENT

AMERICA'S EXAMPLE

It is. of course, inevitable that thoughtful people in France and perhaps many others who may not bo so much thoughtful as materially interested, should bo knonlv attracted to tho struggle that has boon proceeding in tho United States on tho question of "wet" or "dry" fetatcs tho Paris correspondent of the! "Christian Scienc Monitor"). Tho Ameri- j can model, in general, lias a great at- j traction for Franco in theso days. It: is. no doubt, regarded as much less practicable for general application in Latin countries than it was in the early davs of enthusiasm, with the American entry into the war and the Americans taking possession of French ports, and various inland constructions, and. quickly putting them to rights in tho American way and from the war point of view. France has seen dany things American in recent times which she thinks she will not. and many ethers she would liko to copy. Above ali, with 60 much leeway to make tip, site recognises that the most imperative demand upon her is a i greater efficiency on the part of her I people, her, workers. At the Same time ; she has appreciated the groat efficiency ; of the Americans in lier midst, some-! thing better than she had seen before, and she has'oare;t:lly noted tho limitations placed t-poii Americans in the matter of what are {iiphemistically termed refreshments. Fiance would need to bo far more stupid than she is if she did not recognise how great an obstacle alcohol is to efficiency.

Chcrtced attitude to Drink. The fact is recognised, and at this moment various very responsible persons .are referring tu alcohol in every forni as "the curse of the country" in a way that tlic.y would not have done fivo years ago—might not have dared to do—and such bodies as tho National Leaguo Against Alcohol aro working strenuously for their object. But when the question is plainly put to one interested in this French movement and in close sympathy with it ns to how far Fiance might possibly bo able to follow the American example towards absolute dryness, the answer, evc/i from an optimist, is that it caimot be done in this generation. And special roasons aro given for this, the lirst being that France is older than the United States, has her habits fastened moro firmly, liko veritablo traditions, is less inclined to new enthusiasms, whatever their quality; that again a large part of her coualry., and its people are devoted to wine-grow-ing and have been so lor many centuries that again there are .the vested interests which will be most difficult to shake; that in tho way of human weakness and (•jror.tlic American example and all its efficiency makes less appeal to Franco now. than it did two years ago. . That, again, in the same lamentable, but poor human way, it is to be feared that ideals have slumped somewhat ill victory and that, with the idea of enjoyment for tho moment, there is a strong tendency to revert to old, bad ways.

In this matter, as iu so many others, the Government adopting policies' of mero expediency ill the war, forced on by what appeared recessities, has placed itself in a difficult position for loform and is now assailed with demands for tho lessening of restrictions. However, Ihese are but fleeting aspects of a question that is vitally great to a Franco that-would leap to a'higher greatness, and they represent the views of somo of tlio careful students of tlio problem . and workers in it associated-with such movements and organisations ns havo -been named. Private'lnterests Manifest. In the. Chambor the question comes up fitfully, and rarely, for any protracted and practical discussion. The Socialists finv thai' Parliament always takes up tho alcohol question wlieu it has nothing else on nand, and never at any oilier time. The private interests aro very manifest in the Chamber. Moreover, it appears that" whonever this question is taken up in tihe Chamber in any form, a singular capacity or tendency toward bungling is manifest. A striking example of this tendency lias just been furnished. The Bill for the temporary roginio of alcohol, as it has been called, the simplo objeet of which is to get rid in tho best and safest way of tho large stocks of industrial alcohol that the State accumulated in the war, has again been before the Chamber, and has for the time being made r. somewhat ignominious departure therefrom. *

Tlio Bill was never a masterpiece of proposed legislation, lint a badly conceived, badly drafted, tiling of which it would bo flattering to say even tlhat it was better than nothing. It has been condemned by wiso and discriminating authorities, newspaper and otherwise, but it is persisted in. While pretending that its object was to direct all its supplies toward industrial purposes, pure and simple, of such alcohol as is called industrial, it threatens to turn quantities of it in the drinking direction, so that tihus the State would bo directly favouring intemperance. However, discussion upon the first article of the new Bill had hardly begun' in _ the Chamber than a deputy rose to point out that a governmental decree which had beon recently issued authorised the aianufacturo of alcohol from figs, dates, carob beans, and dried fruits of any origin. This point, which seemed to have been largely overlooked beforehand, caused some astonishment, for it was made to appear to those who are in favour of the severe limitation of tho conmmiption of alcohol that it is not enough for the Stato to put into circulation somo 20,000,000 -litres of alcohol from the. stocks iu hand, but that here it was favouring tho manufacture of alcohol by other means and, as it was declared, thus becoming "a propagator of intemperance." ' At the same time that it forbade tho importation of natural alcohols from tho colonies it left the way open for the manufacture of alcohol from dried fruit, wherever the latter might come from, oven from abroad. Tho question at once aroso as to whether figs and other fruits in France were contemplated by this order, and if so, why, instead of making alcohol from them, Should they not be used for food; and it was asked if Franco at. this moment was so very rich in food products that she could afford to transform some of thom into alcohol.

Government's Bad Bargain. When tho matter was put in this way lo the Chamber it was ovidently much stirred, insisted upon investigation, and in the. middle of a sitting was suspended, while the Minister of Agriculture, who had signed the decree, was asked for an oxpla.nation. The latter was produced in duo course, and itself oreated somo further surprise. Tlio Minister said that thero wero 6tocks of figs and earob beans, which were regarded as being a fair substitute for oats in tho feeding of animals, and which woro decaying on the wharves of French ports and. In the storehouses, that these products could not be used without danger to either human or animal consumption, and that in order to avoid a_ total loss on the goods it had beon considered in effect that tho best thing to do would bo to convert a bad bargain into a. bad use and throw this new alcohol into the country! That was plainly tho effect of the decree which authorised tho distillation of these condemiiod product)?. Tho "Temps" is the strongest advocate of tho limitation of alcohol in, Franco, but nevertheless it views with' a little apprehension the American decision, saying that America is going to bo a total ab.-tainor, and Miihoinct. himself was scarcely more rigorous. It says that tlio movement, of course, is not directed against France, but that, i.everthelciss. Franco must bo the greatest sufferer, since one of tlio liohl products of French soil. must, be banished from the cities of the liiiileil Slates if Iho decision is to Ix* carri'-il th.-ough.

Lord French, speaking at Iho Soldiors' Central Club, Dublin, said: "It. Illls mo with sorrow and regret to 'bo obliged to emphasise tlio fact that in irolaiKl, and especially in Dublin, tho unreasoning animosity of a small portion of l:ho community towards any returned soldier lays oji additional burden upon all the loyal population in counteracting this sinister and unworthy influence. I insist that this is a matter into which politics Should