SOCIAL QUFSTIONS IN UNITED STATES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 62, 6 December 1919, Page 9

SOCIAL QUFSTIONS IN UNITED STATES

PROHIBITION AND MOiiIiONIS.M

Mr. William C. Allen, a member of the Society ot t'i'.endi, in the United State:,, is at present in Wellington. In conversation with a Douikio.v representative, Air. Allen stated that tue conditions in Mexico wore not as had as tacy were made out to be. The Federal Council cf Churches, the Labour leaders, and the Konian Catholic Church in America wero all opposed to intervention on the part of the United States., Those who desired intervention were the people interested ill ihe great speculative concerns of tho country.

With regard to tne relations of England and America, Mr. Allen said that it was well knov.n tnat a certain class desired . friction. .The Federal Council of Churches had sent over the secretary of its International Justice and Goodwill Committee, and an interchange of clerical residents between the two countries had boen arranged. These included soiiio of the best-known preachers ui both countries.

Speaking of the aiiii-suloon work, Air. Allen said that the gaols were not always empty after, prohibition was brought In, hut there was a general decrease in gambling, cruelty lo children, and vagrancy. The department stores all reported a large increase in subscriptions, and collections everywhere were much better. This meant that the money before wasted in beer and liquor wits put to a better use. The most remunerative hotels were (he dry ones, and in Atlantic City, the city of"hotels, houses kept by Quakers, ai though opposed by the big "wet" hotels, had proved more remunerative, and had become like a mint to their owners. It was not gener. ally known, remarked Air. Allen, that only three out of the. forty-eight States had refused to pass tite constitutional amendment. The. three which had not done so \fere three of the smallest, namely, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

Talking about. Mormonism, Mr. .'lllen stated (hat tha .Mormons numbered 485,000 in America. Mormonism w-as not only a .sect, but a great political movement, and the political ramifications of tho Mormons extended beyond Utah to the adjoining Slates. That was one reason why I'rolestniits felt anxious about th-.-in'. They had a. great reputation for integrity in business', and their lives were clean compared with many others. The question of polygamy had been largely eradicated but there was no <l<wb{ that it was ,liil being practised in ionic remote places.