NOT A SUCCESS.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 August 1922, Page 4

NOT A SUCCESS.

PROHIBITION IN AMERICA

1 REV WYNDHAM HEATHCOTE’S

VIEWS-

The experiment of Prohibition in America was adversely criticised by the Rev. Wyndham Heathcote, 8.A., Oxon , in an’ address at the Unitarian Church recently. After dealing at , length with the success of the Temperance movement in promoting gientei sobriety amt the prospect of continued improvement along those lines lie turned to the method pursued- in America of compulsion. , | “If. Wing been to America and seen the results of Prohibition,’" said Mr Heathcote, “and having conversed with mailv Americans in all classes of society and discovered from them what are the facts 1 anv now' 00 longer in doubt as to which side' I ought to fight oil. For the result nfe on the whole disastrous in driving the people to greater evils thau those it was hoped to save them from; and, therefore, I have now no hesitation in fighting against Prohibition. Possibly, if I had hot gone to America and ascertained at first hand ’ the facts, I might have supported Prohibition, or more likely remained neutral ; for as far as my own personal preferences go the matter does not greatly concern me, except, the loss of freedom to choose.

j “Th Prohibition advocates say ; “Let us give it a try.’ This new watchword itself denotes that there is no certaintv in tlicir own minds tliftt prohibition is a <jood plan' or superior to moral persuasion Hut in the case of New Zealand there is no need to give it a trial, for this has already lieefi' done in America, and for long enough now to afford the necessary evidence. M ould they advocate giving Bolshevism a try-out in New Zealand? Is it not better tr watch Russia, for say, another tee years. In fact, Hie crux of the matter lies just, here—-what is the result of thi' experiment i" America? Is Prohibition a success in America? I would reply to that by saying Prohibition is not a success, it is an industry—a new and secret industry, must worse than the one it has supplanted ; and a new aiul widespread form of corruption. ’

That a certain amount of good had been done, Air Heathcote admitted. For instance, American cities were no longer disfigured bv saloons, ami, whatever else happened in America, the saloons would never come back in their old form. All decent citizens were agreed on that. All that they were asking for was that it should not- Im l illegal to drink wine and beer. Spirits, in view of the weakness of men, might bo kept under Government control and regulation. That Prohibition would shortly be repealed in America there could be little doubt that is. Prohibition in its extreme form. Mr Heathcote dealt with the increase of drinking among young women and girls, and the disastrous effects of home-made liquors and “moonshine.” Tt was a complete illusion to think that drink had been abolished; it had simply been coverted into worse stuff, and its traffic driven beneath the surface, secretly corrupting the springs of national fife. Prohibition bad created a sickening hypocrisy, and was the cause of widespread disrespect for the law.

Pr'eddent Harding had said that it was had in principle to have a law which the most lawabiding citizens broke. The most ardent supporters of Prohibition in America today were the “boot-leggers.” who would spare no money or pains to keep America from brooming wet—legally. The real alternatives were the present conditions with their undoubted evils, and the country under “moonshine,” drug, and very much worse conditions. “The pulslienns may have chastised us with whips.” said the preacher: “the bootloggers will chastise with scorpions. There is a third alternative—moral persuasion; by legislative assistance and by education to convert the whips into feathers.”

“Bad as our present system is, great as the evils of drunkenness are, yet we sent from under them to the war the finest soldiery the Empire receiveu. At Home, on the Continent, in America and even in Germany, the soldiers of New Zealand bear a reputation for high character, manhood, as well as fighting ability second to none in the world; hut if we subject our manhood to ‘moonshone’ and drugs we shall in n few generations undermine the virility of our race. Prohibition is wrong in principle; wrong in psychology, wrong in philosophy, wrong in religion. Our only hope is to rely oil moral persuasian ; on education, and on legislative assistance. By these methods and by these methods only can we re. move the evils of drink and make a people who are at one and the same time both sober and free.”