The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18th, 1922 THE PROHIBITION ISSUE.

Hokitika Guardian, 18 October 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18th, 1922 THE PROHIBITION ISSUE.

The recent visit of Mr IV- E. Johnson. the American Oiganiser of great repute, seemed to draw rather pointed attention to the prohibition issue. Mr Johnson in his quiet demeanor hardly seemed to live up to his great reputation as a "go-getter.” And h.s matter was- somewhat akin to his manner—rather disappointing. Evidently we expected too much, which accounts tor our disappointment, although in that respect wo were not singular. I've certainly expected a more virile speech together wit'-i something more meaty Sind refreshing than that sullied. After the Herd. .11 r Hammond’S discoutse of a few weeks ago, it was like a tale twice told, linking novelty and altogether falling short of the effort expected from such a notable platform campaigner. However, we must accept Mr Johnson just as lie was, and at that measure there did not appear to he a great deal of benefit in bringing so "big” a man so great a distance for so very little result. To begin with bis address covered the bare hour, arid so we had a lack <f quantity as well as of quality. His version of American conditions under license and no license was far from satisfying. No doubt there wore evils under li ensp—there is always in anything when abuse takes place. But those evils were not so terrible that reforms may not have helped to achieve a change without resulting in a line of conduct which appears to lie on the high road to leave America in its last state worse than its I'omicr condition. Mr Johnson was honest enough to admit abuses of prohibition, but that fact has long been impressed by icasoii of the official records and from the statements liy those in high places in America. Tee United Stalls had total prohibition now for something like three years, and the situation in regard to evasion and the creation of fresh evils under the illicit traffic glows worse. Much evidence quite beyond rejection is coming to hand that the law is being grossly evaded, mid that the traffic which is now underground is responsible for

evils which arc becoming mi occasion for national concern. All the cables received on the subject cannot In regarded sis specially colored for a purpose. The steps taken to prevent the introduction of liquor into America are nowon a stupendous scale and thev are

qi:itc ineffective. A high authority recently icsigiied because lie wrs failing absolutely in the enforcement of the of the In ml. Hut this is not the serious aspect of alleged prohibition—for after all the introduction of good sl>irit in itself is not calculated to do grievous bodily harm. But what is harmful is the illicitly manufactured stuff, which destroys mind as well as body. Probably it. begins with the license permitted in regard to “home brews’ , and extends in such a way that this phase of the ‘‘liootlegging’’ lias become a menace to the well-being cl' the people. Akin to it. is the drug habit, and this has become so desperately serious that the President of the United States is being urged to convene an international conference on the subject. Altogether it would appear that America has gone too far with this attempt at social reform. The enthusiasts have over-reaelied themselves in the effort to grapple with the menace, and in its place something more damaging to the people is rising up. The illicit traffic in liquor and liquor, ns also in substitute drugs, is so far only in its infancy. It is hut three years since prohibition wns enforced, and folk had certain stocks of sound liquor on hand to provide for the natural desires of the jieople. Those stocks must now lie well depleted, and tile result will he, that the demand for the illicit stuff of doubtful manufacture will lie an increasing quantity. So we can picture America in another throe years—if total prohibitinn lnsts that long—as passing through a period creating further physical racial deterioration. Prohibition in America and its prospects, appear to fie a shocking example to avoid. The ex-

pected “cure” is worse than the disease it set out to eradicate. New Zealand might well take notice of the trend of the' situation in America where the drink traffic driven underground is going from had to worse, and every story of prohibition in the United States reveals the hypocracy of the legal effort to enforce the reform desired.