PROHIBITION IN U.S.A

Hokitika Guardian, 5 October 1932, Page 8

PROHIBITION IN U.S.A

A IiISCREDiTED CAUSE. REPEAL CONFIDENTLY EXPECTED. V, CHRISTCHURCH, October 3. According to ,Dr. . &.< L, Lewis, of Hollywood, sho arrived in Christ, church from the north yesterday,, it is only a matter of . months before proiiibition. will disappear in the United States. Dr Lewis, who is president of the Hollywood City Club, a director of tlie Hollywood Rotary Club, and is wisely connected with all Hollywood’s civic activities, is making a brief visit to the South Island before going to Australia.,.. , ~ .. ~ ‘.‘Every right-ipinded - person in the United States,” he said, “is; opposed •o 41 continuance .of prohibition. pti my opinion it has been a national. . alaihity. and lias been the ruination of. our country. It has done more to bring us to our present deplorable condition than any other one thing.” > the Political issue. Dr Lewis is confident that whichevei ' way the political, pendulum swings at* , tiie coming presidential election, proliibition is doomed. He regards the political issue itself as very'.open, and ■ said it would bo difficult, .to predict .vhather Hoover or Roosevelt would succeed, but the incoming administrator, no matter which it was, would have to do something to settle the prohibition situation. , There are twice as many places where you chn get liquor throughout the United Staten to-dc,y,” he said, :‘as, there were in. the days of the saloons. It is a broad statement to .make, but it is an absolute fact. The liquor supply is just, as .close as your telephone.” The,..bootlegger, Ihe .said 'as the i wealth , man .in the United States to-dey, and in inost cases .. he was an undesirable type of citizen. The bootlegger, of. course, was- doing all,in his povyer to-retain prohibition. On- the,other hand’ .former friends of prohibition had deserted the cause. DISCREDITED CAUSE. (“Even the men who contributed most financially and 1 ; in a moral way to bring about prohibition have changed their ‘attitude/-- said Dr Lewis, ‘ They have lpfy it .because- they do rot wish to be-associated with a move-., v, ’.ent that liis- been-so discredited. Mr •Tphn Rockfeller, -jun., is one of these.- He- declares that prohibition 'ms been a rank failure.” ■ Dr Lewis expressed the opinion that ;he repeal of prohibition ’would be followed by a considerable reduction iff • crime, because a. good- deal of the : crime -at present was • ■ traceable to bootlegging. •• The experience • in; Los Angeles,- he said, that the majority of those with whom! the Courts had to’ , deni wtera between seventeen and ' twenty-four years of age, and in a largei percentage of' cases the trouble was due to bootleg liquor. LECTURES ON NEW ZEALAND: ■ |lt is Dr Lewis’ intention to lecture m New Zealand when he returns to tiie United States, “and,” he said, “I ! vill be very •; enthusiastic about your country. In my stay in New Zealand T have learned to like the country and the people very much, and .1 have been amazed at your wonderful natural resouces and the facilities you have in both islands.” For the purposes of v his lectures, Dr Lewis will take back ... . with him two- New Zealand films) one ?a - Mflori film and the other a film dealing with the Dominion’s scenic at- ' fractions, with which he. has been greatly struck. “I .think,” he said, “these films will go a. long way towards boosting New Zealand in the CJpited States. Although Dr Lewis’ main-interest ies. in the educational field—be controls a chain of eight schools for commercial educaton in Southern. California.—he has been brought into very close touch with the motion picture industry, and such well-known film per- , . Tonalities as Janet Gaynor and Lita Gray Chaplin were formed students in one of his schools., The majority of the students in his Hollywood College ’lgve' an ambition to go into picture work, and many have succeeded, be- , cause the college is often called upon by picture direr tors tr! provide re- , f aired fvp's. ,It ip pribable- that dur- , inrr b s stay in Christchurch Dr Lewis vill tell picture audiences something . of Hollywood and the people ,in the ] motion picture world. . ,