THE BIGGEST BOOTLEGGER.”

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4487, 3 November 1922, Page 4

THE BIGGEST BOOTLEGGER.”

THE U.S.A. GOVERNMENT. AMERICAN SHIPS INSIST ON SELLING LIQUOR. During the past few months there has been a veritable storm of discussion in America over the fact that the Government of the U.S.A. has been found .to be “the biggest bootlegger of the bunch,” and a persistent breaker of the prohibition law. As is .well known everywhere, the largest owner of American ships is the United States Shipping Board—a branch of Government activity. It is axiomatic that American ships, wherever they float, are American territory and under the jurisdiction of the laws of the United States. Notwithstanding this, the ships cari v wide-open bars for the sale of alcoholic beverages. Travellers declare that the Shipping Board vessels are the “wettest ph the ocean,’ No wonder that protests have declared “that when the Government of the United States permits one of its departments to violate the prohibition law on the most extensive scale in the world, to make money, it sets an example of hypocrisy unparalleled in the history of the Republic. How, may we ask, can the Government expect its citizens to respect the prohibition law and obey ib, when the Government itself is the chief offender ?’ A plain statement concerning the situation is found in a leading article in the New York “World.” for June 16, 192.2, which declares : “The Government professes to shut off the sale Oif liquor oh land, which it has not done; then sanctions it on Government ships in violation of law, and now is asked by way pfi punishment to outlaw foreign ships that carry liquor for the use of their own passengers at sea. What next will we undertake as the most virtuous peopls in the world for. the regulation of everybody’s private habits ?” Another New York journal remarks : “One law for sea and one for shore—is it wise for the prohibitionists to consent to that ? What could be a more shameful spectacle thap a Government that breaks its own laws ?” Is it not plain that prohibition breeds problems, discontent, and bad business ? Vote Restoration and National Continuance.*