"Because I Love Beer.”

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2500, 31 October 1922, Page 6 (Supplement)

"Because I Love Beer.”

By “STARBOARD LIGHT.”

The invitation to write upon the enbject, “Why I am opposed to Prohibition,” states that the article “may be long or short.” I am afraid rt will •take a lot of space to review all my objections to Prohibition, for I dislike it on many grounds. First, to i-e honest, I am against Prohibition Ljoause I love beer. Not too much of it, of course, (at a time), but then again, not too little. (Memo. —Tf I get paid for this article I shall spend the money on beer.) Yes, I don’t see why anybody of my way of thinking, or of my taste, should hesitate to confess. I have drunk beer, and other excellent alcoholic drinks, at reasonable intervals during the last 30 years with pleasure and benefit; and 1 Jesent the idea that a lot of people who io not participate in this enjoyment, |ven though thqy may be a majority of Wie electors, should deprive me of my Jnnocent beverages. I hope this is plain; it certainly Is true. “Dullness and Drabness.” But, not to be selfish, I object to Prohibition because it would deprive hundreds of thousands of other good citizens of similar enjoyment; because it would take a, lot of the colour out of life; because, if we could no longer •“pour forth the cheering wine” on suitable occasions I firmly believe that the community would be stricken with a dullness and drabness that would be positively injurious. I oppose Prohibition because it is unnatural. It is a refusal of what has been provided for man by Providence. It is, in this sense, really a blasphemous doctrine, for It assumes on the part of a majority at the polls a superior knowledge to that of the Giver of all good things. I am against Prohibition by Act of Parliament also, because it is unnecessary, since anybody can now have Prohibition who wants it. Bet those who dislike liquor remain teetotallers all their lives, if they wish. Let them have all the Prohibition, for themselves, that they desire. Let them leave the liquor to the people Who appreciate it. What Might Happen. Being a reasonable, liberty-loving man, 1° am against Prohibition because it is’a direct and impudent and serious infringement of personal liberty; and if once the principle of Prohibition of the'Whole community by a majority be admitted in respect of beer and wine, it cannot logically bo denied in respect of tobacco, snuff, Sunday golf, mustard, tea, or coffee, anchovy sauce, aspirin, Stetson hats. There is no limit to the tyrannies which might—-and certainly many ' tyrannies would—follow in tlio wiak© of liquor Prohibition. I would like to say, as earnestly and as seriously as it is in my power, to every man and woman who has the right to vote at the coming noil: “Be jealous of your liberties. Bet not a fanatical majority, however well-meaning they may seem, and no matter liow piously they preach let not these people, if your vote can stop it, destroy your freedom, strangle your free-will, and order your appetite by Act of Parliament.”

(One of the. Best of Reasons)

I oppose Prohibition because it would gravely disorganise the national finances at a critical time in the history of the country. Never was there an. occasion when the sudden withdrawal of the large public revonu.ea obtained through liquor would be more disastrous than - at the present time, when the Finance Minister has to devote an enormous amount of anxious labour to the task of making ends meet. On the existing scale of liquor taxation, Prohibition would take away about one-fifth of the national tax revenue at one haul—and anybody who can contemplate this with equanimity must have a small sense of citizenslaip and responsibility. Enjoyment is Necessary. I oppose Prohibition because of a conviction that the removal of pleasure such as is, unquestionably, derived from the use of liquor would tend to make the working community less efficient. Enjoyment is as essential to men and

women as are food and clothing, for it is as true to-day as it was two thousand years ago that “Man cannot live by bread alone.” It will hardly be denied, too, that, a large percentage of the people who would deprive others —not themselves —of liquor and its pleasures, would also, if they established the tyrannous “rights” of the majority, attack smoking, racing, dancing, anything, in fact, which these “poor souls with stunted vision” (or tight purses) do not themselves . appreciate, and therefore do not approve. Yes, I am against Prohibition not only through a regard for my present right and liberty to have a drink, but because I am desperately afraid of the ultimate consequences. I say nothing of the certainty that “bootlegging,” smuggling, lying and hypocrisy would result —which, again, no sane person can deny. What I fear is that the tyranny of a narrow-minded majority would gain appetite by what it fed upon and the community that surrendered its liberty to decide its own beverages would find that its very soul had been captured by the enemy. “Free and Self-Respecting.” Again, I am against Prohibition liecause I wish my sons to grow up strong and free and self-respecting, not kept in a straight-jacket and muzzled at the throat-. I want my lads to be real men, exercising proper self-restraint, knowing good from evil, right from wrong, and living clean, useful, SOBER lives through their own good sense, and not because 51 per cent, of the people have made him a statutory teetotaller. Now, I have written with a good deal of knowledge of drink (and some intimate acquaintance with the average Prohibition mind). I claim to be as anxious as any citizen for the commonweal, and yield to none my claim to a sense of responsibility. If a final word may be allowed, I would warn the good people of Now Zealand that their liberty and freedom, their status as selfrespecting men and women capable of conducting themselves and their lives with proper restraint and deconum, are very gravely threatened. Evevy man ana woman who values natural rights and liberties should VOTE AGAINST PROHIBITION NEXT DECEMBER. Afterwards, IT MAY BE TOO LATE