A CARNIVAL OF CRIME.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2510, 25 November 1922, Page 4

A CARNIVAL OF CRIME.

PROHIBITION A SWINDLE. ‘‘America," says the “Lyttelton Times’’ in a recent editorial, “is naturally the object lesson for New Zealand at the present time, and we defy any man who is intelligent and fair, and who will rad current newspapers and periodicals of repute, to deny that the principal social movement which hn • featured life in America since the passing of the national liquor prohibitory law is- a carnival of crime having no parallel in any other civilised country. Some eminent men. judges and others in the United States, have attributed this to general disrespect for the Prohibition enactment. Whether that be the ease or not, it is certain that abnormal crime ami liquor prohibition have descended upon America together. As a moralising agency—and Ibis is the ground upon which it is mainly advocated —Prohibition in America has proved a swindle. This is because of its inherent defect, that it is antagonistic to the instincts of free, self-respecting people. It is, in fact, quite too revolutionary for the purposes of practical reform. It has been well described by a writer in the “Times” as a “revolution.” Have we, in New Zealand, any use for a carnival of crime; for a law which shall bring all other laws into disrespect? As a sane, wellbalanced people we must and shall benefit by the unhappy experiences of America, and reject a pernicious nostrum advocated by imported fanatics who are blind to the delects of their own panacea. Strike out the two bottom lines. A 7 ote Continuance. ' ,)l)