PROHIBITION MEETING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3848, 22 September 1928, Page 2

PROHIBITION MEETING.

INSPIRING ADDRESS BY MISS HOULDER. There was a good attendance at the Royal theatre on Thursday evening to hear an address by Miss Houlder, who is visiting New Zealand at the invitation of the N.Z. Alliance to assist in the Prohibition campaign. Miss Houlder spent four years in the United States and Canada where she made an independent investigation of Prohibition. Upon her return to Australia she took an active part in the recent prohibition campaign in New South Wales. .Miss Houlder is a forceful and eloquent speaker and her facts and experiences are both informative and arresting. She is also possessed of a sense of humour which brightens her address. The Rev. Mr. Edmondson, president of the local branch of the NoLicense League, presided. Prior to the address a.programme of vocal and-elocutionary items by Palmersfon amateurs was much appreciated. Miss Houlder briefly touched upon the recent campaign in New South Whies and said the failure to carry prohibition was due to the fact that the people objected to pay compensation to the liquor interests.

Referring to America she said the children of America for the last fifty years had said “Tremble, King Alcohol, for we shall grow up,” and they grew up. The National chorus of the “drys” grew stronger and stronger, bigger and bigger. “Saloons, saloons must go,” they sang. The women did not have the franchise, could not vote, but they worked and prayed and inspired their manhood to such a high degree that the great day of emancipation began. Town after town, State after State abolished the Liquor Traffic, until in 1913, when the public crusade for National Prohibition started, twentythree of the States were “dry” States. In January, 1920, National Prohibition came into materialisation with the adoption of the 18th Amendment. By this time, 95 per cent, of the territory of the United States was “dry” territory and sixty-five per cent, of the population was enjoying freedom from the miseries and handicap of drink. Then came the 19th Amendment, which gave to 25 million women the right to vote. Will America ever go pack to the days of the liquor evils? Will the 18th Amendment ever be repealed? Absolutely never. The women of America, the mothers of that great Nation, were keeping faithful watch and building strong walls of defences round this National Prohibition policy. The 19th Amendment stood on guard over the 18th and the “wets” know they will never be able to get through the barrage of the women’s vote. Never was Prohibition sentiment stronger than to-day, never in its history was Prohibition more secure. It came because the people wanted it and it is staying for the same reason. It had come to stay. It was a fixture in the life and law of the land. No other acihevement in human history liad conferred such wonderful benefits upon the masses. The huge sums of money formerly spent in drink found their way into the mothers’ pockets instead of those of the saloon-keeper. Tremendously improved conditions resulted, better food, better homes, more comforts —mothers rejoiced in having wages intact, and on shopping nights, to be able to purchase good things for the home and family. Attendances in schools and colleges have increased enormously. Everywhere, new palatial and beautiful school edifices adorn the landscape and the people point with pride to these changes, these acquisitions “since Prohibition came.” While wages paid to wage-earners increased in 1926 twenty-five per cent., in comparison with 1918, the cost of living had been reduced over twenty-five per cent. Saving Banks reported an increase of twenty-five million new Saving Bank depositors since Prohibition. Labour Banks, which were not in existence in saloon days, held to-day over eleven billion dollars of the workers’ savings, while sixty million persons held “insurance” of some kind. “If the whole population of' the U.S.A. —120 millions of people,” declared Miss Houlder, “decided to go on a National picnic they have sufficient passenger motor cars to take them all at the one time,” the percentage being one motor car to every five persons. Every year, since 1924, according to highest authqritive testimony, over million dollars’ worth of new pieces of furniture have been sold, while, in the great majority of workers’ homes, one found all manner of electric labour-saving devices including electric washing machines, vacuum cleaners, the telephone, kitchen ranges, heating, and every variety of, modern convenience which made each home a delight for its comforts and luxuries. Rather nice, you know, this more equal distribution of the workers’ wages. This new experience had been the_best object lesson to hundreds of thousands of women in the U S.A. and the saloons would never come back. “Health conditions were never better than now, asserted the greatest medical authorities, while one million lives had been saved through Prohibition, according to the official death rate. Alcoholic insanity, a dreaded type of alcoholic disease, had decreased 66 per cent, and “cure” institutions for alcoholic inebriates had been reduced from two hundred and se-venty-five to twenty-seven. As an illustration of the sentiment of America’s best womanhood regarding

a maintenance of Prohibition, in March this year, at the great Annual Congress of the Women’s National League of Law' Enforcement, a! which twelve million women were represented, strong resolutions declaring uncompromisingly for the Prohibition policy and its enforcement were carried on a standing vote —not one delegate remaining seated. The National League of Women voters, the National Y.W.C.A., and Parent-Teacher Association likewise, had declared similarly during the month of April and May of this year; while the National Federation of Women’s Clubs, with a membership of over seven million women, had recently demanded “hands off Prohibition” and “no interference with the Volstead Act.” The speaker congratulated Foxton upon its vote for liquor abolition, and urged her hearers to continue to work and co-operate with the local committee in its efforts. The speaker who was accorded a splendid hearing was accorded a hearty vote of thanks at the conclusion.