THE LICENSING CAMPAIGN.

NZ Truth, Issue 142, 7 March 1908, Page 1

THE LICENSING CAMPAIGN.

A Word of Warning to the Electors!

'A South Island correspondent writes, a long and' sensible letter re ithe approaching "licensing . elections, ,iuid although this paper cannot altogether agree' with the letter m its entirety, there ate some noints that call for publicity., as they . bring home some plain truths concerning the . aiiti-liquor party methods. He 82LVS ■':—■'■'.■ . ; ■ '• ' . .v"' The „ tjltnperance party hiere v (Christsh)tf£h) : are said to besKort of ftftwls.; TO >r ;- cpnducfe-a thorough anti-driftfe , Campaign art the forthcoming elections, hut hip; endeavors are fcein^HQaade to gather ■ the riecessarv cash y^ogether,\ and a lively ififeht is anticipaiied; The point I • wish *o -*£#c is this : That if a figttting fujiid' is necessary to the anti-drink people to wiij: the fight, i.e., carry prohibition, and they do win. then;l?hey are tlebaf-vine a large portion of ". the community: / from •their right.' For, if it. talf? a' big fighting fund to con-duct the antitfrink campaign/ there must be a kfaajority of the public m favor of the liftenecd" hotel. " : .JThe.re is ■unslpubtedly some "-opd, : *oiind sense- m^hls' reasoning, but it 'is 'lOßic 'th^rffc' can't ; be knocked into *he i-'bjrain of a prdhibitionist with a *roV-Bar. The prohibitionist claims to be a 'reformer, md m on^ respect Jvc is certainly entitled to the name : r-all relprmers are fanatics.' ,The refofmer ra«an^ well, and m drawing public attention to an abuse he is the means of poiti'tinfe the wav for oth«rs to <do weli. The prbhdbitipnist means w^U enough— at least most of him does, but he is a helpless fanatic, and any reform m the liquor iaw must come from someone outside the ranks of the prpbib. party. Oiir Southern correspondent touches the vital spot when he refers to the necessity of a fighiang fund to conduct a campaigii on the principal #hat it is essentially a moral and not a political one. The drink" traffic may be regulated by. Act of Parliament, hut the limitation of the individuals .drinlc must always ~be a Jnatter governed by the individual himself. The prohibitioniet would derive ten Men of their drink to keep Ibhe ;'•- drunkafii sober. It would be ioqually logical to keen the thief honest by prohibiting honest men frdm wealthi- The prohibitionist , see it m this light. He is ihbstlv either a refdrmed drunkard himself or a person mind has been perverted fey some bitter experience. He- blames the p-üblican for liis own or -his -progenitor's infirmities. .. : ; • - ■:■ ■.■■;■■ ■- •- ' ' \ m. ■ ■ ■ ■ 0 .' ' :' ■'■■ . * It will 'possibly be. argued by the lollpwers of the temperance banner, jand at. first Slight tihere appears to be reason, m the ; r argument, .that' the atrade makes ujse ,pf its wealth m lighting ( iti£ the retention its pro-., peftv *at erection time, and that, money iriust be used to fight mo^ney. ft'hi's is undeniable, iwit. it is beside tire point. So one knows better than themselves that without a Btron" fighting fund beliind them the anti-UcLUot party could nevei hone to make any l^eadway whatever. They must have the sinews of war, and must conduct the campaign on political lines. To win they must spend money ind^ resort to all the tricks and 1 artifices 'of the -nrofessional political campaigner. And it is thus that they are going to win^-if they can. If the' pirblic are content to be hoodwinked and bamboozled and led Jjy the nose fijr a' partt of mountebanks who, whatever .their inten-t-ibns, are' steering as .wide .of teal liquor reform.. as. they axe of truth,; Justice, and (jdinmpn senfie. The^ Very' necessity of this question, having < to be fought put- 'by the methods in-tiicatodr-cash and , cunninß versus cash an# cunning, ghbuld'be proof positive ; to the mind tliat the anti-liquor tneth<jus are bad; and that 5n endeavoring to create a sober nation tr- prohiiMtolng the sale of liquor Jnoney and time, are being wasted m un attempt at the impossible. .Jt )ias been said T that . a. man cannot be made honest oc mbrAl -by act of Par- 1 liament. This is* only true iii the abstract. A ihan can be made either i,he one or the other, by being deprived of the means: to satisfy his crimibal inclinations. the thief is a' ifehief at heart even within the four WaiTs of. his cell, and; immeral fhohstiex still Catfies a filthy mind I>hou-gh his body i| limited to' a prison yard', llie same law apulies tp jbbe dftmkard, but the- probMtionist

would reverse the order of dealing' with him . Society is protected from" the thief by placing the thief m p-aol. The prohiib. would protect the drunkard from • society by depriving I society of the riglit- to drink intoxicating liquor. Why should the pubH lie be protected against the one offender awd the other offender be i),rotected at the expense of the public? IJt is truly a proposition hard to solve. * " '■■'"" | On the subject of Reduction, our •corfespbndent very nertinently asks what good is to come of it. He says ;— The leaders of the ■• prohibitionist party here are very" confident "that : reduction will be carried m many towns m the South Island^ And [ the North Island campaigners arp equally confident. There is "-reat jubila-tion over this. If reduction can be carried m any district the : prohibition party^look Upon it as a great victory and are mightily pleased with the result. Can any prohibitionist explain to -our read- i ' ers what satisfaction he pets (m j seeing men drink m two hotels, i,n-r stead Bf three ? If it were an honest and sincere de^ sire to see the. masses : spberi instead of a narrow prejudice against and uncurbed hatred of buhg and bre/wer, that prompted the temperance leaders to raise fighting funds and barange the populace they woul d drqp the reduction gag and use their efforts m some other direction. If reduction were \ carried m Wellington at the next election it would : mean -the. closing of 12 , hotels : this 'would mean that the : patrons of those hotels would, jiave to spend, their money m some of the others. They wouldn't be one jot more temperate, wouldn't be deprived , of one solitary drink, and wouldn't have any more ready cash at the week end than they had before. The only difference would he !that 12 poor unfortunate devils of publicans ' would lose their cash. That is just where the temperance person's joy comes m. He has hit twelve hated publicans m the pocket hard, has smote them . financially hip . • and thigh, has made them beggars, ' and he whoops exultantly and chortles m his joy. It is only a new setting .to the ' old, story ■of : ithe. puritans who decried bear-baiting, not 'because it hurt, the hear but because it gave . pleasure to the populace. . Just as yout snob dearly loves, a lord, so .- does your prohib. prater heartily hate a publican.. If some fool takes an byefdbse of prussic acid, or strychnine, or some other edually obnoxious c6nlpoun4? npbodv gets mad and wants to snut up the ohemists' s'hpps. Nobody wants to waylay the ironmonger with an ;\axe because some cheerful ddipt shoots himself. But when a locoed hoodlum fills all . .the jcivailaible space m his alimentary canal with hop juice, the prohibitionist party roar for the publican's bldpd and his •license. That the same fool person will go to some other nub and repeat • the performance dpesn.'t count ' with : the pro. party. "Blast the boozer," ; says he, "but bane;' bung m the bingev and biff him like blazes." • • r - «.. All the wowser crowd are prohibition mad, m fact, the bulk of the anti-drink push are . wowsers, and wowsers are notoriously • na'rrdwtninded,- bigoted, and intolerant— as intemperate m their "speech as ahv drunkard ever was m his cups. There . are exceptions, of course, arid it is all the more refxesbine; to find one as. they are so few and, far-between^ A Salvation, Army captain brmaijor, or .something, m the cold country; ■ got some remarks off his chest recently that should make some of the teetotal cranks hold up .iheir hands ' m pious horror. He actually had a good word for the. publican and/, the Unblushing temerity to state (what this paper has said; irian^" times) •that txie solution of the drink evil is not to "be found m either nrohibi tion or reduction. He admitted being a teetotaler himself, but! he stated' that when he went on the cadger he could get mighty little frpni hjs own class of people, it was. the drinkers and the publicans who parted up. He visited, he said, 37 pubs every week, and the .money collected had' assisted to provide 6000 starving children ; with free breakfasts durine tlie y^ar. good to get "a bit pf truth froni men of- the captain's class occasion,ally and the only pity is that thsy cannot" knock some of this comnidn

I sense into.'the; cf aniunis ...-. pf% .their, c^dlow-reUgicjtiists^ ,; . ■... The ', ' religious, ■ bigot has been regarded for. ages. as j th'e; most awful :iriti\ctionL ,ever ..sent- to curse, mankind, but the teetotal bigot runs him a good secGiid. Sometimes 1 he is a man who has' never." tasted., liquor m his life, and' hd rants andraves about " .soinetliing he is absolutely ignorant of. It is always the ignorant person who talks' loudly 'and rrxost positively. Then there is th« man who has given up drink: about , five minutes previously, and, like the J fox with the' lost tail, wants: every-. • body else jo do likewise. ■ ./'The arro- ; garice, conceit, and .selfishness of these fellows "■! Themselves.. -so i- weak 1 that tbey cannot touJSli. strong liquor without making lDCja'sisi' of themselves,; they place everybody else .upon the same plane, and think that, because total abstinence is good for. them it must be good for all, and because they -cannot enjoy the pleasures i granted tp : Avon of stronger minds, they , would; cut off the source of their fellows'pleasure under the pretext .of .better.-; 'ing humanity. Cant and humbug ! But cant and humbug have effected - wonders at the ballot-box before today. Clever talkers of the Isitt and Tommy Taylor type can tell a good tale to a sympathetic audience. By drawing imaginative pictures of the drunkard's home, and reciting stories of ruined lives they play upon the people's emotion— particularly the 1 women, and they rush away to ; vote ■ 'prohibi tion without even giv-. -ing a thought as to whether prohibition* is going to remedy the evil or not. • • • - That prohibition does not prohibit ba» been demonstrated times out of number m every prohiluted district m the Dominion.'*' A representative of "Truth was through; the King Country recently, and saw quite • enough to convince anylbody that prohibition not ; only failed to proMnit,, but permitted drunkenness to besmirch, the landscape wii/h a most shrieking besmirch. . Prphibiticin m those parts, seiems to pan out thuswisc—the man w>ho wants to get drunk, gets drunk ; it; costs him -more to get drunk, because t-he sly-giocrger wants an enormioUs profits for taking the risk ; the effects of the drunk are very im'uoh worse, because the liquor is always bad ; the sly-grogger makes a fortune i the police have to make sneaks, liars, and pimps of themselves -tryiiig to catch the sly-grog^er- ; the Treasury gifets an occasional £50 when the said s.g. is caught ; and, lastly, prohibitionist is happy. Now, isj a prohibited district anything to be proud of ? It ,is the most ghastly failure as a means of curing drunkenness that this paper has ever heard of* the > notorious Caulfield DrihJc Cure Institute 'given m. It prevents the sale of good, cheap drink, and encpurages the sale of snakejuice at anything from. 10s .to £1 per .bottle. But the cold tea (person do;esri'tf care a damn about that. His one object is to knock the publican but. The navvy and bush--whacker; can drink till the cows cpihe. home so long as they don't get their grog; at a licensed- house. It is a peculiar breed of tick these people have m their garretts. A cross between something out of ignorance by selfishness and something ■• by ar-^ rpgance put of general cussedness. But, nevertheless, it is' a perverse, mule-headed and dangerous beast, and it ' gets' ' into the • head of quite a number of otherwise sensible people; about election time, and when it, goes away the vote 'has been cast and the damage done." This paper "Would .iust warn the electors against this anti-pub, tick: ■ ■ ! 'Truth" doesn't wish to infer for one moment that the saviours of ' this • community a.re" the publicans, or that' the New Zealand publichouse is the best conducted m the world, a model .of perfection and incapable of improvement, or anything of that sbrfc. It has been -'Truth's 73 < painful duty from time to time to castigate a publican here and there, and point put tb him the error of his ways, indeed, it was this paper that found it necessary' to invite police inspection of the awful Green pubbery m ; Christchurch. The exigences of the ca.se, the awfulness of the charges compelled "Truth" tp speak, although; it hurt like toothache to do it. As the champion of the people's rights this paper niust expose abuses, ■W/hether, they emanate from the bench, :;! |>ulpi > t, or pub, or any other source. '. If the wowsers are not spared, neither is the publican if he Warrants the lash. There' are many ■ hotels within the Dominion that are conducted m such a way as to jeopardise the good ' name of ail the otheiis. Some publicans are pigs. ',^Truth" has told some of them so m perfectly plain Englisfi, and no ' doubt will have to tell, some more, but because of these few, the fair name of the others is not to be dragged m the mud, their licenses taken away, and their houses closed: up. But the prohib. crowd would make no selection. They say, '*Shut 'em all up.'' Because Brown sins at Pukepuke they.'d shut up Jones o£ Jambarropl They cannot be just, 'becausp they are bigots and no bigot can deliver justice. They cannot be generous because they are intolerant, and intolerance breeds greed and selfishness. They cannot be reasoned

vWifch because they- a i r'e : '-fafiatic*s atd -fanatiQ'isin is- incapabic 6f ' reason. Theyv^re like; a horde; of howling dervishes- burning with the mad desire to flaunt .a publican's license on their spear-point. . ,'