WORKER AND PROHIBITION.

Otaki Mail, 15 November 1922, Page 4

WORKER AND PROHIBITION.

IS PROHIBITION A DEMOCRATIC MEASURE? Prohibition has now been applied to ihe United States for nearly, three /ears, ,As the New Zealand worker //ill shortly be asked to vote upon its adoption or rejection in this country, it s worth while to consider how this law ■as operated upon the welfare of the uass of the people in America.

" The first questions which will be asked by the New Zealander who works for his living arc: —

' (1) Has it improved the economic condition of the workers? _ (2) Has it abolished or reduced drunkenness? (3) Has it been enforced upon all classes, regardless of social position or individual wealth I (■A) Is the sum total of its applica tion beneficial or otherwise to the workers of the country? To the first question the answer is very definitely in the negative. American workers to-day are economically worse oil than they wore before the introduction of prohibition. If the abstinence from liquor has "improved their output * ’ —ns the prohibitionists claimed it would—then someone other than the worker has gathered in the extra reward. There is no evidence, however, of any such improvement in mass 'efficiency. Such information as is | available, all points in the opposite di- | rectioil. , Whilst on the subject of the workers "efficiency,” New Zealanders would do well to consider one'of the methods i employed by the professional prohibi--1 tion agitators to bring the measure into favour with "big business’ prior Kto introducing it into Congress. First I of all some of the huge industrial concerns wore approached, and a glowing picture was painted of the new and in- ! finitely more efficient working man who would arise once the saloons were closed. Some of the employers, seeing ! more profits and cheaper labour m tlic picture, took the bait regularly, and according to the "Prohibition HandI book,” the Carnegie Steel Company of ' Ohio issued an order that “all promotions will be made only from tlie-ranks of those who do not indulge m intoxicating liquors.” Bishop C. E.. Loc ' c ’ the prominent American prohibitionist, recently toured New Zealand in the interests of that movement. In h* speeches he told us how, at the suggestion of the Prohibition Party, the great railroad companies, banks and factories decided that they wou e not employ men who drank on or off duty. All this was preparatory work. From the point of view of the Auicucan employer-this may be all very well, but we scarcely think that sort of coercion, if introduced in New Zealand, would be received with the docility apparently accorded to it by-the U.S.A. worker. There can be no doubt, however, that every effort is being < made to secure the utmost possible j pressure of "moral suasion on e part of employers here upon their * staffs. i In addition, the workers of Now Zealand will not be denied one of the few relaxations still remaining within reach of their pockets; especially when they know that the wealthy can stockup with u lifetime’s supply of the best liquors, while they will to go without. For this is what New Zealand's law permits to those who earn afford it. Vote Continuance.

An unknown ffiari was found dead in front of a penny-in-the-slot meter in a house in Stretford Road, Manchester, recently. In one hand he held a number of pennies which he ■ had apparently extracted from the meter; his other hand grasped a. pair ■ of pliers with which he seemed to ‘’have been tampering with the meter. Tjhe tenant of the house and her young son were away from the house. ! When the hoy came home from I school he was unable to gain admit•tance. Looking tliorugh a window he saw a man kneeling in front of the gas meter and informed the police. The policeman found the kitchen door of the house had been forced. He entered the house, intending to arrest the man, and then found he was dead.