NO-LICENSE.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIX, Issue 32, 29 May 1914, Page 8

NO-LICENSE.

SEIRiES OF AD&ftESSES. There was a good audience at the Town Hail last niglit u hen auiJi-r-shOa were delivered in advio.uy of the No-license cause. Mr J. i?\ Hine, M.P., 'ji.-cuph'l the ciiair. In introducing tne sneakers he stated that be was a bare ma-

jority man. ( The first speaker was Mr C. H. Poole, ex-M.P. He said the country was standing on the tlw'diold ..1 the greatest humanitarian age of the world. Jl \va u beginning, to be recognised that a country should i.oi be notable for a fine line ii cattle, sheep, or pigs, but for a line manhood and womanhood. In -\ew Zealand hundreds of thousands of pounds were spent annually to ensure that the country turned out the very best produce; and if com-; eneas were

i held to improve the breed of cu-.tte, ore-., surely it was right to im-.-v together to improve the breed of the people of the country. itesiiictions wore placed on the sale of poisons by chemists, and if a Chinaman came ashore with a little opium on Ins person he was seized and put ni prison; therefore more stringent measures should be taken in respect of the sale of alcoholic liquors. In Birmingham he (the speaker) had heard a speetii liv Sir Victor Horsley, the man who by his work on the human mind had been knighted by the King; and he was a prohibitionist. Luther Juirbank, the wizard of plant hybrid!', ition, was also a prohibitionist, f<nd ho said the use of alcohol was like putting sand into a machine. Here were two scientists agreed on the question, and they were merely the front of long files of - scientists a* bo had the same view. The voice 'f science was behind the No-license movement as also was the vouje of commerce. In old days the comme-'-cial traveller used to treat his customer to a drink of alcoholic liquor, but nowadays the successful traveller treated his customer to a cup of ten. In tho United States every worker was a pedged abstainer before, he was engaged, but the men engaged received ' good wages. In England recently the railway workers went on strike because a worker was dismissed for being drunk; but in America the idea was that if a man was retained in the services who was a drunkard there was a danger that the rest of the workers would strike. The voice of the home •> was also against the liquor traffic. Wherever there were drunken people there were found miserable, houses. There was a campaign at present for tho making of ideal towns; but until there were idea] men and women there was no use of ideal towns. The No-license people were therefore working for the best interests of tho ideal town and the ideal home by endeavoring to suppress the liquor traffic. The voice of motherhood was against the traffic, which could not exist without a continuous stream of boys and girls for victims. After being defeated at the New Zealand polls two ami a half years ago he had gone to America and had been associated with many notable , men—Roosevelt, Bryan, etc. —ill a summer campaign- H ( > had delivered 250 speeches in 120 different settlements. He had also slept in 120 different beds on 120 different nights. As a result of the campaign in, Wost Virginia the State had carried prohibition by a. majority ol 92,000. On a trip from England to America ho had passed the spot where the Titanic was wrecked, just on the anniversary of tho catastrophe; but the 1505 people lost in the Titanic wreck were quite infinitesimal as compared with the victims ol the lienor traffic. On this trip he heard of five sheriffs in the State of Maine, U.S.A., who had been accused of nonenforcement of the law. Four were heavily fined and the other associated himself with a smallpox patient so that he could not appear in Court. Ten years ago the prohibition fight had been fought in Tennessee. A liquor advocate said that if prohibition was carried, grass would grow on the streets. A prohibition believer replied: "Then we would raise more hogs and less hell: the cows would eat the grass and we would feed the boys on milk and not whisky!" As to Kansas, there were statements that prohibition there was not a success, but the speaker quoted official statistics to show otherwise. At present there was an agitation to amend the American Constitution in the direction of providing for national prohibition. In Roekford, Illinois, the whole of the daily press .were in favor of a dry town ; and only one out of forty lawyers in the town would plead for a sly-grogger. He had been speaking against liquor traffic so long that he thought he had found the secret of perpetual motion, and he thought that there should be an increase of platform work. Also the press should !>e working in tho prohibition cause. He thought that if the people of tho country took advantage of their opportunities national prohibition would be carried at the end of ibis year. The speaker appealed to his audience to work together against the liquoi traffic. They wanted national prohibition, but failing that 'thoy wauled as many constituencies as possible to go ''dry." Everyone should endeavor to sink party and work with tho one object—prohibition.

The Roy. J. !). Dawson said that what the prohibition party wanted was for the people to see that they had justice at the ballot-box. Tho party wished to see that the prohibitionist's vote was worth as nine!; as another man's. At least the supporters of the party should vote for the 55 per cent, majority. He

claimed that Xo-license was a success, lie did not claim that the milennium would follow on the carrying of prohibition, but lie certainly claimed teat it was successful. The Chairman announced that Mr Wesley Spragg, president of the New Zealand Alliance, would not speak,' the oilier speakers hawing fully cover-J .•d the ground. Mr \V. H. Hawkins then moved:' That, in view of the fact that the liquor traffic is inimical to the best interests of the Dominion and where-j as the present three-fifths handicap is undemocratic, unjust and in-.oier-i able, this meeting urges upon the! Government to pass a Bill next ses-| sion removing this disability, and en-| abling the will of the majority to bo effective. Tliis was seconded by Mr E. Marfell, and carried by acclamation. A hearty vote of thanks '« the; chairman, on the motion of Mr I Spragg, concluded the meeting. , I