"IS PROHIBITION A FAILURE IN AMERICA?" Auckland, June 25.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 381, 29 June 1889, Page 6

"IS PROHIBITION A FAILURE IN AMERICA?" Auckland, June 25.

A very able essay on the subject, "Is Fro hibition a Failure ?" was delivered , by tht Rev., James Chew before a crowdec audience at Robson's Rooms last evening, Mr J. T. Garlick presiding. ■Mr Chew -said the query, "IsProhibi tion- a" Failure ?"• would strike J many as somewhat melancholy, every othei attempt that had- 'been ..made t< deal with- the liquor traffic "Wyingjirovec a failure. Prohibition ., waS* their lasl scheme, and, were this \ plan "defeated, al would .be gone,, save the spiritual-power ol s the,-6oBpe!. • Perhaps the question was rather, premature, prohibition not , yet having had a proper trial, while the cpndj tions under which the trials had been made .were eveh less satisfactory. Every opposl tiori and obstruction which a perverted in genuity, born of rage and malice, could in vent, had been employed to thwart the operation of the beneficent measure. Breathing out threatenings and slaughter, opponents had not stuck at scorn and abuse, misrepresentation and t villin'cationj but' had resorted to violence, to the knifej the revolver, and dynamite. In the last American city,in which he resided the prosecuting attorney had his' house blown up over his head because he dared to enforce the prohibitory law. Would it be surprising then if there had been nothing but failures: The tests had derived 1 but. little more advantage) jirqm -localities.. >• These had always been ,to the-] enemy's country, .and traditional fe'ordev^ .wars had been the. consequence. Given' "a fair field, prohibitionists ask' -fofV'njc favour, but the... fields-, hitherto assigned them had usually '- been 1 both boo small and too, near the far-reaching lands of antiquated farmers who wanted no new-fangled notions, and no methods of husbandry close to -.their wh,o therefore ' hired wretched Jhinds, to break down, ,the intervening fences, permitted, yea, inpited, their hounds/and sheep, and cattle 1 , and swine, to roam at will over the new-comers' bits of ground, trampling Or uprooting the young grain. This was not a fanciful picture, as all could testify who had watched the manoeuvres of publicans and sinners in the vicinity of all' the towns in the United Kingdom where the Sunday Closing Bill had been applied.-, in all < countries and provinces in Canada where local option had been extended, in all the States oi: America wherein prohibitipn had been enacted. The river towns of Missouri, particularly Bb. Joseph and Kansas City, had become proverbial for the badpre-eminenceof th'eir citizens in all such nefarious transactions. One ,of the most encouragingsigns for the success of prohibition was, as one -writer had /put .it, "the alarm which, is sounding along, the lines of the oi'ganised liquor dealers," and from this alone it could be seen that] prohibition in America was a progressing success, the enemies of the' law .themselves being, the judges. ,■ It didt.notj entirely extirpate drinking, .1 it r .ivas ijot therefore a failure^ V ., A \ Canadian writer had said-. tiha£ ; * A prohibitory law could do five' things. It could pronounce the verdic^.offthe'couritry's disapproval upon a - ruinous " and' baneful traffic, and thus brand it with public disgrace. It could s \reli6ve , the country of the siu and responsibility of "turnirig," its children into; drunkards. ' Ibcoilld put away all public temptations and and drunkeflne'ss,,aqd thus make^ib as easy as g*ossible'forail.tpgrjoV-«p igjto and onpurable^citizenship. * Xb T could prevent men, 3 f Wl>otn% no: , rnpral - considerations seemed $p' a j.injfiuence; ' fyom^, ,' m.akihg c it theif^ business / to "induce ; their ' fellows' 'ttvo v 'tipple'; 5 ariS*' drinfc,', ifib'as thereby Ciflive upon thdir degradation and.^ruin.' - It 'coiild' elevated law ; into righteousness, -and thus make" it' a' continual teacher and supporter; "of , sobriety and justice. In/ April last jthere was a general election in Canada, Jab which the Temperance Act was decisively.,,re : versed by the popular vote after a trial 61 several y ears,' bub.^this .was neither so.^s,'tbu'nding nor so discouragiog'^as it at s appeared, JEor it was reported-, that - "the, result was largely 'due to, the ;apathy u of the, temperance .people,,, who .w.ere' dis r , gusted - with' •' fche; " noh-enforc€)nienb of the > Act.-",, • The Army-; there had been disoiTgsnJged,-:if not disbanded, and they .Jin /Auckland /needed %rio foreigner. 4to (inform them how.* local option; was easily. ,defeated, : ,\,th^ugh'ifcB .patrons vwere\a major; ; ity,if K half of ,fluhg> dciw.n i.their' arms on a voting^ day* >*Biub,'ifarifr,oracbeing>dis-, heartenedj'.he jwas;,mdre;hppeful,of national, iprohibifciqn\from'jthis; sfeverse.^ >In^Canada^ ,the s fgood^cause hadibeen ., for the^< momen^i retro^re^siyei k Newi adopted' a 1 /prohibitpry 1*^1^1,855, but'thisi : ( pwing to i political compHcatipn,wasrepeaJe(|.Def6reit; -hada fair chanceof prpj/ing.effectliye^Whje^^ ..after confederation, { reports .recommending. twjbole 4domin\piV( \kpie 'l^ap^opted ;'Hb,use|;prpgre&»wftsJbljoc^ ijßlgurisdictiojiV^iT^o^yTea^

;cial^o^mmiMeeid%t^s-3^v^^Gouncill6f^ hamen BAbb A bo T impair Mts lefficiericyg^Tjjej first |!j fprobibitTqry ' jlaw^ih . the United' States ti^as,^ 'enacted m 1851, c and^waB^repea ( lea«in|lBSs,^4 and ;uu-1858 ; ( it was fl reienactedlf^Tiie^p| '^ gr;ess'all^alorig,-JhWevejrJ/^ while', often was hoped thatiSy regeal }gi -the ', Scobb'Act <;%< in, , panaßjaj r the£ cifaze^jj^generally* ' wonld\9< f bake j&kbided actioh^tgwar^brin^ine about yf "High -license or< prohibition".".^ ;' £ He (Mr \ Chow) hoped- ib ,wquldTbe|prphibition, ; _ he; .; h"a.d litble'faibh'in any such" license, however "li high at^ might ,be, r u Vice^ was \yice" how-'- , ever' p-xlded,; and , mp^e-Vespectable the; c .eAjil was made; the more insidious arid ' injurious ib might become. In 'the <t S,bate in which he sojourned, for some fivey t ears they had locul option, and, in places,^intoxication, bub after .an^ absence of ,teivy ear's they ; had absolute' pt'oKibition^arid, no sign } of in- , toxication, save in" two or three cities\which resisted the law for but had /since * been brought, iabo.captiviby. The State of Massachusetts formed a terrible\ v example. There, afber a sbringenb r license/ law, bho moral results to the State, iwere^ucK that the . State -Governor, recommended a return to prohibition before the year was , oub. ,? The Legislature agreeing with him!, the license law was repealed and, the prohibition law of 1869 was /passed. Then a clause^permitting,> the' sale of "light,!, wines" and " malts " was tacked on, and -.effectively hampered the working of ; the Acb, ( as under ■ the guise of beer all kinds of liquor could be sold with impunity. ' In 1873 1 the beer clause was repealed, bub in 1874 "bh'e liquor influence was so strong ttiat the prohibitory law was repealed. A license law", wibh local option clauses, was enacted in 1875, 4 and had since been in operation. In Massachusetts the cost of pauperism under license, vjras 83 per cenb. more than under prohibition, and drunkenness and insanity increased in a corresponding jdegree., \JEvente, which had occurred in Massachusetts within the last twelve years afforded a' fair illustration of the chequered history of temperance,legislabion, and the notoriously unsatisfactory 'effect pi, "low", or /S " high?' license, of the, ' .abundant reason /.social reformers in, Canada and- every where^ .have^f^r expecting , the issue of '» retrograde jV^ction v muBb\Booner or, later bV to sq. disgust all right-minded people as, to compel -bhem to coop'erabe for universal and final prohibition as never before. In further illustration of his argument, Mr , Che w t stated that Maine, once the poorest Stajb'e.in^the Union, was now one of bhe*mosb;fjrpsperous, and the liquor traffic there was practically unknown. He also quoted the experience of other' States, all tending in the same direction, notably lowa and Kansas, backed up his abatement by numerous aubhoribies, and saidjn conclusion bhab these siiggesbive facts appealed alike to the reason and conscience of the people. They had reconciled those who doubted their -success and- silenced /those who opposed the policy of prohibiting the liquor traffic. Sir William Fox followed with additional arguments in supporb of prohibition, and the hour being then late, it was resolved to defer further discussion of the subject till Monday evening next.