LABOR AND LIQUOR.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 October 1918, Page 8

LABOR AND LIQUOR.

CANADIAN LA#OH LEADER ADVOCATES PROHIBITION. . \ , A SPLENDID MEETING. -. i j. Tlicrc was a large attendance at'llic Good. Templar Hail last night to hoar an acidress on "Moliibition" uy Mr. James Simpson, u prominent Canadian Labor leaner, who dealt with tlie questiou ■ mainly l'rom the Labor point of view. Mr. W. H. president of tun local Workers' Council, presided, and there were also on the platform: Messrs C. E. Bellringer and H. Cocker. The chairman briefly introduced the speaker. Mr. Simpson, who was enthusiastically received, gave an address of such forcciillness as is not customarily heard. He is a clear, logicaj, and convincing, and withal has just that touch of Inimor in his manner that places him on good terms with liis hearers from the first sentences of his address. His facts were marshalled arid delivered in such a manner as to leave no loophole for would-be opponents of the cause he was advocating, and ho at the same time introduced anecdotes and related incidents in connection with the fight for Prohibition in Canada and America in a way that made his address most Interesting, and he held the attention of his audience from "start to finish. Mr Simpson, after expressing the opinion that Labor would give no uncertain verdict when its vote on the liquor question was recorded, and stating that total prohibition would be carried in New Zealand, then went on to relate some of the difficulties that had to be contended with in Canada. He said one difficult problem was the assimilating of many nationalities; in one classroom alone lie had noticed 23 nationalities were represented- Prior to the war onlv a small portion of Canada was "dry." When Germany attempted to starve out Great Britain, the Canadian people said they would assist, the Motherland as far an possible, and the first thin™ the Canadian Government did was to prohibit tlie use of grain for the manufacture of liquor. When war broke out Saskatchewan wiped out private enterprise and established State control, 'but at. the election IS months afterwards tlie people wiped oat the trade by a largo majority. Other States wiped out the trade, until now there were only 90 municipalities in Quebec where prohibition was not in force, and these were expected to go dry on May 1 next. In addition, the Federal Government had prohibited the manufacture, importation, or transhipment of liquor. The cloflt proximity of the United States and Canada made each country vie with tlie other as to which would go dry first, and for a time it seemed as if the United States would win. Twenty-eight States bad <rone dry, and now national prohibition was to conic into force on July 1 of next year, and from the beginning of Dceember nil breweries are to close. The speaker proceeded to give actual instances, quoting from figures to show the benefits derived from prohibition. Drunkenness was reduced, the number of convictions for offences were reduced. Reductions were made in the police force and gaols and their staffs.' Discussing the food value of various n'tieles. the speaker sftid that Dr. Simms Woodliead had made o. calculation ;>« to which would sustain life the longest. A penny's worth of wheat flour containing 7-2(1 heat units, the same quantity of bread 540, bacon 140, and beer 32- Although beer contained that number of heat units, the alcohol in the beer destroyed this food value. Alcohol was n. narcotic, an anaesthetic, n. deadly drug, lik" morphine, cocaine. It attacks the cell!-, of the brain, first, of all the cell" which controls man's finer feelings and distinguishes him from the animal. The speaker described graphically the effectof alcohol upon a man's brain, liis body, an f i his resistanr-e ooxver to disease. Mr. Simpson declared that a man who professed to be working for the interests and welfare of others who voted for license because he liked his liquor was not a Labor man but a pure individualist. Anv worker in a brewery or in selling liquor who claimed they belonged to a class movement, who opposed prohibition fo save their jobs, had no right to he in anv class movement. Tlie speaker then proceeded to deal with Departments of State activity end their relation to Sfate Control. The Education Department had thought it necessary to teach its scholars the effects of alcohol on the body and the mind. Would any Government .be sensible or reasonable if. while acknowledging the importance of teaching the children sci"tifie knowledge of this kiad, it would un-: dcrtake also the manufacture and sale of a commodity which was shown to have such an effect on the minds of school children! Then the tendency of the Government was to aim at the production of the best type of health in the community. This was shown bv the creation and maintenance of Health Departments, who took active measures to prevent the spread of disease and fo make the towns clean. The medical officer of the Citv of Toronto, some years ago, warned eiti- ' zens that they should abstain from the

use «f intoxicants in tire interests of the health oenditious of the city, because alcohol lowered the resistance power of the body against disease. If the tendency of the Government is to educate people to preventive, instead of curative methods, and among them abstention i'rom the use of alcohol, would any sane citizen say that the State should undertake the manufacture and sale of a commodity which its health officers were advising people to abstain from -in the interests of their health? The responsibility of tli'e Department of Justice was to rninimUc crime. Official statistics showed that 10,000 convictionl; for drunkenness were recorded iti New Zealand in 101G, while about 2000 prohibition orders were issued in tlie same year. When to this were added the cases of assault indecent language, it would be seen that the liquor trafic bore an Important part to the criminal rocords of the Dominion. Was it. wise that the Government consider the manufacture and sale of an article which brought about so much oE tlie crime oi tlie nation? Certainly no Government should think of such a thing. Take also the effect o[ alcohol upon industrial efficiency. Tlie liquor traffic interfered With tlie proper administration of the public works of a nation, and with the operations of its railways. In the United -States and Canada !)S per cent- of the transportation companies, SS per cent, of the skilled trades, 70 per of tlie manufacturers of all commodities, 72 per cent- of agricultural employers, made it a rule to inquire as to tlie" extent of a man's indulgence in liquor before engaging him. So that a State Department that produced and sold liquor would be offering a commodity which was found to be prejudicial to industry. Concluding, the speaker said New Zealand was now in the biggest, fight it had ever known m the prohibition movement, bpt the business men were m it this time, and it was the business men's dollar versus tlie trade dollar. There would be ft bigger vote than there, had ever -been before. He appealed to Labor men, whose socialistic ideal waS the collective ownership of the means of life, to remember that alcohol was not a means of life but a means of death. He reminded them of the trade's sinister influence in polities and its intimidation methods in business circles, a fid urged, them to adopt reprisals when, they found, the trade trying to intimidate, them. He concluded by stating that Labor was fighting for liberty, democracy, and freedom, and that democracy could only be free when it was composed of people who bad conquered the enemies of democracy within themselves. Mr. Simpson was heartily applauded nt the conclusion of his address, and on the mot.'on of Messrs C. E. Bellringer and G. H. Maunder, he was accorded a cordial vote of thanks. A vote of thnriljs t> the chairman and the singing of the National Antliem ocncluded the proceedings.