PROHIBITION IN AMERICA.

Taranaki Daily News, 20 January 1920, Page 7

PROHIBITION IN AMERICA.

(Published by Arrangement). To the Editor. Wo have to chronicle another deadly punch which "Bung" lias received in his "solar plexus." The United States of Aunerica, with a population of 110,000,000 people, has gone bone dry." The litjuor traffic was outlawed, arrested, tried, found guilty, sentenced to death and hanged by the neck until he went nest, following the millions of his murdered victims. Yes; this wretched traffic has been driven from tho States. It Is a dellbreiecliou by America of all schemes for Mate Purchase and Control, disinterested management, municipal control or Carlisle plans of control, yes, kicked out of rammunity? CaUiß " 18 U " m t0 ilv9 in a deceat

W S , orKet the oft-reneated scream or mfhik. ? a " a llQUor mcn that ,he American public would rise in rebellion If the "boneof w I™ 3 .1 0t rc " ealellf What has become nf .h m Gom I >er s. the alleged leader * merlcan workers? New Zealand liquor <men, time and again. Impudently claim--1 /l le E ed authority of Gompers, that there would be civil war in America, led by tie writers, ir aiconoilc liquor wer« nnajir prohibited. Sir, I ask these loud-mouthed "juor men, where is that civil war to-aay7 0f course, wo mew tnuc s " " 'ew "liquor chewers." Gompers never was, and is not to-day, in a position 10 suem; for American workers. New Zealand liquor men knew this. Of course, we knew that such a statement was a imiunaoie !ib<Ti on Ainon • ilj» workers, hut the libel lias now come home""!!) tile liquor men's roost. For ihe pant quarter m .. .~.;..ury, and more, on tlw ure of eaen successive licensing poll in tho Dominion, tne liquor men (for prollt), assisted by a larce section or tne press (tor promi. piasterea mow Zealand with the most impudent lies concerning the alleged failure of prohurau* , n "the• eter Increasing number of the American States iliat had adop.ed Hie reform, sir, imr ~, able, uncontrovertible answer to t'ho land liquor men's misstatement in tne met that, after full experiences and debates, the ' Trnitea Estates mis uarusneu strong ormu num 'all territory, under American iuriadlction. This 13 the niifil ana compio K « i,-p. \ ~ land liquor men's twenty-five years of mlsrfecannot l, ~, meat.Ilquor men win y vat vt ,; lr lltlt nuve not hesitated to misrepresent, the position Mi their efforts to still further enlreneh a traffic that has always and everywhere proved Itself heaven's worst enemy and hell's best friend. When one looks back upon the campaigns against the liquor forces and ponders upon its ghastly record, one is staggered at ihe apathy of the Christian and moral forces of the Dominion in allowing this unholy traffic lo fatten so long and so brazenly upon the frailties of our fellow men. But, Sir, tne death knell of the traffic has sounded. My advice to tills traffic in New Zealand Is to "quit while the quitting is good," Invest the lllgotten gains in legitimate business, which will supply the real needs of the people. Get lite taint rubbed l off the money by investing and working it in honest, clean industry. Hemember that as surely as to-morrow's sun will rise, just so surely this bodv and soul destroying traffic shall not pass through the portals of the future. Therefore "quit while the quitting is good." Sir, I want right here and now to stress the fact that, bitter a3 the pill undoubtedly is, the liquor men in this Dominion must swallow It. Notwithstanding their misrepresentations, tliey must swallow this United States prohibition pill. They must realise, and the Toters from the North Cape to the Bluff must realise, that 10-day the United States, with a population of 110,000,000 people, Is "bone dry," is under total prohibition (for beverage purposes), of the manufacture, importation, sale, gift, and possession in cellars, of all alcoholic liquors down to H per cent, alcohol. To Godsl What a pill for New- Zealand liquor men to swallow after all their misstatements about the failure of prohibition, in America! Think of it 1 Booze driven out of the American States, outlawed, not fit to live, dead and buried! Verily "the mills of God grind slowly but they grind exci/edingly small." Yes, the pill must he swallowed. T'ho population of the United States is not going to rise in rebellion despite the repeated statements of New Zealand liquor champions that It would. The population of the States is not going to revolt against this "bone dry" law that is said to be "robbing them of their liberty." Good old "liberty 1" What awful cowards these Americans are. to be sure I Just fancy, 110,000,000 people quietly allowing a lot of fanatics and wowsera to rob them of the "priceless boon of personal liberty" I What is the world coming to \ Fancy robbing a host of liquor sellers of their liberty to sell booze and to debauch the manhood, womanhood and childhood of America I What an outrage on "personal liberty I" Looltl 110,000,000 people standing quietly by and allowing the poor persecuted liquor men to be cruelly robbed of their "personal liberty" I >, such monsirous injustice Is enough to make the angels weep. Such cowardice is enough to make Georgo Washington and Abraham Lincoln rise from their graves. Oh. Liberty, Liberty, who shall wipe out this deadly insult? Think of it I The most unkind cut of all Is that tho New Zealand liquor champions are compelled to watch their specially ereiated "goddess of liberty" driven, disgraced and undepended from the shores of the mighty American republic. Poor old Bung—you have fallen on evil days. No civil war in America, no unprecedented Industrial upheaval

led by the great and mighty liquor labor champion Uompers. Not a. shot fired, not a blow struck in defence of "personal liberty." No more tainted fortunes, no whisky for influenza sufferers. No stimulants for the weak heart. No bottle of porter so essential for the nursing mothers. No flask of whisky for the races. No bottle of ale for the husband and wife for dinner. No social glass. No more homes ruined for profits. No more hearts broken. No more children robbed of a father's guardianship and a mother's love, and pushed out to a herltago of shame. No more wires and children done to death by drunken husbands. No more bright boys tempted to their ruin, to be drafted into the drunken army. No more fortunes to be made, tainted wtm the blood and tears of widows and orphans. No •more misrepresentation about the failure 01 prohibition in * America. No compensation Nothing but the cold, clammy kick-out. Poor old Bung I "The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small." As in the United States so it will come to pass in New Zealand. May God hasten the any, ft> the liquor traffic's cup of iniquity Is brimming over.—l am, etc., W. H. HAWKINS. New Plymouth, January 15.