“BE BRITISH!"

Taranaki Daily News, 26 August 1922, Page 6

“BE BRITISH!"

Of course fhe Moderate League disavows 'absolutely any connection with the Liquor Trade. Its members hold brewery shares, bur what of tl;a..: They speak with something very like enthusiasm when they refer to alcoholic beverages, but what of that? Not a good- word have they to say for prohibition, but what of that? They declare that prohibition means “the negation of freedom, intimidation and intolerance leading to tyranny,” but does that mean support of the alcohol business? They dogmatically assert that prohibition “would sap individual independence and so ultimately debase national character,” but fie upon us if we accuse them in consequence of having complicity or sympathy with the trade in strong drink. Do they not advocate immediate drastic reform of the liquor laws? Will it not be to our advantage to have a system “whereby sound beer and light wines” shall be more easily accessible? Accessible at cafes and tea rooms rather than in the open bar? State control is direct control by the people, and that is the issue, at?cording to the Moderate League, that should be voted for at the forthcoming licensing poll. “Be Br’tish. Keep your freedom. 11 That is the appeal that is made. The appc .l is an insult to dur intelligence. It is more. It is a gross, foul insult to the British name. Every true patriot will resent it. The abominable slur will win many votes for the prohibition cause. It is to associate the name of Britain with all that is most putrid in politics, all that is saddest, and most sinister in society, all that we are most ashamed of in the records of our mighty Empire.

Y r ES! BE BRITISH. Remember what Britain has done. Who but the British have led the world in great movements for liberty and progress. Who led in the liberation of the •laves at the cost of millions of money. Who led in labor reforms, .and liberated women and children from the cruel service they had to render in mines and factories? Where is there greater freedom for all classes and the masses than in the British Empire? Yes! We say be British still and lead the way in abolition of the trade in intoxicants Let the Britain of the South be the leadbr in this greatest reform. MODERATE LEAGUE’S “SCIENTIFIC” AUTHORITY. When engaged in hectoring the compilers of Special Education Report No. 13, M>. R. A. Armstrong, in the Moderate League’s Critical Examination of that report, indignantly points out that other authorities were available to the compiler, authorities who had showed that certain diseases enumerated occurred “as frequently in non-drinkers as drinkers.” the said authority being Dr. E. H. WiHiams. The Moderate League thinks that if only the compiler had been guided by Dr. ’Williams, the pamphlet would not have pained the League by telling children that alcoholic beverages are injurious. The Moderate League is right, -for Dr. E. H. Williams was a paid hack of the United States Brewers’ Association, employed to cook up i misrepresentations favorable to booze. IHe assisted in compiling alleged statisi ties that sought to show Kansas had increased insanity, etc., under Prohibition; an allegation denounced unanimously by both Houses of Government in that State. The value, the “scientific” value, of Dr. Williams’ stuff may be gauged from the following extract from a report addressed to the publication committee of the United States Brewers’ Association in January. 1915: “Among the important undertakings was the financing of special investigations for the Medical Record and other publications by Dr. E. H. Williams, such as the drug habit menace in the South, and the conditions of the insane in Kansas and other States, which resulted in the publication of a series of most important articles in the leading medical journals, and also in the 1 Survey, the National Monthly, the New York Tribune. afid in a number of important newspapers in California Washington, and Oregan. and several other States. These articles were assembled in book form, and the book sent to all libraries and newspapers.” This* precious book of reference, of which the Moderate League thinks so highly, may possibly be about as genuine as the reports by* Count Skaryznski, who Was sent by the Russian Government to study the effects of the liquor laws in different States in the U.S,A. in 1910, and went back with a most exhaustive report containing phrases such as: “I succeeded in Collecting official figures, . ...” “I have verified the fact,” etc., and reporting “the most lamentable results” of Prohibition in the “dry” States. A copy of this voluminous and false report was found on the files of the United States Brewers’ Association when the U.S. Government was probing into its disloyal conspiracy with Germans during the war, and the cqpy was headed. “Written and financed by U.S.B.A. Office copy. Please return this copy to the file.” Yet the Society of Industrial and Commercial Economy had innocently swallowed it in Paris as the bona-fide report of Count Skarzynski's personal investigations! , The Moderate League won’t be happy until Report 13 is made into a brewers’ circular—and so it never will be happy in this world.

PRESIDENT HARDING’S VIEWS. In every community men and women have had an opportunity now to know what prohibition means. They know that debts are more promptly paid, that men take home the wages that once were wasted in saloons, that families are better clothed and fed, and more money figds its way into the savings banks. The liquor traffic was destructive ot much that was most precious in American life. In the face of so much evidence on that point, what conscientious man would want to let his own selfish desires influence him to vote to bring it back? In another generation I believe that liquor will have disappeared not merely from our politics, but from our memories. The foregoing tribute to prohibition was attributed to President Harding,, and his secretary, George B. Christian, junr., writes that the expression is a very fair representation of the President’s views on the subject. .From the Congressional Record, Sixty-seventh Congress. Second Session (equivalent to our Hansard). (Taranaki Provincial Prohibition Council Publicity.) *