WHAT REV. JASPER CALDER KNOWS.

Taranaki Daily News, 7 October 1922, Page 6

WHAT REV. JASPER CALDER KNOWS.

AN OPEN LETTER TO HIM. (Reprinted from the “N.Z. Herald.”) Dear Sir, —A large number of people do not take you in a serious manner. This is a mistake. It is true that you are a first-class entertainer, and provide fun at all times. But you are in earnest, and you know all about the hotels of Auckland. While all the Prohibitionists were asleep you have been awake, and gone right into the hotels. You know all about the hotel business, and you are the friend of it. You gave evidence before the Committee of the House in Wellington. This is serious enough. This is what you state: “The Trade know that if I took the platform against them in Auckland and say in public what I have said to them privately, they would not live a minute.” Now, I have known you all your life. I am sure you would not say what is not true. You know all about the Auckland hotels, and you say that if you were to tell what you know they would not be allowed to live. This is downright serious talk, and from a friend of the hotels and their owners and keepers. I have said some hard things about the liquor- trade in hotels, but I have never spoken like t'liis. Some of the hotelkeepers, both men and women, I have respected and liked. They have said harder things about the business than I could, but you know the most, and have shown every voter of sense that the Trade is bad, and the only thing to do is to vote it out. The hotelkeepers know that it cannot be reformed. They make all the money tney can. and get out. The owners only hold on to make all they can before the trade is done for. Now, let us combine, with yourself as leader, the owners, the hotelkeepers, my party —the Prohibitionists—and the public as followers, and vote -the thing which you have proved to be such an evil, right out of New Zealand. In the “Star” of August 10 you have proved that the hotels in the other cities of New Zedland are even worse than the Auckland ones. There can be nothing for it but to take your word and vote them out. You have proved they' are bad, and everyone knows that they cannot be made anything else, therefore out they go, and we will say, “Well done, Rev. Jasper Calder.”

JOHN HASELDEN. St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Mt. Albert.

A MESSAGE TO LABOUR FROM A NEW ZEALANDER. MR. WILL J. FRENCH, OF SAN FRANCISCO. Mr. W. J. French is a New Zealander, who has resided a number of years in America. He was born in Auckland, and associated with the printing in- , dustry. In America he was Secsetarv, and later Chairman, of the Typographical Union, and is now Head of the State Department of Labour and Industrial Relations, and Chairman of the State Industrial Accident Committee. Mr. French was former President, of the following bodies:—San Francisco Labour Council, San Francisco Typo- ‘ graphical Union No. 21, and Allied Printing Press Council. Ten years ago he was Editor of the “Labour Clarion.” What he has to say, therefore, may be taken as of particular interest to New Zealand labour. Writing from San Francisco. Mr. French rightly claims an intimate knowledge of the Pacific Coast, and. says that he desires to say a few plain words in contradiction of the many false statements which are printed describing the Liquor situation in the United States. He says that to-day one or two men are being arrested for drunkenness in San Francisco, where formerly seventeen or eighteen were arrested. In former days only disorderly and helpless drunks were but now practically all drunks are given a free ride to the Police Station. The following are actual extracts from Mr. French’s letter: — “I. The forces active in’ facing the problems of poverty and dependency ‘ are strong for Prohibition, simply because its effect on the dark places of the municipality is plainly discernible. The leaders of the Associated Charities, the Telegraph Hill settlements, ' the clinics, the women’s clubs, and al] the numerous social agencies, tell the same story, and for the same reason. “2. Little children are growing up without the least knowledge of what a saloon looks like. “3. Intoxicating liquor is no longer thrust at one. You must go look for it, and people are beginning to see the story is no joke that six liquor labels entitle the holder to a free funeral. “4. The effect of the abolition of the saloon on the labour market was nil. Nowhere in the world does the traffic 1 make an}- respectable return to the community, and this applies particularly on tlie labour end. The large, beer-drink-ing city of San Francisco under License had about 400 members of the Brewery Workers’ Union. Any other occupation, using the same amount of money, would have many thousands of employees. “5. Homes are happier, women write tlieir husbands ibring home their wages and visit the theatres and enjoy themselves sanely. i>pp>- renditions have improved. the right of the child to be well born is conceded, and alcohol has lost its j grip. “6. Intoxicants are not as plentiful as heretofore. If they were, there would be no agitation for their return. Drunken men do not reel about, the streets as j formerly. Occasionally they do. but the I comm'on sight ’has disappeared, and no . longer do (lie open bars corrupt civic i life and debauch citizens. I “’7. Crime lias decreased. Saloons i and breweries are now engaged in re- ' spectable businesses, and employ more j men. Houses of amusement are not complaining about dry legislation, nor are the women’s clubs, the Boy Scouts, the social workers, the churches, or any of the other agencies of standing. The merchants do not report that a return of millions of dollars yearly to the saloons would aid them financiallv.”