PROHIBITION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10482, 20 November 1911, Page 6

PROHIBITION.

(ADVERTISEMENT.)

NOTES 3Y PROFESSOR SALMOND, D.0., OTACO UNIVthSITY.

1. We. ought not to restrain- personal (liberty or to have recourse to legjiswiti\te pn'ohrbiticn in the case of acts- or usages which are in them'setves innocent, on the plea that ttiey may become occasions of eviii and tlhut they aro sources of temptation. Prohibition must 'be limited to acts and usages- which are inherently bad. We do niot hesitate by p.roJuliM.tory law to attack .sweat mg w connbines ■wtliich, artificially raise the prices oi the necessaries of l'if-e, because sweating and combines are rttteiiiwith the iwk'kedine&s of avarice. AVe prohibit gamiblliing ibceauso the ganvb- ; hug iliiaibi.it) is esseaiti-a.!ily depira ved ' nwvral character. So far as I can as- ' cortain, there is mot now in force ;v ,;'.';ugle statute prohibiting any acts excepting -sneh »& are bad, or at 'foist/ judged to be jba,d. In the ease <.if inmocent 'acts which. tnre | yet more oir le-sis damgerous, we a-eguilite thenv, do mot prohibit them. We piroJiih.it a- man liighitrjng a fire wherever Ire lifes. hut tb ji.ot prohibit his lighting- a iire. We prohibit n man discharging iirearmis in tho thoroughfare, hut do not prohibit their discharge. Now, the sale and use of wine is in itself an innocent act, although, ifraught with, danger. I 1 ."before, in proportion itto its _ darker oug'litt it to be fuiiidien-' regulation ; but wfliy prohibited? Why place on the statute hook so exceptional and anomiatbus a llaiv? • Is it wortlh while (recalling lure tllilat the eoiiisideirarti'odi ■! problematical danglers to virtue ana problematical gain® to the moral heiuth tf pelopiie uiave been used as the /..utiiieaition, of a'Jl the fiiwuptairay laws of ages. past. 'All isumip'tnui.ry laws are prohibitions, in acts in themselves innocent, but theory and experience aiii'fce have eonclemined them. It is- a good test of the elf any principle of thonght or action xo ask: how far willthis cany a *, if we work it out with h.gicai i-omsistetucy? lon won'Jd prolr.b'.t the traffic in wine because of us moral [dangers. Bus that alone moral dangers? A gold and >:lvtr currency 'im-s been yrointyicjd, and an iron currency substituted, .issiyning a/'small value to a great quantity i-u order to (ward oil' the mtscliiof ot avarice which is at the root of all manner of evil's-, and w preserve the simplicity and purity of mauneis. At one stroke JUycurgus thus put* an end to fraud, robbery, bribery, "ro.r-ial inequalities, jealousies, enervating Luxuries, and litigation. What Prohibitionist will bikini's his policy, oi' i is found prepared to 'imitate it? Who can reckon, up, the sins aaid miseries that flow from competition- in business ? The Hying advertisements, the swindling companies, the iraamailacture of shoddy, the sweating oppression? Shall we prohibit competition? Who Ims ever told the story ' off the evils, tlbat have comie from dancing and promiscuous balls, from theatrical lexihibitio'us, from the opera house and the music hall, from the reading of novel's, from the rac- . ing'of horses? Yet we do not take ■ it on u® to prohibit Wiese tilings, - partly ibeeause good as. as evil ifows'ifrom some of them., and. partly "because they have no inherent iJadness apart'(from the foolishness I of nien who convert tluem iaito oc-

wisdoms of sdn. Dancing has- been the moral ruin of ininumtarable lives, bait dit. is as .natural, for young people to cLamce a.s .for birds to sing o<r for a young dilorse to career round a paddock, and we dare not prohibit it. The theatre 'has bieen a dreadful sink of moral corruption., but it is inevitable that we should be inter-

ested An its lively presentations o'f tlie ways and manners and passions of tflie comedies and traged-

ies of life—it flowls 'from.our lui-miaii symipathiiesi. Virtue, protests in vadin, and we dsvre not issue our v»toos against the stage, either in tine name mf morality, or y>f 'law, or of religion. We wiljl l aieiveir pnt down gannibling so Oonig ais. horse racing flpTirishies, but mo one will paxipose to prohibit (t3ie racing of litorses, for it ds innocent, dn itself, and it is a

) fine exhilarating amusement to witness the strength and fieetnetss of those bea-utilfiul and wonderfullly orgaiiii'sed aaiimals. The act wie prohibit must he judged in itsetlf bad. 'llie altogether lanomaloais. cjlilaracter of the attempt to fonbid and penalise tllue net of vselling a. glass of wine, /booatise some aiien want too nnwiy glasses, land its unreasonahleiitess, are. so manatest that Prohibitionists themselves have frequently he en driven to dedliure the a,cu sinful, to condemn tine, wine-iseliler as a wicked man and u eu'iminal, to deirjand his exclusion from the mlpmbersiluip of the Oliri&tioai Chaireh, and tio .make 'lf.-ta-l Abstinence at leaist a condition of holding office. A.s logical consistency demands at, vigorous attempts of this kind have been, made, especiat% in America. Enthusiasts litiwe occupied the Qvigh ground that the muui wlho does not praotisio 'j'otai Abstinence "evinces a state of jheart directly the reverse of tiiiat uuiiich is piwluoed by tine, grace of God," and there "rests on. alll men. a ski'uMum obligation to cease for ever from thie. manufa.rturc, rale, and) use of intoxicating Deverages." Such prak.'onorhhyefforts iafiter utter logical consistency have, lviwie-ve-r, been unc'iiccvrsful, and have been vi.go.rousiiy axptilii'd. Cnly the Salvation A.ran;v occupies th.is ground. It is al-tc<j-e.tl;ci:i t'oo hfcn'ol-c lt<o convert tlie vint;K.r into a wticked, man aiiid ft fijtiirJi'i:al ,to brand as a. sin.ner thio man who- drinks a glass of wine, and baaish him from the grace of God.