THE PROHIBITIONIST.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3990, 16 December 1891, Page 2

THE PROHIBITIONIST.

PiibHthed by the courtesy of the Editor of Wairaro.paDaihj under the auipi'.es of the New Zealand Alliance for ike prhib>. i-m of -'be liquor traffic, Masijiion Auai'.ixry.

Wh-,i ra!"pain'.s dmaad the entire e«-Un:-'ion of all p'aees for the &ale of liqvws their pi c <jcr shoi I'dbeg, -anlzd. — ttarlis £u:;io:t, Brewer.

<or tb's colturn must be addressed i,o "The P.'oliiD'.tio.ijsb" tare of Ecltor of Wairaka.'A |

The American " Atlantic Monthly" is in no sense a Magazine run by Temperance Reformers, and yet here is how Geoige Frederick Parsons wroce in it some lime ago. He affirmed that the 135,000 drink shops were the real political curse of the United States. The American system of govern merit is theoretically sound. The means of education are accessible to all. But when our children have passed through the public schools and enter into active life, if they wish to take part in public affairs they must descend to the saloon for instruction in politics, and in the same institution the foreign immigrants must graduate before they can exercise a right of citizenship. These are our political school?, in fact, and they give the tone to our politics, ci'jy, Siate and national. The candidate for office finds it indispensable to " make himself solid with " the rum power. He must buy the favour of the saloon keepers. He must frequent their places and flatter the vanity of those who gather there. Through ihern he must obtain the votes of the idle, the vicious, the criminal classes. He must become familiar with all the ward " strikers " and loafers. He must be represented at the caucases which are always held where drink abounds. He must defer to the views of men of the lowest: intelligence. He must subscribe to platforms drawn up by demagogues and time servers. Is it any wonder that self-respecting men often shiiuk from these ordeals, and prefer the obscurity of private life to a political career demanding such sacrifice and such debasement ? The foreigner who lands in this country obtains bis first ideas of its government system from thesuloon. There he is introduced to the lowest intrigues of fac« lional conflict. There he is taught that the chief end and aim of politics is to make as much as possible for the " workers." There he is enlisted inco one or the other of the great organise tions which have reduced party politics to periodical battles for plunder, to contests for the opportunity to misgovern. Theve he lea? ns that honour and principle are simply ' molasses to catch flies,' as a notorious politician oncß expressed it. There he is made to understand that.he is not expected to think for himself, .but that he must obey implicitly the party mandates, reverence the saloon-keeper of his ward, submit himself humbly to his " boss," and on election day be thankful that he can sell his vote for a couple of dollars or a debauch on bad whiskey. This is no fanciful picture. Theft is not a considerable city in the United States in which purchased votes are not cast by the thousand at every important election, and these votes are almost invariably bought and paid for in and through the saloon.

Mr Parsons adds, in closing bis article:—Now, the saloon is utterly base and vile in all its relations and connections, and it is necessaiy that this should be said, and said plainly, its influence in politics is altogether depraving and mischieyous. It can only paralyze or destroy public spirit, and substitute the worst kind of demagogism. It can only give a preposterously disproportionate weigh t in pui>lic affairs to the elements which should, because of their unfitness, be ihe least in evidence. It can only discourage and exclude from public life the worthiest and most Capable citizens. It can only encourage and thrust to the uont the most impudent and incapable. Every vicious and debasing theory,every corrupt' spoils' doctrine, every line of thought which tends to biutalise and degrade politics, every aspect of them which is an insult and a wrong to the teligion, the virtue, the womanhood of the nation, may be traced to the saloon.. The placid toleration of so rank and gi oss an evil is a shame lo us as a people. The pretence tbat we can live in peace and harmony and fellowship wiih it is n reproach to the general intelligence. Ttis is the question of the immediate future. It will not down at the behests of politicians. It will not cease to disiurb the national conscience until remedial action is determined upon.

Tbe drudges of the Waharapa publicans—barmen, housemaids, waiters and knockabouts—are asked to notice this paragraph. Mr A. W. Hogg, M.tf.K, might alco giro it his attention. A meeting of baimen and barmaids, and others employed by licensed vicfcuflleis, was held on 27th Spp:ember in Hyde Park, London. The principal item in the programme was a general reduction in the hours of labour, which were at the same time simply scandalous. The chairman, Mr Dobson, said that the average horns were from 16 to 16i per day, in an atmosphere poisoned by the fumes of tobaccD, and the smell of spirits, and the breath of the people collected in the house. Barmen tc -day did not live half the average lifetime of other classes of community, and no respectable insurance company would insure their lives. In one instance a man had not been outside the bouse in which he was employed for three months. They wished to alter all this. They were going in for a " rest" of four hours a day. When they got as far as that they might proceed a little further, and ask that a minimum wage might be fixed for all bar woikers. The n<jxt reform that was desired was the abolition of the employment of boys under sixteen years of age. The only class of men and women in New Zealand that are little better than slaves are the hired drudges of the publicans. Ptohibition would mean the moral and physical emancipation of these slaves and would lead them in occupations that are blessings to society—not curses.

Writing from Johannesberg, South Africa, where she is now touring. Miss Conybeare says :—«' King Kama is an enlightened man for a native, and tries to prevent spirits, which demoralise and kill off his subjects ho terribly, from being sold. He besought our Government to prohibit this liquor traffic, but, alas! in vain." The following is taken from The Voice, Ne.v York. •'! have drank whisky every day for 35 yeais," said a gemleman of 60 ; "I never was drunk in my life, and I have as good a constitution as the average man of my age." This statement led to enquiries about the health of his family. It W£9 found that the eldest daughter

bad perfect health, but the second son possessed a nervous excitable temperament, while the third child, a young lady of 17, was epileptic and subject to continual ill-health.