Does Prohibition Prohibit?: Labor Leaders' Answer

New Zealand Tablet, 13 October 1921, Page 13

Does Prohibition Prohibit?: Labor Leaders' Answer

Messrs. C. H. Sitcji and John Davison, Labor members of the House of Commons, visited the United States to report on Prohibition. They said that they went with open minds, being impressed with the idea that Prohibition was an unmixed blessing, but with this opinion they can no longer agree. They found that tho Anti-Liquor Law was agitating industry in America to an unexampled degree. “In our judgment,” they said. “Prohibition as we have been led to believe it prevailed docs not exist, but the Prohibition Law has resulted in an enormous development of home brewing and wine-making. . Illicit stills are quite common in private houses, the necessary apparatus being purchasable at the stores. We constantly observed business men producing pocket flasks of liquor. A serious element in private brewing is the opportunity afforded the common informer, than whom there is no personality except the blackmailer that is more odious to Englishmen. Wo were assured that whereas formerly business men were content to take an occasional drink in saloons, they are now in the habit of taking quantities of liquor to their offices for private consumption. Black and White in dozens could' be obtained for 90 dollars per case. Though we were able to procure only a soft drink when visiting saloons alone, we found no difficulty in procuring alcohol when accompanied hv persons known to the saloon keepers. Being warned of the poisonous nature of these concoctions we refrained from drinking them but partook of alcohol in private houses. America is described as the “bootleggers’” paradise. The saloons have had an and in their old odious form thev will not return, but we believe the American public will demand facilities to buy light wines and beers. We were furnished with a great mass of material, showing the heavy increase in personal savings. The development of business, of food and clothing sheens, is attributed to Prohibition. Many business-men assert that the workmen are better time-keepers. We are not disposed to accept these assertions as unchallengeable; indeed, we have been supplied with data rebutting them. Wo think much of the alleged improvement has been due to the trade boom at the end of the war: but now there is a different state of affairs. There are nearly 6,000,000 unemployed in American staple industries. The report points out that the American Federation of Labor Convention at Denver unanimously protested against Prohibition, demanding a modified form in order to permit the manufacture of wholesome beer.

<x*>- . The efficacy of prayer does not depend on the merit of the Person who ora vs. but on the mercy, of God. and on His faithfulness to His promise.—St. Thomas Aquinas.