OPENING OF THE EFFICIENCY CAMPAIGN.

White Ribbon, Volume 24, Issue 278, 19 August 1918, Page 1

OPENING OF THE EFFICIENCY CAMPAIGN.

It was unfortunate tli.it Thursday, August Nth. should have been one of Wellington’* bad days, with c< id south wind and drenching rain, fot on that evening the big “petition meeting was held in the Town Mall, when the three Organisers, just arrived from Canada, made their first

public utterances in the C ipital C ity. Despite cold and wet, .1 large audi once gathered to hear them, and a lively and interesting meeting it proved to be. for certain individuals, evidently representing the “ I r ide, were in attendant'**, read' to argue and interrupt whenever oj portunitx occurred. However, they found more than their match in Rev. R S. Gray, who occupied the chair, a’ter the fit*4 half-hour, and in the Canadian visi-

tors, and in ever} content of wit they came oft second best. Mr Temple White contributed during the half houi before the meeting several most enjoyable musical items on the large organ; and he accompanied the singing, of -the National \nthem, with which the pro* e< dings opened. The than was takYn by His Worship the Mayor, who, in a few wellchosen sentence*', welcomed the visi-

tors <n the name of the citizens of New Zealand, and paid some graceful compliments to Canada and to the C.iqadian “boys.” Pressing civic business then compelled Jum to withdraw, and his place wav t.iken by Rev. R. S. (iray, who >aid lie w ished, on behalf of the Exiccuttve of the Alliance, to explain briefly the reasons for accepting the National Efficien y Hoard’s proposals re the Liquor Traffic. The Govcrnment, he said, had been greatly praist ed for their w isdom in selecting these business. men of such standing, though, after their report rame out, these very men were branded as “wowsers ’’ The Efficiency Board appealed o men that the Prohibition party had never been able to touch, and their appeal came at the psychological mom *nt, v.hen every Government in the world was dealing with the Liquor Traffic. Russia, for instance, had been able to mobilise her armies far more quickly than the Central Powers had expected, because every man was sober. A strong rase could be made out against the “Trade.” When the Home leaders were in great anxiety over the submarine menace and appealed to the people to ration themselves, so as to conserve the rapidly diminishing food supplies, the Liquor Trade was destroying, every week day, th*' equivalent of seven million rations, while all that the submarines were destroying was seveo millions in a week. The navy ant’ the mine sweepers were guarding a great drink H p et that was bringing into England not soldiers, but food to be destroyed by the brewers, whose profits were increased by Soo to qo° per cent. The Italian debacle had been caused by hunger, and when Britain was asked to help with food, the answer was that she could do nothing, though there was still plenty of foodstuffs available for the brewers to destroy. In our own Dominion, i* Dunedin, beer had right of way on the railways, though ploughs had -to be refused. The Trade had such power at Home that it seemed impossible for the Government to tackle the Drink Question successfully, but we should put a ‘top to k here before it attained to such huge dimensions. Why, he ask°d, did we adopt the Efficiency Board’s proposal, involving compensation, against which the Prohibition party had always taken so firm a stand, denying the right of the Trade to compensation on any ground what-

ever? These business men showed that because of the four years’ delay in making National Prohibition o n iative, even after being carried, there would be a loss to the country <>f not to sj>cak of the moral wreckage and wastage; and the Temperance leaders dared not take the responsibility of refusing a propos d that made it possible, by the expenditure of four and a half millions, to sweep away the whole 'Traffic immediately and for ever; for it was understood that the Effirien v Board had in their minds decision for a bar? majority, to be immediately operative. Because they were patrir.ts, the Prohibitionists dared not put even that principle for which thev had stood up so long against the good of the country. Therefore, after long consideration, they commended the proposal of the Efficiency Board as being in the best interests of the nation, and were prepared to tell the Liquor party to take their blood money and dear out. Mr George Bed. M.P. for Victoria, in British Columbia Legislature, and /or six years President of the Y.M C.A., then addressed the meeting. After saying a hearty “Thank < ou” tor the kindness already shown to him and his colle igues, and retiring to the splendid landsc ipe, dimate, and people of the Dominion, he went on to tell die story of Prohibition in Canada. He described how for long they had had Local Option, and district after district went dry, but no district had jurisdiction over its neighbour. So after the outbreak of the war five Orders-in Council were passed, stopping the use of grain for distilling or malting, and making it illegal, after April Ist of this year, for intoxicating drinks to be imported, manufactured, sold, or carried from one province to another. Only in th * province of Quebec was this regulation not yet in force, but after May Ist, 1919, the whole Dominion of Canada would be “dry.” Similarly it was only a matter of a few months before the t’nited States would have declared for National Prohibition; 12 out of the 4<) States had already voted unanimously for it. and when threequarters had deeded for Prohibition, it came into force automatically throughout this vast country. Passing on to th< reasons for this decision against the Traffic, he said that though he did not personally believe in living out the moral and social and spiritual aspects of the

question, yet he was going to confine himself to the financial. The Dominion had been getting annually 19 million dollars as revenue from the Trade, and it was spending 215 millions directly and indirectly as th° result of its accursed work. Would not any one in his personal business “quit ’ under such circumstances ? The Lnit"d States were ‘pending two and a half billions of dollars annually, and in return received 45,000 dead babies, 100,000 orphans, 100,000 criminals, 100,000 cases of insanity, 65,000 suicides, and 75.000 buried in drunkards’ graves. Every day, in the Lnited States, the Liquor Traffic had been practically sinking a “Titanic,” with its 1500 victims. The speaker dealt next with the question, Does Prohibition work? He brought forward varied and convirn ,ng evid' nce to ‘how that everywhere that Prohibition had been tried, the results had been good. He had a letter from the Premier of Saskatchewan declaring th'' benefits arising were beyond dispute. In that province, as also in Manitoba and British Columbia, gaols had been closed. Outside Regina was a large penitentiary, and t.hii year there were so few occupants that men had to be hired to do the work, connected with the grow ing of vegetables, which in previous years h id all been done by the prisoners. In British Columbia, when Prohibition first was adopted, Government liquor stores had been opened, but before long the people voted them out by a majority of 0 to 1. It was often ‘tated that Prohibition ruined a place. The facts proved the reverse. A striking illustration was afforded by Kansas and Missouri, adjoining States, with but an imaginary line dividing them, of which Missouri had the advantage in natural resources Yet the ass°ssed value property in Kansas, that had had hibition for 30 years, was 1750 dollars per hca 1, as against 300 dollars in Missouri, the “wet” State. Kansas had the lowest dcath-ra.e in the world, »nd ascription was useless there, for all having volunteer'd, there were none left to conscript. Out of 800 newspapers in Kansas, only eight would insert a liquor advertisement. There were no bad results cither to employer or employee. One sawmill proprietor, talking to him on the subject, said: “It’s a godsend, for wc can itart our mill now on a Monday morning.” Even hotel property had

improved. In his own district three breweries had been c losed and turned to other uses, as furniture or boot fac - tory or tannery, employii g between -them 4(100 people, i i plan.* of under 400 employed before in brewing. Hotel accommodation had gieatly improved, as to table, quietness, and general comfort, and though it was true prices had pone up, tu.it was the case everywhere as the result of the war. The Canadian ( ommercial f* Travellers' \ss < ation had "Hr 1 \ stated that boarding accommodation was in no way worse. The hotelkeeper himself was taken oft of a line* of life that was bad for tiin, and found he could do muc h beiter in another occupation. North America had benefited in every way, and so would New Zealand. If th** Dominion once adopted Prohibition she would never regr°t having done so. or wish to go back on it. After a collection had been taken up, Mr Bayley, Teacher of History and Kconomics in Winnipeg, addressed the meeting. Taking as his text a pamphlet adorned with the I’nion Jack, but issu°d by the Merchants’ Protective Association, that eally stood for the liquor inten st, he* dealt with the ways in which the Trade had endeavoured, in British Columbia, to upset the voting for Prohibitior by tampering with the soldiers’ votes. The voting closed in September in British Columbia, bu*t arrangements were made whereby the soldiers in England and at the Front could vote up to the end A the year. W hen these votes were taken account of it was found thirt the Prohibition majority of boro gained by the home votes had been wiped out. But . s there were many suspicious c ircumstances connected with these soldiers’ votes, the British Columbia Legislature decided to send over a commission of three business men to enquire into the matter. The investigation brought to light many irregu'ar and fraudulent 'transactions. Of the 5701 alleged vot°s, apparently 50 were of men who bad died before the poll, 68q appeared to have voted in England, though at the time they were in the trenches in France, 583 had apparently vot°d twice, ;>q three times, and a large number seemed to have voted who had never been in the Canadian Army at all. Other glaring instances were given by Mr Bayley of the lax way in which the soldiers’ votes had hern taken, both in France

and in England; “dr>" votes* had been suppressed or exchanged tor “wet” votes, though the utmost pre cautions had been taken, and tlr* clearest directions given to ensure a clean and secret ballot. Quantities of cigarettes or of liquor had been used to influence the soldiers’ votes ; in on** case the soldiers who declared they had already voted were told the poll had to be repeated bee aus° the first voting papers had been lost through the torpedoing of a boot. These fraudulent practices were absolutely proved on conclus.ve evidence, and die result of the investigation was .o restore the majority for Prohibition, which was thus duly carried. Thus the ‘‘Trade” was shown up in its true colours, and we could understand what it would stoop to when fighting for its life. The last speaker was Mr Simpson, who said he came as a represenattive of Labour, and on a rec < nt visit to England had had the opi ortunitv of addressing the Labour members of the British Parliament on the prohibition of the Liquor Traffic. He maintained that the workers are not op posed to Prohibition, and that it is a vile slander to say that the working man is th** great obstacle to tli reform. To disprove this last st tcment, plebiscites were taken in every part of the Cnited Kingdom, resulting in large majorities for Prohibition. In six districts in England the Vpajoritv had been over 53,000, in two districts in Wales over 71x10, and in twelve districts in Scotland over 32,000. In iq2o the people in Scotland would probably have the power to vote out the Traffic, and he believed they would do it. He instanced Porto Rico, which had recently voted liquor out, though th*' people were so illiterate that their voting papers had to bear symbols as distinctive marks, a coconut for Prohibition, and a beer bottle for liquor. He showed that a great change had come in the attitude of Labour towards Prohibition. In Colorado, Denver, and in British Columbia there had be n opposition at first from newspapers and from officials, but now heartily supported it. He did not hold with any attempt to control the Traffic, such as by State ownership, which, according to the principles of true Socialism, he contended should be applied to the means of living, not to that which brought only ruin and misery and death. Enunciating the four standards of value —

real value, exchange value, use value, and sale* value —he* showed that from the economic Mand|X)int there was no valid argument for the production and use of liquor. Other common articles of trade were* to preserve life; this tend d to dest.oy. and liquor required l‘*ss labour and material f t iis product on than ;ny .fther artii le of the* same seLing value. Employees connected with bars and breweries he cot sidered were not truly democratic, for they placed their own before the* interests of the community. I he> had always opposed reforms, such as woman suffrage and the* referendum, because they feared that these would tend towards the overthrow of the Liquor Traffic. The workers a* a body desired knowledge, and when sc ience demonstrated to them that alcohol injured the b >dy by robbing the r°d and white corpuscles in the blood of their I lower to resist disease, they recognised that it impaired efficiency, and they would have none* of it. The movement for Prohibition, be believed, would go on irresistibly., Weak and humble in its beginning, it bad gained strength by slow degrees, but now it had become a mighty force, which would eventually prevail. The proceedings closed with the National Anthem.