OVER THE TEACUPS.

White Ribbon, Volume 31, Issue 368, 18 February 1926, Page 4

OVER THE TEACUPS.

Mrs Smith! "Well! what ilo >ou people think of the latest nows from the I S.A.? It seems that Prohibition is not proving the great cure-all that you folk expected it to In*. ’ Mix Jones: "What news are you alluding to? Who is sending us this news?" Mix Brown: "Surely. Mrs June's, >ou must have seen the cables in the daily press telling of the increase' of crime and of the fight they are making to get back liquor into the States." Mrs Howe: "You know, we did build such hopes upon the Tinted States, and now it really seems jus if they are to bo dusopiKunted." Mrs J.: "Well, some folk do scare ousily. 1 wish you good Indies would use your brains. I Hun t you know that these cables are being s«int by the *we‘* press just to discredit Prohibition?" Mix S.: "Its all very well for you to say that. but it certainly seems as if the people are not satisfied with Prohibition now they have got it." Mrs J.: "Who are not satisfied? The brewers and ex-saloonkeepers? I>id ><iu expect them to be satisfied? To see th* billions of dolkirs yearly which went into their pockets, now going to th*Savings Hank, or U ing invested in other ways for the benefit of wife and child run, is scarcely likely to please them. Why, the number of savings accounts in the nation's banks ha.s increased 40'> per cent, under Prohibition. Must be very satisfying to the men who are losing this money. As one witty Irishman snid when his prosperous appearmice was commented on, ‘l’ve made a bargain with the saloon-keeper. 1 told him to k(s*p his liquor, and I’ll keep my ciush.’ ” Mix R.: “l>o you really think these cables are inspired by the ‘wets?" Mrs J. : "Well, ask yourself. Th<* Liquor Trade is a huge, world-wide monopoly. It has lost one of its best customers. Has it not an interest in proving Prohibition a failure? And what interest is it to decent citizens to prove I’rohihition a good thing if it is not so? They have no axe to grind. All they desire is the welfare of then count ry." Mrs B.: "There’s something in what you say. But still it makes one feel, to read these cables, as if the people of P.S.A. were not satisfied."

Mrs J.: "If the i*eoplo are not satisfied, they lake a funny way to show it. The> can repeal the law as easily ns they passed it. It was not an uusy matter to carry Prohibition; it tool; more than half u century of hard work after ill* first State went dry, before the nation was dry. But if the ‘wets have such a big majority of the people behind them, they can repeal the law as easily as tile ‘drys' passed it." Mrs R.: "Well, I suppose they coulJ do that. Why don’t they try it?" Mix J.: "Because the Liquor Trade never was a sport. Instead of altering the law in an open manner, they prefer to break the law and to bring discredit upon it. How does thus strike you foi satisfied voters: In 1924 they elected their thin! Congress since Prolrbition was carried, and it is the driest Congress they’ve ever had. If the voter-, want to go ‘wet,’ why don’t they elect wet members? Instead of that, they turned out 18 ‘wets,’ while not a single ’dry’ member lost his seat. Bo you know i hat Congress is 75 per cen . dry, and President Coolidge is the wriest President the States liave ever had? Funny, isn’t it, that the voters whe want a ‘wet’ law should elect such a ‘dry’ House?" Mrs S.: "But you can’t deny th t ’here is a great agitation against Prohibition?’ Mix J.: "Of course there is. Vested interests are squirming. The idea of letting wages go to the homes without the liquor seller having fiixt right to them! Ik) you wonder t.he poor brewers are agitating to get back their easy income?” Mrs it.: "But, Mrs Jones, do you think all the trouble is stirred up b> * the Trade? Mrs J.: "I most assuredly do. IVttieinns are keen to get votes. Well, if the voters in P.S.A. want to get rid of Prohibition why is it that not a sing'e Political Party is asking even for th< modification of the Prohibition law, let alone its repeal?” Mrs B.: "Yes, that certainly is significant.” Mrs S.: "But has not crime increased f Mix J.: "Depends on what you call crime. Serious crime Ims decreased, all social workers admit this. The number of arrests cabled out includes all arrests for breaking traffic regulations and other minor offences. Moreover

the increase of serious crime in Great Britain is l>emg attributed to ’jazz,’ ’movies,’ and ‘hip i*ocket flasks.’ As Great Brita n has no Prohibition, it cannot be credited to that. In the P.S.A. it is in the ‘wet spots' that crime is increasing, so they are* doing their Inst to dry these spots.” Mix S.: "But Prohibition is nuking giHsl citizens break the law. Why should the law dictate to them what they should drink?” Mrs J.: "Now, m> dear, that's piffle. If you allow people to select which laws they will obey, then law and order ends, and anarchy begins. Mix R.: "But can you give Us any idea why this news is coining through now?” Mix J.: "The screw is getting tighter and tighter. Stocks held in the cellar.*, of the wealthy are running low; fines imprisonment, pud locking of places guilt\ of selling liquor, is nmking liquor hard to get. The patrol Meet is dealing more and more effectively with smuggling. Its ‘now or never’ and well does Bung know this. Have you notion! that it is impossible to get any protest against Prohibition from those States which were ‘dry’ before the 18th Amendment was passed? Professor Gilbert Miinviy, of Oxford University, says that tin* revolt against Prohibition comes almost entirely from the States that had never tried it. Mix R.: "Well! I feel lots lietter now l>o you think the* brewers are getting ala l ined?" Mrs J.: "Certainly they are. They know what a good thing Prohibition is for a country, and whut a Imd thing for their trade. You look at our own daily imjM'ix. and note how often cases arc tried for supplying liquor to those under 21 years of age. Have you never wondered why this law is so persistently broken? Well, you listen to this; it is t?*.ken from the ‘Brewers’ Journal, and explains a goou uoel ‘Yearly tens of thousands of alcoh« I drinkeix die. With the rising generation, ami whether or not they take to alcohol, rests the future of the trade commercially, politically. and economically.’ Now do you sec why the Trade dreads Prohibition in P.S.A.? It cannot get a chance to make new drunkards." Mrs G.: "Then you realty think Prohi bit ion is a success?” Mrs J.: "Yes. I really do. The people in P.S.A. are neither crazy, blind, fan

atics, nor hypocrites. They ended this Trade because it was impossible to mend it. And they still believe that Prohibition even if not 100 per cent, en forced, is much better than regulation or than license. Every State is st lengthening its laws to enforce Pro hibition; not one State bus gone book.” Mrs B.: “Thank you for telling us the truth. But, my dear, whether Pit* hibition is a success in F.S.A, or not. I feel certain our Dominion would be )>etter for our children without ‘The Trade,* and so Itn a Prohibition worker for all time.”