THE PRESIDENT APPALLED.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17629, 5 December 1922, Page 11

THE PRESIDENT APPALLED.

UTTER BREAKDOWN OF PROHIBITION. ADMITTED BY U.S. CABINET. ENFORCEMENT DEEMED IMPOSSIBLE. LATEST CABLES FROM NEW YORK. It is obvious from the tone of recent cable messages to the newspapers from Washington and New York that the Government of the United, States is rapidly revising its ideas concerning the blessings and benefits of prohibition. Mr John W. Weeks, Secretary of War, long ago put himself on record as in favour of legalising the manufacture and sale of light wines; and beer, and recently the Secretary of the Navy, Mr Edwin Denby, had his eyes opened by a disgraceful'orgy of drunkenness on the part of the cadets at the Naval Academy. President Harding, too, has issued a carefully-phrased statement in which he abandons his former attitude of stubborn determination to enforce the prohibition law, and expresses hiß willingness to amend the law if the public desires it. As to the causes underlying these developments one can only guess, but despatches sent to two of the great London newspapers by their New York correspondents in the last few days throw some light on the matter. The following appeared in the London "Daily Telegraph" on November 27th, 1922:

(From Our Correspondent.) NEW YORK, November 26. The breakdown of prohibition, long apparent to every man with his eyes to see and cash to buy from the bootleggers, is now admitted by the Washington Cabinet. The "Daily Telegraph" is s great old-established newspaper, with a world-wide reputation for accuracy and reliability. Its foreign correspondents are chosen with the greatest of care and are of proved integrity and ability. The excellence of its foreign news service is rivalled in London only by that of "The Times," a newspaper which needs no introduction to anyone in the British Empire. i In "The Times" of November 30th, >1922, the following appears:—

(From Our Correspondent.) NEW YORK, November 26. The failure of prohibition is causing the Government increasing concern. The whole subject was | considered at a Cabinet meeting recently. The facts and figures cited at this meeting are said to have appalled the President, who regarded the situation as so serious that he was with difficulty dissuaded from issuing a proclamation appealing to the wealthier classes of the nation to abandon their present defiance of the law. The belief of those members of the Cabinet who opposed the idea of the proclamation was that it would be fruitless. According to statements attributed to the Secretary of the Tieasury, Mr Mellon, THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE LAW IS IMPOSSIBLE, even if an army of prohibition officials is employed in the task, because, as he points out, the bribes offered them to ignore their duties are beyond the dreams of avarice. Information reaching the administration is to the effect that whisky, wines and other intoxicating beverages are now flowing in torrents over all the borders of the United States.

. These extracts have been cabled to New Zealand in order to give New Zealanders an opportunity of keeping track with the very latest developments in the great American experiment. ' They show that the experiment has failed, and failed dismally and completely.

Wise electors will not commit this sober, industrious, and prosperous country to such a disastrous experience. A great 'English Bishop said he would rather see England free than sober. New Zealand to-day is both free and sober. Why, ruin this fair land with a Yankee panacea which has been proved a destroyer both of liberty and sobriety? 1