THOUGHTFUL TESTIMONY.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18516, 19 October 1925, Page 3

THOUGHTFUL TESTIMONY.

GEXERAL EVASION AND CORRUPTION. (By the Hon. Oscar Terry Crosby, ' author of "International War, Its Causes and its-.Cure," and other volumes.)"Let us" assume that the power of government is to be exercised in restraining the conduct of individuals when such cr.nduct becomes injurious to others. Because a large number ot citizens believe that this restraint is one not properly exercised by government, we now are witnessing a very general revolt, against tho law in question. ' "These evasions of the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibition) result in the sudden affluence of thousands ot men otherwise not competent to earn more than the wages of the unskilled. • They familiarise the industrious poor with the discouraging fact that higher rewards are obtainable by illegal bootlegging than by the most assiduous and honest efforts in their various callings. v "Thousands of officials thronghoute the land are being corrupted because thev are undertaking the execution of laws which are not approved by. vast numbers of citizens who, in respect to other laws, stand for learning and light. And we can scarcely cherish the hope that, if present laws remain on the statute book, these bad conditions can be bettered. "The lure of the gin cocktail as forbidden fruit seems to have largely 'increased the number of V OUll g people of both sexes who turn to intoxicants in their social gatherings. '■'lt is probable that the number of' those now drinking injuriously is about what it was before Prohibition daysj "May we not ask that our neighbours should not concern themselves with how we spend our money, so long as we do not spend it in ways injurious to them? And when I'say 'we, let me include all classes of citizens. I. for one. shall take no part in the absurdly snobbish attitude of many* people of my aquaintance, who excuse the Eighteenth Amendment in all its tyranny, because it presumably imposes upon the so-called 'working classes' particular methods of spending their money. Heaven help us' Let us have done with what may be indeed a sincere form of meddlesomeMattie activity, but what often seems to be a mere affectation of superiority." —"North American Review," 1925. Evidence from those who have had ACTiTAL EXPERIENCE of Prohibition is the only evidence worth considering. Strike out the two bottom lines. Advt.-lo