TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 220, 10 June 1908, Page 10

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

•[The matter in this column.is supplied • by a representative of the New Zealand Alliance;, and Tsra DoraiaoN is. in n0... way* reqjon«il>le for tho opinions, ex- .. :!• pressed ther»i».] , .. SWEEPIKG VICTORIES OF PROHIBITION IN AMERICA. Ths American "EoTiow of Reviews". for 'April contains a remarkable- article by Pr. Inglehart, dealing,. with tho marvellous spread; of Prohibition sentiment in America, : particularly jin, the. Southern States. He .points .out ;that'in the last forty, years the population of the .country.: ii as ..scarcely, , -'doubted) '. but . that,? while iherd wore. then: :only;.3]600,000 under Prohibition, there are to-day 58)000,000; 'and, what is more .remarkable'; still,' tha population in 'prohibition -, territory. ,hw.- increased, tenfold. J. 'At. the. , beginning of this iw century—in ..l?00y18,000,000 under, prohibition.. The nunibeir, to-day : is' l ■ exactly .-double Trhat it ...was than. . In tho past eight months an area, is • largeV is : Franco has' gfoue "dry..' Into; that:area tho whole .British .Islos could :be.. put,.,and there .-would still be-a border round : them- :-lp,boo, square miles in .extent.. Orie.aigniflcsnt:faot is that of. the, 3(3j000,000 living in dry 'areas, 26,000,000 have; secured; prohibition by ailccal option rote. or. liiglo-hart--expects "to see - a yofc,' wider, area broy.tfKt under-'prohibition. :A ;wayo. of anti-saloon sentimentis' .sweeping . all 'Tjeforo 'it... And the sentiment- has substantial warrant in itho Buccess 'of proliibition -where it has ; had a fair, .chance.; -.Ho . quotes . North . Dakota, of which Judge Pollock declares: " Ou\- pros-1 . pority';. under prohibition is • well nigh phenomenal., Tho United States'.' census. reports show that North Dakota has the greatest . wealth; per capita of any State <in tho. Union, and-that- , our farm earnings aro the greatest/ in the -nation-./- Wo hare 100 dollar? por--head, in/the iSarings Bank, and. the popula-. tion haj.,increased 70 per cent., vin. the .last ten yeaTs. Of-Kansas,' Dr. -Inglebart says, "while tho liquor- dealers .are distressed oyer , tho failure -' of tha law,'-.tin: people of tho State generally, hold that it is . a success; The Governor of Kansas, Govornor Hock,* declares: '.'I believe prohibition has been, a great.benefit financially, intellectually, morally. Tl|o. Stato has 145,000,000 dollars in its banks—S3 dollsrs per head—pauperism is practically unknown, the prison has but httlo more use than when tho State had only half its -population." Dr.-Inglehart's artielo is well worth studying by every- student of sociology.. ■■ It is tho. story lof a romartsble moral movement, whoso end .is not yot-reanhed. ■- ■'

'EVIDENCE FROM OAMARU. , ,■ In tlicir eagerness-to : find evidence of the; failure of :No-licenso where it is in operation, the advocates of the liquor' traffic constantly overdo, it. For'example, charges of oxcessivo drinking- 111 Oamaru on Christmas Evo were nude. These charges were submitted to the. local 6ergeant of polico, who, ia. answer to questibns concerning! them, replied:— /'was :i :not' a' single, arrest;., for 1 clrunkenness during the whole of tho Christmas and New Year scisona. , B—There ,was not a single complaint from any person as to . rowdiness ,or ,dainage to property or : ! larrikimsm of; any description.' C.—Not ona of his -men Toported to him that there was any. drinking going on that night. They '• all reported that •: everything *ns very quiet indeed. The oroird was very orderly. - . '■ ■ ■ -• i D.—Thore : had only been four.' arrests' for ■ drunkenness caused by drink got "in Oamaru itself during tho last oighteonMonths. . v'-y ■ m-'. P.—On New Year's Day there wcro Caledonian sports, and although about.GOCO peo-' pie ' Were present there was "no disorder,; and' not'a single ..arrest for drunkenness. The same' remarks applied to tho agricultural show, held shortly, before, 'at which' there were about 9000 people present. They. wore svery orderly crowd, find .very easy to manage. / ' - : Cf; ; —ln his opinion this, was- a ypry fine record; indeed,i ..and .for."tho Nor license party! to be ashamed of.

'AFRICAN CATHOLICS AND LIQUOR,. /A' resident in . Wellington has,just received' th® following lotter from Henry N. Pringlo, Editoi of the " Record " Maine, U.S.A.•' ... "My dear Sir,—Regarding the attitude of the Romin Catholic Church to tcmper- , ance.i The 'Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America, organised at Baltimore, Md., February 22, 1d72, .has over 100,000 members.. Popo Leo XIII., on March 27, 1887, declared, ,'ihe proner ind efficacious remedy for .the great evil of intemperance' • is, to abstain totally from OYery kind of intoxicating drjnlt and added:: 'Let pastors therefore do their best to drive the. plague of intomporanco from th« fold of 'Christ by assiduous pronehing and oxhortntion, and to shino before all. »s models of abstinence.' This declaration was ot tha Baltimore Oounoil, In? 1804 tho Bishop of Columbus, Ohio, forbade any society in hia,diocQSß to have a saloon keepor-cr liquor dealer at its head or among its officers, end ordered that no-new. society should admit, such persons 'to: membership. This' ord-ir was sustained'by the apostolio delegate at Washington, and although it applies only to-the diocese referred to, it - represents progressive Catholic sentiment in our entiro country.. The Knights of Columbus, tho most influential Catholic organisation in,the United States, and tho largest, bars all saloon keepers and liquor dealers of ovory class from membership.; Many other Catholic benevolent societies ' refuse admission to saloon keepers and. liquor .dealorsj-■■although 'notmany. have embodied tho restriction in their constitution,^ as have the'Knighta of Columbus: Other tempernnco societies', organised hy,the Roman Catholics, aro the Knights of •Father Mathow,- The League of the Cross, and the Knights, of the Cross; also, grpat iiumbors of local Catholic tompenmno sodietio?. ■ Many Ciitholio Bishops ;a~dminißter>tho total abstinenco pledge in America when thoy confer the sacrament by confirmation.' Rarely-,: in rccent years, is wine or any kind of in j toxica ting drinks served at banquets givon, under the auspices of the Catholics or of Catholic societies. Father .Tames X. Clary, of St., Lonis, Mo~, from whose article on ' The Catholjc Church and Temperance Work' I, am gotting;thoso,facts, says that-no saloon' koetfor is ever found on the board of church trustees. It is well known that ?11 over our country the Catholic clergy, both" bishops and, priests, are taking a prominent part in securing local county or state legislation declaring the existence of ,tho saloon unlawful. Some quotations follow:— •v '"I again publish tho condition without which, for some jwp past. I have declined to approvo of,now .societies or new branches.of old organisations in this diocese, liamcly: that no ono who is ongaged either as principal or agont in tho manufacture or sale tf intoxicating liquor, can bo admitted'to mom-: bership.'—Bishop John A. Waterspn, Diosece of-Columbus, Oliio, U.S.; " 1 call upon all pastors to induce any of their (locks who may bo ongaged in the Bale of liquiirs,: to abandon as soon as thoy can tho danporous traffip, and to embracq a mora becoming way of making a living.'— Catholic Third Plenary Council, Baltimore, lid., U.S.A., 1885, A.t). ■ " 'One of tho great blowings of No-licenso is, that .it has cripplod tho ,power of tho naloon—ono of . the most pewennl, bold, persistant, and authoisras opponents to what is good.'—R®v; Tiomas Seullj', Cambridge, Ma,m., U.S.A. "Yours rospootfully, " HENRY N, PRINGLE," ~