THE BISHOP AND THE PROHIBITIONISTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1270, 27 October 1911, Page 6

THE BISHOP AND THE PROHIBITIONISTS.

Sir,—ln your leader this morning deal--0 ing with Bishop Crossley's logic on tho liquor question you say: "They are few who strive painluljy to roach tho pure 11 truth of the whole matter. Bishop CrossV ley is [not| one of them." The "not" s is mine, and must surely havo appeared r in your original, for every "ordinary honest man in a democracy" Iwlievcs that " the only way for the Stale to deal with '" an evil is to make its propagation penal, consequently our Statute Book is lull of v prohibitory laws. s\ny individual who 0 tliinks otherwise is generally looked upou '' as being, well, hardly re>peelablo. Now, 1 t-ir, almost abreast of your leader is im „ account of the inquest upon an uufor,T lunate female, the verdict being "death. . accelerated by the excessive indulgence j in alcohol." I olten wonder if theso n priests and bishops who countenance tho. „ open bar for the sale of liquors ever hoar s or read about those ghostly drink tragc- ,. dies (to-morrow's paper will record aut other). Surely they do not. although t such total at least five hundred yearly, ami tiie convictions for drunkenness, wil'u. ,f its accompaniment of misery and wretchedness, amount to many thousands. But i. 1 want to ask this quostiou: Supposing r that the nature of any article of food, " milk for example, were chemically changd ed when brought into contact with filth i- or disease germs, mid partaking of this stulV caused stupefaction, and was pro's ductive of murder, suicide, death, and 0 misery, would the Stato licenso refreshment rooms for the sale of this poison— tl ior such it would be—and provido an s army of good Samaritans in blue uniform t to tike tile patrons of these refreshment li rooms from the gutter and convey them :, in motor-cars and carriages to a placo e of safety and give medical treatment? No! of course not. Then lot us b» i- logicaj. J The man who would advocato such licensed refreshment rooms would not lx> '- styled "an honest logician." Ho would be looked upon as a fool. I regret to " Fay that tho intoros't of tho clergy and t their friends and supporters in t'uo Old r Land, where it is not considered amiss 11 for iwomen to tako their little babies into 6 a publichouso and pour alcoholic liquors e down their throats, causes many of them > to put the position exactly as Bishop " Crosslcy has put it. This curso is daily dragging men and women, old and young, 3 down to perdition, and tho Bishop asksi ' "Havo wo really exhausted our remedies '' yotP" What remedy has he? pray. If • )io has any remedy let him, for tho ' sake of the countless myriads who will ; assuredly go down through this accursed t'raiiic, bring it out, or ior ever hold his 1 peace as against No-License. The dictates of common decency at least should cause j him to await the result of tho Prohibi- , lion remedy, which has, where tried in [. this Dominion, proved successful. Tho , Prohibition remedy works satisfactorily j! with regard to every other legislative ent actment; in fact, it is the only remedy , wo know, and why men, especially "logij cians," should try to make an exception with regard to tho liquor > traffic is beyond the comprenon- , sion of most pooplo who have any regard i for the well-being of humanity. Sir, I like tho conclusion of your leader, > the qualities mentioned in the last two i lines especially "Nobility and baseness, . frailty and strength," they aro largely in evidence in this struggle, as no doubt i they were during tho struggle for tho abolition of the slavo trade. Tho antii dote for_ fir© is water, the antidote for : alcohol is Prohibition, and only ProhiI bitioii. —I am, etc., : FIRE-PLUG. ■ _ P.S.—Prior to 18G8, my views were quits • iu accord with Bishop Crossley's. I usod : to take my glass of port wine and sponge i cake regularly every morning, by doctor's s orders, of course—never missed. I also i had free access to tho ale and porter on tap in the cellar,' but for forty-thrco 1 years I havo been on tho "raise tho fallen and prevent others from falling" side of the business (1.0. G.T.), and today tho prospects are brighter than ever. A splendid opportunity exists for those reformers who believe (hat licensed houses haro all the virtuous attributes lately shown in the newspapers: Let them ask Parliament to sanction tho opening of a hotel in a "dry" district, Balchitha, for preference, to bo controlled by a bishop and prelates, and if Bishop Crossley could get away there for a month bo would I>d quito satisfied that wo bad exhausted all our remedies. The only difficulty I seo in the way is how to convince the people that the scenes of debauchery, degradation, and sly grog-soiling, said to exist in No-License areas, havo not booD exaggerated—F.P.