SOME NOTABLE POINTS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1285, 14 November 1911, Page 6

SOME NOTABLE POINTS.

DEATH-DEALING PROHIBITION. MAINE AND NEW ZEALAND COMPARED.

All the papers coming to hand by th« latest mails contain full reports cf lb# overthrow of Prohibition in Maine, and it is nolorions how tho Prohibitionist and the sly grog-seller fought logo!her to prevent tho possibility of a clean licensing system being instituted. The truly temperate section of tho community saw how Prohibition had bred hypocrisy and humbug among the people, and had created the shebeen, tho sly grog-seller, tho "spcak-easics," tho "blind tiger?," and the Sunday,"Grand Drunk" trains to adjoining license territory. One paper 6ays that these facts led many lovers of moderation and temperance to conclude that tho enforcomcnt of Prohibition by law had broken down. The decont hotel had given placo to the shebeen or speakeasy, and tho decent hotclkeeper to tho sly grog-seller. Respectable and honest citizens gavo up. the business, and the purveyors of bad liquor in Maino wcro recruited from tho criminal class, and so Prohibition created evils undreamt of by its advocates, and caused thousands to turn their backs upon a policy that was doing untold harm and working unmeasured evil among the people. Yet tho Prohibitionist and the sly grog-seller, hia protege, sought to retain Prohibition in Maine—the one that ho might continue his fetish-worship, and the other that ho might practise his nefarious, immoral, and death-dealing trade. Tho business people of Maine saw their State practically stagnant, alike in trade, commerce, and population. Tho growth of population is the best test of a country's prosperity, and Maine under Prohibition compared with New Zealand under License tells a sorry tale:—

UNDER PROHIBITION. Pop'l't'n. PopTt'n. Incr'69. 1680. 1910. Maine 6i5,93G 712,398 61,060 ' UNDER LICENSE. PopTt'n. PopTt'n. Increase. 1680. ; 1910. New Zealand 489,933 1,005,210 515,277 Thus while Maine increased by 61,000 under Prohibition, New Zealand increased her population under License by over half a milliou. Yet we are being invited, nay, the attempt is to force us, to adopt a political retrogrado movement that has proved the undoing of a fino race of people living in a very rich and fertile State with a superb climate. Bat Prohibition, by introducing worse forms of evil than over existed or could exist under License, has decimated the people, increased tho death-rate, and lowered tho birth-rate as well. Thus we have Prohibition promoting tho worst calamities that could possibly befall any community—a non-prolific and immoral people. Tho statistics are worth repeat ing, and cover the period 1902-6:— Average Annual Number per 1000 of the Population. UNDER PROHIBITION. Marriages. Births. Deaths. Maine 8.7 20.9 ' 15.9 UNDER LICENSE. Marriages. Births. Deaths. New Zealand ... 8.2 26.7 9.8 Excess of Births Over Deaths. Maine 5-0 New Zealand 16-9 That Prohibition means a declining birth-rate and immorality is borne out by the fact that the State of Maine has the lowest birth-rate of any community cited on page 615 of the 1911 issue of . tha "Dictionary of Statistics" (MulhallWebb). And, comparing the death-rate of Maine under Prohibition with that cf Wellington under License, wo find that Maine's latest record is 16.0 per 1000 of the population, while Wellington's is 9.1 per 1000 of tho population, or approximately 2 to 1. Thoro is only ono conclusion to all this, namely, that bad liquor, tho shebeens, tho sly grog-sellers ami their protectors and co-workers, the I'rohibitionists, were tho destroying and demoralising agencies in the State o( Maine; and in the light of these facts is it any wonder that the people of that State have turned their backs upon such an infamous and death-dealing busiuejj as Prohibition proved itself to be? As it is always well to be guided by-facts, and to reject opinions founded on fictions, electors will be well advised if they determine to keep the country free from tho evils of Prohibition by striking out tho bottom lines on both ballot. papers cn election day.*-