HUGE RALLY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1291, 21 November 1911, Page 5

HUGE RALLY.

REV, R. S, GRAY ON NO-LICENSE. TOWN lI.A LI, TACKED. The No-Licenso demonstration at the I own Hull lust evening was attended by ■'i. very large audience, tho big hall being lull. ,'I he jjev. John Dawson, president! "f tho Xe. w Zealand .Alliance, occupied the chair, and there ~-r re al.-c present on ■no platform several citizens prominently connected witji (lie No-License movement*. In. introducing Ihe principal sprakt'r nf tlio (.veiling, the Rev. If. S. Gray, nf the chairman remarked that they had been tinkering with tlio liquor business lor aboil! four centuries iniij hud realised tbal; Ibe only way In "onnilely deal with the business was (o ™te H out altogether. (Hear, hear.) Ueterring t.o the nllicinl police returns ol' the l";,| six months of the present year (tallied m Iho Hons,, j„ October last,'but not yet publicly analysed), llu; speaker said (hat there were in New Zealand 12 No-Liu>nsc districts, nlid in four of these there was no Magistrate's Court. In four electorates, comprising approximately 50,000 of a population, there were no h.M. Courls. .At the Jlastcrton H.M. t,ourt tho convictions for drunkenness during tho lirst six months totalled itti, a. decrease of 80; in (ho whole of the eight -No-Licenso districts under magisterial jurisdiction tho convictions for tho same period wero lfiS. 11l the wholo of New Zealand, No-License and licensed districts taken together, tho convictions for tho samo period totalled 50H0, over 500 of whom were women. Tho licensed districts of AVollingkm returned 1112 convictions, including 121 women. During tho samo period, prohibition orders were issued, in various districts in New Zealand, to 1205 men and 108 women; 75 peoplo wero declared habitual 'drunkards; 122 persons wero prosecuted for sly grog-selling in licensed districts. These wero facts. (Applause.) Americans and tho Law,

The Kev. R. S. Gray thou addressed the gathering, and held tho attention of tho audienco for nearly two hours, with au interesting address on the working of tho Stato Prohibition laws in America. The mosi difficult problem which the American Prohibition States—tho American nation iri fact—had to face, said the speaker, was the thorough and successful enforcement of the law; not merely tho liquor prohibition law, but every other kind of law, Tliero seemed to him to be an inherent disregard tor law which compared most unfavourably with that high regard for order and justice which was the pride of tho Uritish Empire. In a certain city in America which ho liad visited, and discussed the question of law enforcement with tho Mayor, tho Chief oi Police, and representative citizens, he had been told that in that town, which numbered its population by thousands, there were only about. 300 names on the jury list, and these represented a most undesirable class—sly grog-sellers, thieves and the like. Professional men generally not exemption, and in addition one could buy exemptions from jury servico bv the payment of 25 dollars a year, an 3 joining a military club. This was a course which all tho best people adopted, with the result that the jury list consisted of.tho sittings and scrapings of the community, and often bound hand and loot to tim Liquor party. Was it to bo wondered then that convictions were so difficult to secure'{ Ho cited au instance. A certain individual named "Ole Jako" was raided by the police, who discovered six wagonloads of liquor 011 the premises, got evidence of sly grog-selling, and pvoseeute<l tho man. Tho occuscd himself admitted belli" in possession of the liquor, but pleaded tliat it had boon stored for his own privato use. It was no use. Tho jury retired, came back inside of three minutes, and returned a verdict of "not gUllt}'."

Again, tho Mayor of tho town was e.ected by a so-called "popular voto"— usually arranged by the partv bosses in ii m? n P"Io»rs a week k'ioro the poll. the district attorney and the county judge were also elected by tho same so-called popular Vote, and tho Mayor appointed the chief of the police. Hero was a sot oi factors which combined to make tho enforcement of any 'law a difficult matter at all times, and i? n , , v . os toci, . interests were at .?£?, difhculty bceame an initio*ability. An anti-Prohibition Mayor in a prohibition Slate set tho pare to a loose enforcement of the law. Further, tiio inter-State commerce laws made it impossible for a prohibition State to suut the door to the import of liquor iioni a wet" State; the sealed packet law, under which a scaled packet could not bo opened except by tho addressee, was another difficulty which stood in tho way ot a thorough enforcement of the law, and, lastly, tho Federal law, which superseded tho State laws, permitted tho issue of Federal licenses to tell liquor, operative in any State-licensed or not licensed.

11l spite of all thoso factors which worked against tlio interests of prohibition, there was greater prosperity, more money, ami • less drunkenness in (hoso States which had adopted prohibition. The Statu of Maine, Maine carried prohibition l in 1851, repealed it in ISofi, and re-enacted it in 1858. It was resubmitted in 18S4, .when it was reaffirmed by u largo majority. ihi) liquor people, in their advertisements in New Zealand, were saying thai, with ono exception, Maine was the most drunken State in America. The latest returns for tlio whole of tlio United States w*ero for 1907, a year in which prohibition was not directly in force in Maine. The arrests for drunkenness in tlio whole of the United States were 203 per 10,000 of population; in -Maine they wore 10 per 10,000 of population. The police in Maine said that between 80 and DO per cent, of their arrests for drunkenness were made on tlio waterfront. Tlio last return to hand was that prohibition had been retained in the Constitution of Maine by 718 votes. Ho believed that was final, and for this reason: 11c had a paper, dated September 19, in which thcro was a heading in. blf.ck type "'Yes' majority, 121J; subjee.t to revision." On October 1 there wns an announcement that it was belir.ved chore were enough apparent errors to change the majority into a "Xo" majovity of several hundred. The same paper stated that the Governor and Council would meet to decide when tha recoint would tako place in the various districts, and they would remember that a cablegram informed them the, recount would take L>lnco on October 11. On October 12 tbev got a cablegram saying that the result of the recount was that prohibition remained in the and the Prohibition party lmd therefore won bv 758 votes. It had boon staled in New Zealand that not less than 20 million gallons of liquor had been sent into dry territory in America per annum. Hut they were not told that the population of that dry territory was 10 millions of people and that the tremendous total worked out at half a gallon par head per annum! In the Prohibition States of Alabama and Mississippi, Georgia, Kansas, ami Okla-homo, Maine, Vermont, and Hampshire, North Carolina and Tennessee, (hero had been a net decrease in Iho production of distilled liquors of 738,522 gallons, whilst in States containing the three, largest lieeuse cities the increase for the period v.iiich the, foregoing referred to had been:—New York, 2,100.791 gallons; Pennsylvania, 1,528,117 gallons; and Illinois. 23-1,005 gallons: or an aggregate of 3,802,043 gallons. In tlie Prohibition States the decrease in fermented liquors hail been 71.701 gallons, whilst in the wet State.s there had been an increase of 1,030.001 gallons. The withdrawal tor consumption in the respective States showed thn» in respect to fermented liquors-.— Barrels. Maine, New Hampshire, and Ycrmonl 20-B,IliS Neiv York 13,095,35.') Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, iind North Carolina 1-10,270 Pennsylvania - 7,001,111 Tenno--ee. Kansas, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota 272,01u Illinois i (1.021,881 Kansas Enforces Iho Law. The speakrr then read (he following eenespaudenee li'om Mr. \V- 1!, Slubli-. tiovr,rnor. and Mr. \Y. A. .lulinMon, Chief •luslii-e, of the State of KaiiNi-, which, ho said. Mimmarij.ed 11m ca«e for the Stite of Kansas, where the Prohibition laws were ri:Turouhlv enforced"My Dear Mr. Gray,--! regret very much that I could not have a. longer talk witlr von at my house at Lawi-eueo cn ttuj subject of Prohibition, Every

Kasfaa lias something bo Bay upon that. I am quito Buro it is t'lio opinion of ilO per cent. of the peoplo of our Ktafe that Prohibition is tho very best business ajsot of the State. "Like all great reforms, it was unpopular at first, anil peoplo began to charge that' it; was sumptuary legislation, and all tlint, wirt of tiling. L'roni tlio first, tho Itepublican party lias stood by Prohibition. tor several years Ilia Democratic parly opjiosed it, but along about 12 or Jt years ago the Democrats dropped their open opposition to Iho law, ami about 111 years ago tliey began an open advocacy of it-, Mijiport. livery party in Hie Stato is supporting the law in their platforms to-day. Ko party is indifferent enough to public opinion to advocate a repeal of Hi" prohibitory policy. It, is hero tost'ay, and flu- people of Kansas nvo blessing tlio dny thai if was wrilton into tlio Coustitutimi. "If at any lime you caro to ask me for any i-pecinl information on this subject, I assure you that I will be glad to send it In you In .Now Zealand, for the eaiiso 01' tenilH-rnnw: brings nil nations and nil people together us one family and one brotherhood.—Very truly yours, AV, K. rftubbs,' Governor." "Dear Sir,—ln response to your inquiry us to i-lic oiK-ration of the prohibitory liquor law, I wilt 6ay that, judging from til/, litigation in our courts, of which I have been, a member lor about 27 years, it is quite successfully enforced, and lins operated to greatly rcducc poverty and ?' r"°'u '' "V* t" l '"recti with soino difliculty, but experience and a. wholesomo public opinion have overcome that difficulty, and, although transgressed now and then, it' is about as effectually enforced as other laws prohibiting and punishing ordinary otTcnces. The closing of the saloons and joints lias had an excellent effect upon the morals aud material interests of tlio peoplo of Kansas. Among the results nro better homes, happier families. higher standards of intelligence and education, and a great diminution in disorder and crime. Jt' lias bccomo a. permanent policy ill Kansas, and is supported by railroad companies, merchants, bankers, and business men generally, because it has promoled not only sobriety and morality in those engaged in iheso avocations, * but greater efficiency in both management and service.—A T ery respectfully, W. A. Johnston, Chief Justice." Concluding Remarks, Referring to the progress of tho campaign in New Zealand, Mr. Gray protested in emphatic language against tho methods of thn liquor party in sclectinp certain statements he had made, and publishing these in ils propagandist literature without reference to tho context. Tho cffoct of this, declared tho speaker, was, in some cases, to so dis- , tort his original meaning as to actually represent him as holding exactly opposite views to those which ho had previously stated oil tho platform. i'or example, ho hud been represented as having stated that Prohibition in America had been a. failure. He had never said anything of tho kind. Tho speaker concluded his addre«s with an impassioned appeal In tlio audience for a strong, vnitcri, and remorseless warfare ugainst what ho termed the "devil-fish of civilisutioii" —Ilia liquor traffic. A hearty vote of thanks was accorded Mr. Gray as lio resumed his seat.