THE GREAT ISSUE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 312, 21 September 1918, Page 8

THE GREAT ISSUE

FAIR, JUST AND DEMOCRATIC ' Prohibitionists are endeavouring_ to make ( the public believe that l no issue would bo carried if there were three'-Na-tional Issues on" tho ballot paper, viz., National Prohibition, National Ownership, National Continuance. This statement is made for tho purpose of misleading the people. ~ Take the result of tho ballot on tho National Issue at tho last Election: 257,W2 voted in favour of Continuance, 247,217 voted in favour o£ Prohibition. Flore k a clear majority of 20,225 votes favourable to Continuance of the existing system. lot it be supposed, with the three issues on tho ballot paper, that the vote in favour of Prohibition is still 217,000 and tho vote for Continuance is 157,000, and the vote for National Ownership is 100,000. Thero is a clear majority in favour of Continuance, because those who vote for National Ownership are not abolitionists. They are not Prohibitionists. They merely wish to change the system and eliminate private interest. Instead of tho State, as now, taking .£1,300,000 of the profit, State OwnershipControllists desire tho State to possess all tho profit.

I Tho Pi-ohil>itionists want to make the people believe that it is not a fair, just and democratic proposal that the majority should rule, and bo ina case of that kind they desire that their minority should dominate the majority favourable to the manufacture, salo and use of alcoholic beverages; but in the case cited there would bo a clear 10,000 majority in favour of retention of liquor and against its abolition. The Prohibitionists, _ however, claim that they have a majority of the electors in favour of prohibition. In that case, their solicitude about the three issues on the ballot paper is mere camouflage. If j they think a majority is for prohibition, | and a bare majority of the electors who would vote upon the three issues is ob< tnined by them,,then Prohibition would be carried. / In 191't public opinion on the National issue was decidedly against the abolition of liquor, and that onjjht to have settled the question till tlio next General Election. It is not patriotic to excite tho public into controversial matters at a i time when we should all bo bent on win- | ning the war, and the huge sums of money which tho prohibitionists are spending could l>e spent lo a better purpose if handed (o the Red Cross Fund or the Y.M.C.A. However, the. petition which the National Council is circulating is not for the purpose of dividing tho people at the present time, but for the purpose of netitionine Parliament that at tho next General Election the three-issues, viz., National Prohibition, National Ownership, and National Continuance, should be put upon tho ballot paper, and that there should be only one ballot paper on the liquor question. Tt is reasonable to expect that all fair-minded people will sip;n this Petition for patriotism, for freedom, and for democracy—(By arrangement.)