"FOLLOW THE KING!"

Evening Star, Issue 15888, 21 August 1915, Page 9

"FOLLOW THE KING!"

[Published bx Arrangejient.]

Every citizen is urged to sign THE PATRIOTIC PLEDGE

" In order that I may be of the greatest service to my Country, and carry out the wishes of the King at this time of national peril, I promise until the end of the war to abstain from all intoxicants (except when such are ordered by a doctor), and to encourage others to do the same." (Signed) '. 1915.

The need for following the King was never more urgent than it is at the present time. Let those who say there is no..increase in the drunkenness oi y onr City spend next Saturday night in going up and down the streets and seeing for themselves what is going on in connection with the carnival. Let them wait until the hotels have discharged their customers, and, no doubt, some will have their eyes opened. What is needed at the present time is a " know-your-own-city campaign." ******* The petitions which have been sent urging Parliament to close the hotels at 6 p.m. during the war were largely signed, and had the time been extended thousands more signatures could easily have been obtained. A policeman asked to sign refused on the grounds that if the hotels were closed he would lose his billet. He said: " There would be nothing for me to do if the hotels were closed." Unconsciously he testified to the urgent need there is, not only for early closing during the war, but for closing for all time. Those who refused to sign the petition were largely young men, some of whom expressed the desire that they could be kept open all night. Women signed readily and were quick to see the unfairness of the position that a woman cannot procure a pound of butter or a loaf of bread after 6 o'clock while a man can go and spend his earnings in drinking beer until 10 o'clock at night and then roll home and ill-treat his wife and children. ******* Russia Enriched by Prohibition.—The Russian Minister of Finance (M. Bark), when he met Mr Lloyd George in Paris, gava a thrilling account of the new Russia that 16 coming into being. "The prohibition of vodka," said M. Bark, ''has the most wonderful effect upon moral and economic conditions. Take the economic side alone, and truly the result is_ astounding. Since the Emperor per- ! mitted me to prohibit this spirit the figures of the savings banks alone have augmented by leaps and bounds. The total amount in the savings banks was 34 millions of roubles in 1913, and more than 84 millions in 1914. These figures leap to the eye. They do not deceive, but reveal a splendid and astbishiiig fact. But tho moral effect is more considerable. Since the prohibition of vodka the people have developed greater energy in their work, so that the output of the factories is enormously increased. Home life has become more beautiful and' more secure, so that the women especially have gained in happiness. It has created new springs of health, and throughout Russia crime has diminished to dwindling point. These facts are apparent to the people themselvea, and are spoken of in every hamlet. When I first made the prohibition I appeared to myself like a Don Quixote engaged in a romantic adventure which would not stand the test of reality. But now I assure you that even if I desired to remove the prohibition I should not be permitted to do so. The people would refuse to allow this evil thing to come upon them again." At the recent opening of the Duma M. Bark said that, notwithstanding her enormous war expenditure (£765,000,000), Russia had succeeded not only in deriving the necessary resources from her national wealth, but had filled the gap due to the stoppage of the sale of alcohol. Their resources ought to be entirely attributed to the people's temperance. He insisted that this beneficent and salutary prohibition ought to be maintained after the war. *******

"Whenever Bum. is discussed, it hurts the cause of Rum, no matter which, side you argue on," says the editor of one of the leading American, magazines. It is announced that the Associated Bill-posters of America have decided to accept no posters advertising whisky after January, 1916. Many of the best magazines have refused Rum •advertising for years. If the bill-posters join them, arid then if the newspapers follow suit-—and a few of the best_ newspapers already decline Rum adyertisinjj —the men who hav« their money invested in manufacturing and selHnj Ram will need, as the American writer expresses it, "to hunt tho storm-cellars." "Aa » matter of fact," sava the same authority, "we hav» heard of no leas than five bis men in the Rum business who nave told friends of theirs that they are getting out as fast aa thay aan," ■