PROHIBITION COLUMN

Evening Star, Issue 19616, 23 July 1927, Page 15

PROHIBITION COLUMN

t Published by Arrangement with Hie Inited Temperance Reform Council.] The man who voles for license ought to be willing; that liis son should die a drunkard. The open liquor shop, which his vote helps to establish, he knows will ensnare the feet of somebody’s boy; why should it' not be, in the eternal law of'fitness, his own child? ’ , -—Louisa S. Rounds. LABOR BENEFITED BY DRY LAW ‘Union Labor Advocate’ quotes Labor leader and then adds some comment of its own which .must bo admitted as facts by every thinking laboring man in the country. Daniel J. Tobin, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Stable Men and Helpers, is quoted by the ‘ Union Labor Advocate ’ of Chicago as say'ng:— “I am one of those foolish Labor men who believe that the world is improving every day in every way, at the risk or disagreeing with the pessimists. What did wo have a few years ago? Worse than slave conditions. Who would believe twenty years ago that thousands of our members would be getting a vacation with pay, as per our agreements? Who would believe that the Truck Drivers of Chicago, Local 705, would have Lincoln cars for their officers with good salaries for the members and over 100,000 dollars in their treasury? Who would admit a few years ago that tho milk drivers would be working a six-day week and an oigbt-houf day? Who, a short time ago, could conceive of tho drivers in Cincinnati having fully paid for an office building worth over 100,000 dollars? So it is everywhere. .Sure the world is getting better. Quit whining.” And after quoting Mr Tobin, tho editor of tho ‘Advocate’ says:— “ Yes, Brother Tobin, wo agree with you in every particular. There has never been a time in tho history of organised Labor when everything looked so bright for the working people as it docs to-day, and we predict tliat in every way wo will continue to improve in the future. “ We further believe that the largest percentage of gain for 'better conditions in every way has been in the last seven years, since the Volstead Act became a law. We would like to paint a picture of the wife of the working man as she sits in a comfortable homo, nicely furnished, with her husband and children (for after all it is our children that make life worth living), and as the little tots kneel beside her to say their evening prayers there is a hushed silence in that household that thanks God that seven years ago this Government dissolved tho partnership that had existed with the booze interests and the wages that at one time passed over the bar are to-day being used to make life worth while to us and our loved ones. Yes, we are improving every day in every way.” Every laboring man in tho country, whether be belongs to a union or not, should read the above. He must agree with the editor of the ‘ Union Labor Advocate ’ if his mind is open to the reception of truth. Living conditions in no wet country in the world can compare with those of dry America, and no class has been more greatly benefited than Labor. Great bodies of laboring men will agree to this, and we are sure their wives and children are unanimous. HOTELS AND PROHIBITION. It is told that 840 hotels wore erected last year, in the United States, representing an investment of 400,000,000 dollars, and it is estimated an additional 300,000,000 dollars will bo spent this,year on new hotel buildings. This sum does not include tho cost of sites. Moreover, old hotels will spend 50,000,000 dollars in rebuilding and new apartment hotels costing 800,000,000 dollars are in prospect. Not one of these hotels lias a license to sell drink. The above is the introduction of an editorial appearing in the Chicago ‘Journal,’ which newspaper is an ardent advocate for the repeal of the Prohibition law, or rather the nullification_ of tho Eighteenth Amendment. Wet newspapers made much ado about a. proposed new hotel for Windsor, Canada, the little city across the river from Detroit, associating with the announcement of the building of this hotel tho announcement that liquor again is to be sold in Windsor. The inference, of course, is that with the return of booze the hotel business is boomed. Wets used to say before the Eighteenth Amendment became operative that the hotel business would be utterly ruined as result of the outlawing of the traffic. They object to the drys crediting Prohibition with any part whatever in the tremendous growth of the hotel business in the United States during the past seven years. Be that as it may. the fact remains that closing the hotel bars did not ruin the hotel business. On the other band, there are thousands of people, including most hotel men, who believe that closing the hotel bar and all other bars reallyboosted the hotel business.

DARROWISM AND WHEELERISM. Oft repealed sayings of Darrow answered by Wheeler in debate at Carnegie Hall: Harrow: I am opposed io authority. Wheeler: So is every lawbreaker, but authority is essential to organised society. Darrow: Let tho individual do as he pleases. Ho may not live as long, buthe will liavo more fun. Wheeler; If the individual wants to do as bo pleases, he can—but he must not pick the crowded thoroughfare of organised society to play the drunken fool. Darrow: If liquor interferes with automobiles, get rid of tho automobiles. I would rather have beer. Wheeler: Mr Darrow is right, about tho issue; either autos or beer, hut he’s nearly alone in his choice of beer as the most desirable. Harrow; Drink contributes fun and excitement—Prohibition takes it away. Wheeler: The fellow drunk temporarily thinks he is happy and rich, hut the morning after the night before with the dark brown taste, he gets the real reaction. Drinks that are legal under Prohibition leave a better taste. Darrow: Ten die of over-eating for each one that dies of over-drinking. Wheeler: The figures are incorrect. Resides, the over-eater does not boat his_ wife. Ho does not become the social menace that the over-drinker does. Imagine a man full of buckwheat cakes shooting up the family. •Darrow; We can’t live without tolerance of our neighbor’s religion, social life, customs, appetites of eating and drinking. Wheeler: We do not tolerate our neighbor’s religion if it involves polygamy, human sacrifice, or widowburning; his social life, if it'includes improper conduct: his appetites, if they have had' social consequences to others than himself. Darrow: I don’t mind people going to heaven their own way. but I want to go to hell ray own way. Wheeler: No one seems to have been able to interfere with Mr Harrow's choice of destination.