PROHIBITION COLUMN

Evening Star, Issue 19776, 28 January 1928, Page 13

PROHIBITION COLUMN

[Published by Arrangement with the United Temperance Reform Council.] That beloved Labor leader, John Mitchell, said:, “I believe that liquor has contributed more to the moral, intellectual, and material deterioration of the people than any ■ other agency in the history of mankind.”—- 1 United States Journal.’ BENEFITS OF PROHIBITION. Last week the annual meeting ol Building and Loan Association men was held at Asheville (N.C.). The report of Secretary Cellariiis shows the tremendous strides made by the building and loan associations under Prohibition, caused largely by the increased thrift, productivity, and diversion of money formerly spent for liquor into helpful channels. IT BUILT MILES OF HOMES. AMAZING GROWTH OF BUILDING AND LOAN ASSOCIATIONS UNDER PROHIBITION. OVER 500,000 NEW HOMES FUR THE PEOPLE. No person except an ignoramus or a fool will deny the economic benefits of Prohibition. Ask any official of a building and loan association if Prohibition is a factor in the prosperity of the country. He will say it is a big factor. He will show by records that the total assets of the building and loan associations of the country in wet 1917 were 1,769,142,175 dollars, and in dry 1920 they wore 6,280,000,000 dollars. It is estimated that over 2,500,000 families are now buying and paying for their homes through these financial institutions. For the most part the vast sums paid into and out of the building and Joan associations is the money of_ the common people, the kind which Lincoln said God loved because He made so many of them. . In Ohio last year the building and loan associations helped to buy and build 53,000 homes. Here .is an illustration of what these figures mean. It is about 250 miles diagonally across Ohio from Cinoinatti in the south-west to Cleveland in the north-east. AN ILLUSTRATION. If the 53,000 homes financed by Ohio building and loan associations were located on 50ft lots they would make a solidly-built street on both sides from Cincinnati to Cleveland, and there would not be r oom for any cross streets. . . These building and loan associations in dry United States last year aided in buying and building at least 550,000 homes. This would make a street oi homes, allowing 50ft to each home, reaching across the country from New York to San Francisco and halfway back. And remember that Prohibition is an outstanding factor in these amazing results. Nothing like it happened before Prohibition stopped the waste of more than 2,000,000,000 dollars spent annually for drink, to say nothing of the loss of time and efficiency. THINK OF THIS.

Then, remember what the building of these homos meant to workmen, to contractors, to material men. Think what it meant in the way of labor and material, for all the articles bought and placed in these homes. Think what these home owners mean to the country, its schools, churches, and institutions. Prohibition is to be credited with much which these figures represent. It saved the people money, ft, made men and families thrifty. ft increased the earning power. It helped those who drank and those who were -abstainers. It promoted the public welfare. It increased .the sum of human happiness. The assets of the building and loan associations of the country are more than trebled from wet 1917, to dry 1926. ■ :

Let wets explain away these facts if thev can.—‘ American Issue,’ October, 1927.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS REFUTE WET DECLARATION. 'The following incident is reported by a county prosecuting attorney of AA'ashington • A few days ago. in a popular tavern in Seattle, while five Elks,' commercial travellers, were dining. Prohibition came up for discussion. The usual Haim that more liquor is being sold under Prohibition than ever before was made, and the statement, was about to get over by common consent, when one of the party objected. “Gentlemen.” he said, “ 1 challenge the statement! There is not one-tenth of the liquor sold now that was sold before the Eighteenth Amendment, was adopted.” Looking them squarely in the face, ho asked: “Have any of you had a drink to-day?” 'They were an orderly but, liberal set of. business men, but each admitted that he had had no drink that day. 'The challenging brother pursued his vantage: “ Have any oi you had a drink in the Inst three days?” All of the party except one agreed that time had not tasted liquor in throe days. This one had barely tasted sonic liquor at the hands of a customer: he was afraid to drink lh A stuff, he said. “Now, don’t, you fallows remember.” said ibe Hmllenging brother, “that before Prohibition, bv this tinm of the dav, you would have bad at least, ten drinks apiece, and that you could not have gone ''bout vour business selling goods for tbreu days without inviting more than half of vour customers to some saloon nr to the lintel bar for a dnok?" There was no answer. The party unanimously agreed thev were wrong in their Haim that Share was more Honor sold now than in license days. . This incident illustrates the absurdity of this exaggerated Haim tlm wets are putting over be well-fin,am ,A d and scieiiti(ical|y-d : rented propaganda. Tim nretonce that Proh’bit'on does not prohibit is about the silliest Haim that confronts tlm friends of Prohibition.