THOUGHTFUL TESTIMONY

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIII, Issue 10141, 29 October 1925, Page 2

THOUGHTFUL TESTIMONY

GENERAL EVASION AND CORRUPTION. (By the Hon. Oscar Terry Crosby. I author of ‘Tntcrnationar War, Its Causes and its Cure,” and other volumes). ‘‘Let us assume that the power of government is to be exercised in restraining the conduct of individuals when such conduct becomes injurious to others. Because a arge number of citizens -believe that th s restraint is one not properly exercised by government, we now are witnessing a very general revolt against the law in question. “These ova von s of the Eighteenth Amendment (Prohibit’on) result in the sudden affluence of thousands of men otherwise not competent to earn : more than the wages of the unskilled. They famil arise the industrious poor with the discouraging fact that j higher rewards are obtainable by illegal bootlegging than by the most assiduous and honest efforts in their various callings. “Thousands of offic’a’s throughout s the land are being corrupted because they are undertaking the execution of laws which are not approved by i vast- numbers of ctizens who, in j respect to other laws. stand for learning and light. And we can ! scarcely "cherish the hope. that, if | present laws remain on the statute | book, these bad condit ons can be . $ bettered. 1 §

“The lure of the gin cocktail as forbidden fruit seems to have largely increased the number of young peop’e of both sexes who turn to intoxicants in their social gatherings. “It is probable that- the number of those now drinking injuriously is about what it was before Prohibition davs.

“■May we not ask that our neighbours should not concern themselves with how 'we spend the money, so long ns wc do not spend it in ways injurious to them? And when .1 say ‘we.’ let me include a l classes of citizens. I, for one. slia 1 take no part in the absurdly snobbish attitude of- any people of my acquaintance, who excuse the Eighteenth Amendment in all its tyranny, because it presumably imposes upon the socalled ‘working e’asses’ particular methods of spending their money. Heaven help us I Let us have done w tli what may be indeed a sincere form of meddlesome Mattie activity, but wliat- often seems to be a mere affectation of superiority. “North American Review,” 1925. Evidence from those who have had ACTUAL EXPERIENCE of Prohibition is the only evidence worth considering. Strike out the two bottom lines.***