DRY LAW AT SEA.

Grey River Argus, 10 August 1925, Page 8

DRY LAW AT SEA.

LIQUOR’S FICTITIOUS GLAMOUR. AMERICAN FLEET CASUALTIES. WELLINGTON, Aug. 4 Captain !•’, M 'Culliigh, a well-known war correspondent, traveller, and author, who is the on'y British correspondent making tho round voyage with tho United States fleet, writes os follows regarding prohibition in the American navy:—

“Readers will,’-’ he soys, “probably like to hear my views about the effect of prohibition in the United States navy. It is, I must say, strictly observed, nnd here, afloat, the dry law has something to be cnid in its favour, inasmuch as while immediately before that l-iw came into operation officers eould bring liquor abroad, while bluejackets could not. All are now on :.n equal footing so far as drink is c»neernert, but it would have been much better, I think, if all Americans — those afloat ns well as those ashore — had boon allowed by thair Government to wrestle with their own temptations nnd to become sober In their own way. Prohibition only retarded tho strong and rapid drift towards temperance which was certainly taking place in '.he United Stu*-", and it impart.il :i fictitious glamour to strong drink. “In the course’ of a long voyng? in a bone-dry ship tho American Line jacket comes to regard such ordinary beverages as wine, whisky, and beer as veritable elixirs of the gods. Consequently ho is much more liable than au English or French bluejacket to drink excessively when he gets ash-we. and it he gets ashore in an Ameri an port ths only kind of liquor available will in nine eases out of 10 be poisonously bad. If an English sailor got bud liquor nt mi English port he could prosecute the dealer who supplied him with it. lut in the ■ present circumstances the American. sailor can take no action, and the authorities can exercise no supervision over tho quality of tho liquor supplied Tho result is a high percentage of alcoholic casualties in the fleet. What the exact figures are I do not know, but I do know that the corresponding figures in civil life are appalling. I lived for some months last winter near a great Brooklyn hospital where the alcoholic ward was always full and where tho deaths were 10 times more than in pre-prohibition days, and I do not think that they are less than that in tho navy.

“The etrp.igeSß argument against prohibition is tho temperance of the French snilor, who can got nil the wine and brandy bo wants, and the increase 1 sobriety of the British bluejacket an 1 of all classes of society i.i Great Britain during the Inst century. In tho United States there has been during the some period tho same movement towards temperance, but prohibition has killed it, and do.io much evil besides. It has made the American bluejacket regard with disrespect one article in the constitution of his country and break as frequently as he can a law which he regards as. an invasion of his personal liberty. A people cannot bo made sober or chaste or religious by an Act of Parliament ’'