"THE GREAT DRY MYSTERY."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17125, 2 April 1919, Page 7

"THE GREAT DRY MYSTERY."

This is the heading of a letter addressed two months ago to a leading New York ( paper by Lloyd Oabourne, a well-known j j novelist, the friend .and comrade of Robert i , Louis Stevenson. Writing from California, 11 then in the throes of the liquor campaign. , he said : " When the Germans ravaged ! { Northern France and destroyed all the I . vineyards, there were no names too vile! t to apply to them but when the Prohibi-1« tionists"propose to destroy 170,000 acres of ( beautiful Californian vineyards it is then ( 6 case of' high moral purpose,' " , . ' Don't you think there is a great deal in > the comparison? and what about our own . large acreage of vineyards here represent- • ( ins an investment of at least £300,000 of j capital One of the funniest things the j ' Prohibitionists have yet invented by way i J of consolation for the afflicted vine-grower is the advice to go on growing grapes, so j j that he may make " unfennenled grape ' ■ juice," and when it is pointed out that. ' the total amount of unfermented grape j juice consumed in this country amounts to about fifty gallons a year, they tell us that there is always a strong demand for this clear beverage in America! Now. what does Lloyd Osbourne tell | us? That the Ca'ifornian vineyardiste j " are threatened with ruin " because the ' State is going dry, and " their hearts are burning with unendurable resentment " as tl-ev see their property and their livelihood snatched away. Apparently, they; know nothing of this great and constant j American demand for unfermented grape j juice, which is guaranteed by our " dry " apostles. I Is not it a curious thing that our Pro-1 hibitionisU with all their moral superiority cannot face facts, and will not tell the truth about them ?(Advt.).