Page 2 Advertisements Column 3

Otago Daily Times, Issue 15300, 14 November 1911, Page 2

The World's Best Thought On Prohibition. (Compiled nv " Jcstitia.") This summary ot the best thought ol the world on the liquor problem hns been, compiled with the 1 view of jjldlng those who have not had the time or opportunity to study the problem tnorouglily lor themselves, to come to an Intelligent conclusion in regard to It. THK LEADING AUTHORITY IN THE WOULD ON THE LIQUOR PROBLEM in. undoubledlv THE COMMi'ITEE OF FIFTY which was organised in America in 1093 for tlm purpose of inveatigatiuc the problem in all lis aspects. IIILV are men of outstanding ABILITY, and Messrs Rountroe and Sherwcll, temperanec reformers, say thnt tliey constitute a body " whoso deliberations jiwtly claim a High degree of respect-." Tho cliaracter of the committee may bo sufficiently indicated by the selec. tiou of the following names of thoso who have been members President, lion. Seth Low, LL.D. Vice-president, Charles Dudley Warner. Secretary, Professor Francis 0. Peabodv, D.D. Dr J. S. Billings, Astor Library. President'Charlca W. Eliot, LL.D. Hon. Carroll D. Wright, LL.D. Professor Felix Adler. Bishop Edwurd 0. Andrews, D.D. Professor W. 0. Atwater. Professor H. P. Bowdilcb. Z. R. Brockway, Elmira. Reformatory. Pn>fe«*or It. H. Chittenden.. Right Rev. Thomas Conaty, D.D. Professor Richard T. Ely. Professor llcnry W. tarnam. Rev. Washington Gladden, D.D. LL.D. Dr E. R. L. Gould. President Wm. Preston Johnston. LL.D. . President James Macalistcr, LL.D. Right Rev. 11. S. Potter, D.D. Dr Wm. 11. Welch. Frederick H. Wines, LL'.D. The full Committee appointed fonr_ subcommittee to investigate, respectively, the physiological, the legislative, the eco. nomic, and tho ctliic.il nspccta of tho problem. Tho investigations of the committee occupied a t period of twelve years, and the results'arc embodied in a series of volumes which together form THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE, ' RELIABLE, AND NOTABLE BODY OF EVIDENCE ON THE LIQUOR QUESTION THAT HAS EVER BEEN PRESENTED TO THE WORLD. The-so volumes .the Committee w "dr not enter into tho region of exhortation and argument, BUT RESTRICT THEMSELVES TO THE STATEMENT OF WHAT APPEAR TO BE DEMONSTRABLE FACTS AND TO THE INFERENCE 3 WHICH THESE FACTS APPEAR TO DICTATE. " Ou no other terms could the Committw of Fifty liavo been organised or maintained. Its members represented many different altitudes of mind toward practical methods of temperance reform; —Total abstinence and moderation, legal prohibition and tho licensing system. The problem before such a CommitUf was thnt of formulating the facts on which thoughtful students of various traditions and tendencies might agree. The eories of special investigations arc NOT MISSIONARY 'TRACTS OR MORAL APPEALS, BUT SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL FACTS." In their work on "THE LIQUOR PROBLEM IN ITS LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS," the Committee say Prohibitory legislation has succeeded in abolishing anu preventing the manufacture on a large ecule of distilled and molt liquors within the areas covered bv it. in dwtricts where PUBl;l(j SEN. TI ME N T HAS BEE N STRONGLY IN ITS FAVOUR IT HAS MADE IT HARD TO OBTAIN INTOXICANTS, thereby removing temptation from the young and from persons exposed to alcoholic excetses. But PROHIBITORY LEGISLATION HAS FAILED TO EXCLUDE INTOXICANTS COMPLETELY EVEN FROM DISTRICTS WHERE PUBLIC SENTIMENT HAS BEEN FAVOURABLE. IN DISTRICTS WHERE PUBLIC SENTIMENT HAS BEEN ADVERSE OR STRONGLY DIVIDED, THE TRAFFIC IN ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES HAS BEEN SOMETIMES REPRESSED Oil HARASSED, BUT NEVER EXTERMINATED OR RENDERED UNPROFITABLE. IN MAINE AND lOWA THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN COUNTIES AMI MUNICIPALITIES IN COMPLETE AND SUCCESSFUL REBELLION AGAINST THE LAW. There have boon concomitant evils of prohibitory legislation. The cffoijts to enforce it during forty yearn past have had somo unlooked-for effects on public respect for courts, judicial procedure, oaths, and law in general, and for officers of the law, l<viflntoH, and public servants. The public has f-coii law defied, n i whols generation of habitual law-breakers ! schooled in evasion and shamilcsfnecs, j courts ineffective through fluctuations of policy, delays, perjuries, negligences, and I other miscarriages of justiw; officers of | tli-3 law double-faced and mercenary, : legislators timid and insincere, candidates ' for ofliro hypocritical nrd truckling, and oHice-holders unfaithful lo pledges and to reasonable puMic expectation. Through on ngitation which always has had amoral end, these immoralities have been developed and mado conspicuous. In 1905 the Committee of Fifty published a final volume giving a summary of their investigations on each aspect of I the problem. In this work there is one chapter dealing with the ethical aspects; and, in referring to prohibition as an attempt to remedy the evils of drunkenness, the Committee say " THE STUDY OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS SHOWS HOW INADEQUATE. IF NOT WORSE, IS MERE STATUTORY PROHIBITION; HOW IT FAILS TO TOUCH ANY SPRING OF EVIL; AND HOW AT BEST IT CAN BUT SUPPORT SOME REMEDIAL TREATMENT BASEL UPON SOMETHING OTHER THAN LEGISLATION; SOMETHING THAI FINDS DEEPER AND SOUND HpLI IN HUMAN NATURE ON ITE SOCIAL SIDE. "OBVIOUSLY, THE QUESTIONS OF REMEDY RESOLVE THEM, SELVES INTO TWO : THOSE WHICH ARE PALLIATIVE OF THE VISIBM EVILS THAT AFFLICT OR THREA TEN SOCIETY', AND TEND TC MINIMISE AND REMOVE THEM Af FAR AS POSSIBLE. BY SOMK METHOD AND DEGREE OF REPRESSION, AND THOSE WHICH GC DEEPER AND REEK TO REMOVF THE SOURCE OF THE EVIL BY THF REDEMPTION OF HUMAN NATURE PROCURING ITS ACTION ON A RIGHT ETHICAL PLANE. ANF, THIS LAST CAN BE ACCOMPLISH!?! ONLY IN THE SOUL OK INDI VIDUAL MEN. MAN BY MAN THEY MUST BE WON TC RIGHTEOUSNESS. THERE IS NC SALVATION FOR THE MASS AS A MASS. ATOM BY ATOM.. MUSI THE LEAVEN DO ITS SLOW. TEDIOUS WORK, UNTIL THE WHOLE If LEAVENED. BECAUSE EACH PATV TICI.E IS LEAVI-'NED, THERE 15 NO SHORT CUT." (To Ik> continued.) 14/11/11

— A ulnulo rod hair Iβ llio chief Attraction in a mo vino at Dollii, India. It Iβ earnfully Itfpt under cjliflH, ar.t\ is said to liavo l>oon plucked from tho mouaUcho of Mahomet. The bevrago that, lwnofita—WOLFK's gOHNAPI'&=4 drink, a tenia * fuiWma,