PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18675, 3 October 1922, Page 3

PROHIBITION CAMPAIGN

MR W. E. JOHNSON'S VISIT. ADDRESS TO BUSINESS MEN. Several hundred business men look advantage of (bo opportunity of healing - W. E. ('‘Pussyfoot") Johnson m the Octagon Theatre after tho lunch hour yesterday. Mr J. T. Shackloek presided. At the opening the speaker referred to the matter appearing as an advert iseinem in the morning paper immediately insr the report of ids ova address at. TvikUi. Mention was uuule of a vaulegonn indicating Hint America was the greatest <lrug consuming country in the world. Mr Johnson said that there was a certain amount of misunderstanding about the staregarding the use of drugs all over the world to-dav. The position was that, the nations of the world were joined together in ini attempt to eliminate the drug evil Great Britain had enacted legislation seeking to put, it down, Eram-e also, and tho League of Nations was working in connection with the mattci. Iho Ameiicau Government had been active along certain lines. Tim result of (he general emloavour was"that drugs were being shipped from country to country. From China they went to England. From England to America, from America they were sent, to Japan and from Japan track again to China. There were, in consequence, statistics of imports in all of these countries, and these statistics nil related to the same drugs. The figures showing a great amount of drug taking itr America were based on an official report which ho hold in his, hand, apparently showing that America was the greatest drug consuming country in the world. Whether that was true or not he was not prepared to say. But the official report, the report of a .Senate Committee of Investigation, was dated April 15, 1919. That was before prohibition came into effect in America. But there was another interesting feature of the report. It showed, :urd stated, (hat (hero was in certain cities a great increase in drug taking, and in other cities a great decrease, and tiro report showed that tho increases were in the great licensed cities and the decreases in the smaller cities, mostly under prohibition. Drug taking was not a problem connected with prohibition, but was a problem connected with the license of drink itself. —(Applause.) Under prohibition drug taking had greatly diminished, and in proof of this Mr Johnson reiterated tho statements he had made at St. Kilda that of 300 commercial institutions devoted before prohibition to making money out. of tho cure of inebriates and drug fiends only 12 or 15 lived to-day. The business had practically ceased to exist, find it had ceased to exist only because it was no longer a commercial proposition. Mr Johnson then went on to deal with a quotation made in the advertisement front the June issue of Current History. The statistics, ho said, compared one prohibition year with another. There was no attempt to compare a wot year with a dry year. But quite apart from this the following number of Current History, the July number, contained an article exposing tho fraudulent character of tho article in the previous ntunber. Ho hold a reprint of this article. A comparison was made between the first two years of prohibition and the last two years of license, and it showed an enormous decrease in the number of arrests for drunkenness and crime. The second portion of the address was devoted to the attitude of the business comiminity of America to (he prohibition issue. At first standing aloof from the question be said that as State after State went dry the commercial community began to study it. till in tho course of time the commercial travellers themselves, reporting on the business done in these States as compared with previous days, and with the other parts of the country, became the greatest propagandists of the movement. The commercial interests woke up to what prohibition meant to business. They got behind the movement, and to-day, in many parts of (ho world, it was looked upon simply as a business man’s policy. -\lr'Shaddock invited questions, and several were asked. One related to tho question of wages, why American employers should want, to 'decrease them if they bad been such gainers in efficiency as Mr Johnson made out. The answer given was that in common with other countries wages in America became much inflated during 11 ip wav, and it was necessary to readjust them in many industries. In most cases the readjustment had been arrived at amicably. In some eases Iho reductions made had’ been 100 great, and it had become necessary to raise them again. Asked with regard to the cost of administering the prohibition law, tho speaker said that tho appropriation ran into 10.000.(1CO dollars. Against, this was tho amount received by way of penalty fines, seizures of ships, automobiles, and the like, and the total came to considerably more than 10.000,000 dollars. In the last analysis the Government actually reaped a. profit of the administration of tho law.—(Laughter and applause.) In connection with American ships trading to Britain. Mr Johnson stated that tlte whole matter was a quarrel between two Stale departments, and was now in the bands of Congress. It was a matter for Congress to deal with and straighten out. and Congress had it, in hand. Mr Shackloek did not a&k for a formal motion, but extended to Mr Johnson the thanks of the business men of Dunedin for the interesting address he had given. ADDRESS AT MOSGIEL. Mr W. E. (“Pussyfoot") _ Johnson addressed a crowded audience in the Coronation Hail, Mosgiel. last night. He was supported on' tho stage by the Revs. I). Ciilder chairman). Foote, D. M'Cosh, _E. Weston. the local officer of the Salvation Army. Messrs J. Logan and Prentice. Mr Macourt. organiser, was also present, Mr Johnson was accorded a good reception, and his address was on similar lines to that delivered on Saturday in Dunedin and was frequently applauded. At tho conclusion he was accorded a vote of thanks.