THE BAPTIST CONFERENCE AND PROHIBITION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18686, 16 October 1922, Page 9

THE BAPTIST CONFERENCE AND PROHIBITION.

TO TAB EDITOB Slß,—The Rev. J. H. Radford’s letter in this morning’s issue, is a very undignified attempt at retreat from statements made at the Baptist prohibition rally. In the attempt to prove that the manhood of New Zealand is steeped in drunkenness, and that the American is a superior product to men of his own race, he ignores Mr “Pussyfoot” Johnson’s own statistics, which show Chicago under prohibition to be three times more drunken than this dominion under license. Mr Johnson’s figures prove that the arrests for drunkenness in Chicago averaged in the second year of alleged prohibition, in round numbers, 1000 per week, and yet Mr Radford drags in a puerile statement that the “drunks in the bull-pen” have been reduced from 10 to 20 per day to half that number. If Mr Johnson is a reliable guide, then Chicago has to accommodate no less than 160 odd arrests l for drunkenness per day. Mr Radford writes; -“In Chicago'during the ‘dry’ half of 1910 one wing of the House of Correction was closed, only 2082 persons having been sentenced in that half, as compared with 3689 in the ‘wet’ half.” I believe that statement to be absolutely correct. In the early ‘dry’ months the people were taken by surprise,- and the supplies of liquor were comparatively short. Towards the end of 1920 / the flood of illicit liquor overwhelmed the land,..and drunkenness went up by leaps and bounds. It is because of this fact that our imported lecturers group the arrests for 1920 end 1921, and persistently refuse to quote the figures for 1921 separately. It is only as the official figures filter through that the abject failure of prohibition becomes manifest. Alcohol is a free gift of nature, and cannot be removed by legislation. Anyone can make it, and true temperance can only come by education, and not by Act of Parliament. Hence it is that in 1921 not only was the House of Correction' in Chicago taxed to its full capacity,- but a new prison was' built, and opened at Stetevillo in 1922 to cope with the overflow. This statement is taken from the Chicago Herald and Examiner of May 27, 1922. To illustrate the rising tide of drunkenness in the United States I quote statistics of cities in that misguided country for 1921, showing the increased arrests for drunkenness, compared with 1920: San Francisco .. 114 per cent, increase Louisville .. .. 116 per cent, increase St. Pauls .. .. 127 per cent, increase Minneapolis .. 103 per cent, increase .When 43 American cities are grouped the arrests for drunkenness in 1921 showed an increase of just on 40 per cent., compared with 1920—the first year of national prohibition. These figures are taken from the New York Times Current History for June, 1922, and the London Observer of August 20, 1922. . „ , . If the attitude of some of our Churches is due to incomplete! data, then there is yet time for them to bring themselves up to dale.—l am, etc., October 14. “ Continuance.” Sir,—l am a business man, have resided in New' Zealand for many years, and my business necessitates visits to business centres at short intervals. Everywhere I go, I see the ame thing, the churches only partially filled and the city streets absolutely overflowing with young people on Sunday evenings—particularly with young men _ perambulating the main thoroughfares “waiting for the girls to come out of church.” "Why do the young fellows not go to _ church with their girls and enjoy the service as in the years gone by? In Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, mid Dunedin, where I count numerous young men as my valued friends, I obtain the same answer, and variations arc few and far between. “The parson is too namby-pamby —• he is not a ‘sport,’ and they can’t stand the constant ‘gab’ about prohibition. _ When they close the hotels it will l>e racing and tobacco next.” That political question is constantly being thrown at them, and after two or three experiences of this sort of thing they get tired and stay away. There is no gainsaying the fact that 90 per cent, of our men, from 25 years of ago upwards, take an occasional glass of beer, and in the winter, especially, -an occasional nip of •whisky. Axe they intemperate? Certainly not. Do they develop into drunkards? Only an exceedingly small percentage. Statistics show that only 147 prohibition orders had to ho issued during 1920 with a population of one and a-quarler millions. This works out that our confirmed drunkards amount to one per 1000, and for this one lost cheep the other 1000 are insulted by the constant din, about the “evils of drink.” • Is it any wonder if the Presbyterian Church is losing ground? Is it any wonder that the Baptists only number 6272, when men like Messrs Radford and Harry use the intemperate language reported in your issue of the 12lh inst. Well may the Rev, Hinton pray “Might 'the Lord otethe Church save their churches from spiritual decay,” and well may Canon Ncvill say that “Christianity was not making the progress nor were the Churches held in such high esteem oa they desired.” If the Churches, one and all carried out the Divine Command to preach the Gospel to all men, and cut politics out of the pulpit, then, I believe with Mr Hinton, that “a spiritual church in New Zealand could close the hotel bars,” for lack of customers without antagonising the temperate man of this dominion by wielding the prohibition bludgeon.—l am, etc., Christian. Dunedin, October 14.