PROHIBITION IN AMERICA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2086, 15 February 1894, Page 18

PROHIBITION IN AMERICA.

Mr G. M. Yerex, of Wellington, is at present on a visit to the prohibition States of America, and has been commissioned by the New Zealand Alliance and the Prohibition Leagues of Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin to inquire into and report upon the working of prohibition in those States. H^tf' first report is just to hand, and is dated from Portland, Maine, 4th December 1893. The following is the gist of his report : — VERMONT. ( Leaving Montreal on November 30, in a few hours I found myself in the prohibition State of Vermont. The first place I stopped at was St. Albans, a town of 7000 inhabitants. It is a lovely town, and as I walked through it I was struck by the splendid buildings, comfortable looking houses, slean streets, avenues of trees, and general thrifty appearance of the place. There,. : are 700 men employ,edjnjtsjrailw.a^s9e]£sfc[gp 8) "an'd-itt-asswer to "inquiries I was informed that there were no unemployed. In Montreal, a license city, everybody was complaining of the hard times ; and in Boston, not very far from St. Albans, I was told there were 40,000 unemployed. I called on the Chief of Police, but he was out of town. I then interviewed the proprietor of the leading drug store, who told me that, although not himself in favour of prohibition, he was satisfied that public sentiment in its favour was growing stronger every day, and that it was not likely that the people would vote it out. He had lived for 30 years in the town, and did not know of one habitual drunkard. When he came there it was no uncommon thing to smell the breath of a business man who had been drinking, but now that was no more. He was quite sure, from experience, that there were lots of towns in Vermont where there was not a drop of liquor to be had. The day of my visit was Thanksgiving Day — New England's greatest festival. I had dinner at one of the largest hotels, and although I looked for signs of drinking, and the hotel was full of men, I did not see a sign of a single person getting a drink, or anyone who appeared to have touched it I could Rot discover any place where liquor might be sold. While waiting for my train that night at the station I got into conversation with a farm lad of about 20 years of age. I asked him about work and wages, and if he thought I could get a job. He named a place where I could get work, and on my asking him if I could get a drink anywhere near, he said he thought I might at a place about two miles off, but was not sure. He did not understand the terms " teetotaller" and " abstainer," but said he did not like drink of any kind — that no one got drunk about where he lived, and there was no drinking. He could only speak about tbe possibility of getting drink from hearsay.

My next visit was to Montpelier, the capital of the State. I wish the readers of this could have been with me. Never had my eyes rested on a more cleanly, comfortable, home-like town. I thought, if this is the way prohibition ruins trade and drives away business, and all that as I have heard, it has a queer way of showing it. . . . One of the smallest and poorest buildings in the town, and one I had a difficulty in finding, was the gaol. When I saw it I thought there must be some mistake, but ventured to knock at the door. A young lady opened it, and I a=ked to see the gaoler. He proved to be a little, insignificaut looking old man, and I wondered how he could manage} the prisoners, but soon found that his frisk wag uot a heavy one. He had only one prisoner, and that one had been arrived that morning for larceny or some such offence. I went to the police station, but I had a hard time in finding it It was a little room ups'aira, and not a sign up to tell where it was. I called in the forenoon, and was told that the policeman was not on duty till the afternoon. There were two — one fcr the afternoon and tbe other for the evening ! About cue arrest a week is the average.

The State is one which a few years ago was noted for its drunkenness. It is not a wealthy State, and is known as " the hilly State," or " the granite State.'' Fromall sources I learned that there is very little drunkenness now, and that the people are prosperous, with practically no poverty. I heard no complaints of hard times. All seemed to be busy. The better class of the community declared that thi3 is largely due to wise legislation in minimising the evils of the liquor traffic. lam convinced that there is not a tithe of the drinking done in any town in Vermont that would be done in any town in New Zealand of the same size under license, while in the villages and country districts the liquor traffic is entirely unknown. From a Montreal paper I copy the following : — " In the hill towns of Vermont ths prohibition law is pretty well enforced, and there are many towns and villages in the State

where it is an impossibility to buy a drink at any price or to beg or borrow one even. This is because the public sentiment is against liquor selling and liquor drinking." This is from a paper opposed to prohibition. I found that public sentiment in favour of the prohibitory law was getting stronger every day. This was acknowledged even by its enemies. After what I have seen and heard I can say emphatically that in Vermont prohibition is a success. MAINE. At North Conway I crossed into Maine, and at almost every station from there to Portland I jumped off the train and made inquiries. I talked with business men on the train and cabdrivers at the stations, and without exception they all told the same tale : " You cannot get a drop of liquor in this place." There was no endeavour to evade the question or to hide anything : all spoke out emphatically that the traffic in this part of the country was entirely prohibited. I reached Portland, the chief town of the State, the birthplace of Longfellow and the home of Neal Dow, late on Saturday night, December 2. After securing quarters I sauntered forth to reconnoitre. All kinds of reports had come to me as to how the law was evaded in this town, and some had said that the hotels in the town now kept open bars. I went to the Falmouth Hotel — the largest, oldest, and most respectable in the State. It is the aristocratic hotel of Portland. I wished to find the bar. From the immense auditorium into which the visitors enter you will see no sign or indication as to where the liquor is to be found. I accordingly studied the question from the outside for a time. In the basement and on a side street was a barber's shop, and I fancied that through this a way might be found to the bar, and I was confirmed in this by a fellow selling peanuts opposite. I went in to get my hair out at 11 o'clock p.m. After the tonsorial operation I whispered to the man who brushed my coat and he allowed me to go through a side door into another department where a stairway was seen leading to rooms below. There was a single light burning in this subterranean place and no one in sight, but I heard voices beyond, and passed through another door into a room evidently used as a storeroom, which was not lighted. However, from this room I saw a light around the edges of another door at the opposite side of the room, and on opening this I found the bar. Do not imagine, gentle reader, that it was such a bar as would be seen in one of our big hotels in New Zealand or even in a small one. The room was entirely devoid of furniture except a plain rough counter at the far end, behind which a man stood. There were three young men in the room leaning over the counter and talking to the bar tender. Only one small light- was burning, and the place seemed anything but an attractive place for one to spend a pleasant time in. This was one of tbe "open bars" that I had heard so much about. This was Saturday night, and in the centre of a great city of 42,000 inhabitants, in the biggest hotel in the place, and at a time when the young men and boozers generally are apt to be drinking — if at all. Yet all was quiet here, and only three fast fellows sneaking into a hole to indulge in that which public sentiment and publwtastehadjjranded and hunted till it tOT^Se seen. " ' "" ' ""

On Monday I visited General Neal Dow by invitation. He is known as "the father of prohibition," and has been Governor of the State. He is now in his ninetieth year. He related to me the story of the conversion of Mr T. V. Locke (Petroleum v. Naseby), editor and proprietor of the Toledo Blade, of Ohio. Mr Locke had written some bitter things about j prohibition and the Maine law. Neal Dow went to him, but he would scarcely listen to him. He said : " You need tell me nothing about your Maine law ; I know it is a miserable failure." Soon after this he visited Portland, to see for himself. He went all about Portland, and with Dow drove into the country districts. By the time they had reached their second place of inspection, Locke clapped his hands and cried : " I'm converted. Hereafter I will adopt as my motto, ' Pulverise the rum power.'" He went home, and for weeks he had editorials in his paper (one of the ablest in America) advocating prohibition, and always ended with "Pulverise the rum power." Neal Dow said to me : "Maine was, 50 years ago, the most drunken State in the Union. Go where you would, thero was poverty and drunkenness and misery. The houses were poor, and the people thriftless and wretched. Now all is changed. Maine is to-day one of the most prosperous of all the States. In three-fourths of the State the liquor traffic is entirely unknown. You will find in scores of towns and villages hundreds of men and women who never saw a drunkard or a grog shop. If we paid our share of the national drink bill on population basis it would amount to 37,000,000d01, whereas 1,000,000d0l would more than pay for all that is smuggled in and sold on the sly." I have now visited some of the largest centres in the State, and travelled through its farming districts, and everywhere have seen sigas of^ abundant prosperity. In both towns and country the splendid homes impressed me very much. I have seen nothing like it on this continent. I was astounded yesterday on my visit to Lewiston (population 20,000) and Auburn (13,000), to see factories covering acres of ground, four, five, and six storeyß high, and giving employment to thousands of workmen. The public and private buildings are equal to the largest cities of the west. Prohibition in the State of Maine most certainly has not driven away trade, made hard times, or entailed financial disaster. Mr Yerex gives the statements of many influential citizens in different towns of Maine, which are too for insertion, but which bear out his report. We quote three shortest : — The mayor of Auburn, Mr W. W. Bolsten, said : " I am decidedly ia favour of prohibition. I do not know of a place where liquor is sold. I am satisfied that we are far better off as we are now than we would be under a license law." Mr George H. Brown, cashier of the Auburn SaviDgs Bank, said: " Tiio average • intelligent young mail will not go into dark afcticj and up secret stairways and have to know a password and signs before he can get a drink. When I came here I used to drink, but when I saw the way it was carried on I stopped it, and have been an abstainer ever since. I believe 100 young men would learn drinking "habits if we had a license system where now not one does. Prohibition has done great things for Maine." Mr Charles Lang, stationmaster at Danville Junction, said : " I have lived 11 years here, and am sure there is no liquor sold in the place, and it would not be allowed. There are no drunkards, and very little drinking. A few get a small quantity from Boston, and keep it in the house. I do not think there is a farm in the district mortgaged, and all the farmers are comfortable and well-to-do."

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