It Saves the Boys

Southland Times, Issue 14797, 14 November 1900, Page 3

It Saves the Boys

The best argument I have found in Maine for prohibition was by an editor of a paper in Portland, that was for political reasons mildly opposed to it. I had a conversation with him that ran something like this : " Where were you born ? " "In a little village about 60 miles from Bangor." "Do you remember the condition of things in your village prior to prohibition ? " "Distinctly. There was a vast amount of drunkenness, and consequent disorder and poverty." " What was the effect of prohibition ? " "It shut up all the rum shops, and practically banished liquor from the village. It became one of the most quiet and prosperous places on the globe." " How long did you live in the village after prohibition ? " " Eleven years, or until I was 21 years of age." " Then ?" " Then I went to Bangor." " Do you drink now ?" " I have never tasted a drop of liquor in my life." " Why ?" " Up to the age of 21 I never saw it, and after that I did not care to take on the habit." That is all there is in it. If the boys of the country are not exposed to the infernalism, the men are very sure not to be. This man and his schoolmates were saved from rum by the fact that they could not get it until they were old enough to know better. Few men are drunkards who know not the poison till after they are 21. It is the youth the whisky and beer men want. — North American Review. Are they not getting many of our New Zealand youths ? Among our footballers, our cricketers, and even our volunteers, they are finding their victims, caring nothing for the ruin they cause if only they may gain by it. There are mothers in this town whose hearts are aching because their boya are beginning to tread the downward path and they know not how to stop them. Will you help or hinder. (Published by arrangement with the W. P. T.U.I