ALCOHOL, EFFICIENCY AND PROHIBITION.

Southland Times, Issue 17734, 11 August 1917, Page 2

ALCOHOL, EFFICIENCY AND PROHIBITION.

To the Editor. Sir,—Two stalwart champions, whose courage hides behind an impenetrable helmet of anonymity, have replied to my letter. But have they, by as much as one word, weakened my contention? Useless personalities and sophistries are introduced, a little dust thrown, and one or two herrings drawn across the scent. But the plain, unvarnished, notorious facts about alcohol remain significantly unanswered. Your leader may be summarised thus: “Alcohol, because hindering Efficiency, .calls for Prohibition. Personal pleasure, on the other hand, still has a liking for alcohol.” The inconsistency of it is patent, or if you will, the conservatism and inconsistency of personal appetite. A man winces under the sting of a homethrust, and when he is hit to the quick. My critics’ letters show only too well how successful was my first assault. They write avowedly in defence of an abnormal appetite which produces more inefficiency than any other single factor—this inefficiency is physical, mental, spiritual, industrial, commercial, national. They defend a trade which is known to produce more sickness, insanity, poverty, crime and misery than any other single agent. In a word, they defend selfishness and indulgence, pure and simple. My pen was taken up for no personal advantage or pleasure of any kind, but in the cause of health, of sanity, of virtue, of happiness and of truth. I wrote in defence of the weak, the helpless and the sad. Surely every Britisher thrills with pride that his Empire is fighting in defence of small and weaker nations, in memory of our martyred Nurse Cavell, on behalf of the women of Europe whom a savage and degenerate foo has outraged, orphaned and enslaved. My critics doubtless share with me this noble pride that England, regardless of inevitably enormous expense and sacrifice, plunged into the angry billows of war to rescue a few pitiable survivors, to avenge the dead, and to bring remorselessly to book the murderous offender. It is their shame to be hindering another warfare which, as the whole world knows, has for its objective the welfare of the weak and the destruction of the destroyer. Proud I am, Sir, to use my pen, not to safeguard any personal appetite, but to protect helpless children, to champion the cause of innocent women, to safeguard men who through others' sin are unable to withstand the enemy. Your unprejudiced readers will know what judgment to attach to our respective motives and intelligence. Meanwhile there is no need of scriptural reference. No book is so intolerant of greed and selfishness as the Bible; no man so exacting as Jesus; no one more ready to make sacrifices for others than Paul. Democracy when analysed is merely a system of society dependent entirely upon the principle of personal sacrifice. Individualism unrestrained is the reason of Russia’s present sorry plight, and of Sydney’s unhappy strike with the liquor menace and the present world war. It will be found that altruism is the first essential of democracy, of efficiency, and of peace. Germany’s years of preparations and impregnable defences are futile, as are the vested interests, the ancient social customs, the hordes of imbecile followers of alcohol. As surely as our Allies smashed the Hindeuburg line and pulverised those boasted impregnable places, so surely is the relentless push of Prohibition forcing back the arch enemy of our race. Its lines arc crumpling here and there; great gaps appear; vast territories are being restored to conditions of sobriety and prosperity. Munitions for the Prohibition campaign are pouring in from Europe, America, Australia, the world. The last big push is on and the egotistical trade knows it. Brewers and liquor lords, as well as Prussian war lords, are at last at bay, battling for very life. So Britain fights hopefully on, knowing her cause is just. No one pays heed to Germany’s war lies. Nor are people of intelligence and sympathy im- 1 pressed by the protestations and dismay of Kaiser Alcohol. The might of our cause, we know, is its right, and “thrice is he armed who hath his quarrel just.' l —l am, etc., H. B. HUGHES. Baptist Manse, Invercargill. P.S.—Your footnote in Thursday’s issue seems to me at once incommensurate with the insistence of the subject and the greatness of the issues.—H.B.H. [Mr Hughes’s so-called summary of our article in his first paragraph is not a summary at all; it is a travesty.—Ed. S.T.]