LIQUOR QUESTION

Southland Times, Issue 25343, 23 July 1935, Page 8

LIQUOR QUESTION

TWO ADDRESSES NEW ZEALAND ALLIANCE OFFICIALS CASE FOR PROHIBITION The liquor question as it affected New Zealand as a whole and Invercargill in particular was the subject of an address by the Rev. J. R. Blanchard, of Wellington, president of the New Zealand Alliance, in the Victoria Hall last evening. He was supported by the secretary of the Alliance, Mr J. Malton Murray, who dealt with the repeal ol Prohibition in the United States. The attendance of the public nearly filled the hall. His Worship the Mayor (Mr John Miller) presided. Prior to the addresses the Rev. C. J. Tocker led those present in prayer. The Mayor, in his introductory remarks, said that both speakers were very able and had a thorough knowledge of their subject. “It is our proud boast, and we have good reason for it, that New Zealand is God’s Own Country” said Mr Blanchard. “At the same time the plain fact is that many people are going to the devil in ‘God’s Own Country.’ Many causes account for this. Liquor is one of them. It is also a factor in other causes. Remove it, and the whole social problem will be simpler. We appeal to the people to remove it by using their right to vote at the next licensing poll. That is the people’s road to freedom from this Satanic curse. Facing the Facts. “To have this freedom, a people must begin by facing the facts. Since last licensing poll there have been 25,475 convictions for drunkenness; 6344 prohibition orders;»l9B9 convictions for being drunk in charge of a motor vehicle; 4178 convictions for offences committed while drunk; 2989 indecent, etc., assaults; and 2915 prosecutions of hotelkeepers for law-breaking. Every second day, on the average, a case of alcoholism has been treated in our hospitals; every sixth day there has been a death, the assigned or contributory cause of which was alcoholism; every ninth day has seen an admission to a mental asylum for the same cause. It is estimated that New Zealand is making drunkards at the rate of six a day. Such are the evils with which liquor is wedded. No amount of regulation has been able to divorce them. We are appealing to the people to emancipate New Zealand from these evils by removing the traffic. “To prosper, the liquor trade has to stimulate the consumption of what it sells. But such is the nature of what it sells, that increased consumption means increase in the resultant evils. Unconcerned by this, however, the trade is making an organized effort, through advertising, to catch women and youth in the snare of the drinking habit. When leading sportsmen are advising young men and women not to drink; when the hospitals of the world are reducing the use of alcohol to vanishing point, the trade is advertising drink as a necessary daily tonic. Its sole concern is to increase its sales and to swell its profits. The more it succeeds, the more will the nation pay the price in the form of the evils which are already too prolific. The proper authorities have been asked, in the interests of public health, to suppress these misleading advertisements, but they say' it is not possible to do so. The people have it in their hands, however, to be free from this iniquity by voting against the trade this year. Local Issue. “In addition to the national issue, the citizens of Invercargill are faced with the local question of no-license in their own city. It is claimed by some that the restoration of licenses will clean up the keg-party evil. Interested parties can easily exaggerate the extent of this evil, but case after case of the same thing is on record in licensed areas. It is not by any means peculiar to no-license places. Far from curing that evil, license only accentuates it. The same is true of the disgusting evils which frequently follow on drink at dances. The complaints about this ghastly phenomenon of our presentday social life come as definitely from licensed areas as from no-license districts. The presence of hotels has not mitigated the evil. “On the other hand, no-license places have features of prosperity which are more noticeable than in licensed areas. Invercargill, for example, is unique for the number of men on small weekly or hourly paid wages who own their homes. The bar is not here, and such men do not jniss it. Restore the bar, and its social pull will begin to exert an influence upon them. None of them may ever drink to excess; but the fact that they will be persuaded to spend a few shillings a week in drink will make it impossible for them to own their homes and to beautify them with gardens, made of plants and seeds which they at present buy on their way home from work. The hotels will be definitely interested in getting them to spend that few shillings a week, and will thus be at variance with the best interests of the home. Other Places. “The citizens of Invercargill would do well to be warned by places which have restored license. Ohinemuri, after--17 years of no-license, allowed itself to be inveigled into restoration. The result was that in 16 months arrest cases grew to a number which had taken seven and a -If years of nolicense to accumulate. The official figures in regard to that, together with summary convictions, prohibition orders, convictions for drunkenness, etc., prove that no-license was six times more effective in dealing with the liquor problem than is license. And Ohinemuri cannot regain no-license until the whole Dominion goes dry. A similar state will be the lot of Inverif its people restore license. “During the last decade or so," there has been an increase in • drinking on the part of - a certain section of the community. In other countries there are signs that this plunge off the deep end is declining; it is coming to be regarded as not the fashion. The influence of that has not yet reached this land, but it is only a matter of time before it will. To those, therefore, who are being tempted to vote restoration in the vain hope that so-called regulation will cure the present evils, I would say with all the earnestness I can muster: hold your aand, and do not commit the tragic folly of fastening on your city a licensed trade whose grip will be infinitely harder to break than it will be to permit.” Figures for U.S.A. “The Abstract of Statistics, official figures for the U.S.A, during the ‘dry’ period 1923-1931, shows that drunkenness decreased 77 per cent. Police figures from 226 cities and towns for the first year of repeal show that compared with the first year of Prohibition the increase in drunkenness is 244.30 per cent. If nothing else had happened, this demonstrates conclusively that the ‘greater temperance’ promised by President Roosevelt, Vice-President Garner, and a host of repealists has not resulted. Repeal has failed to make tilings ‘better’ as promised,” said Mr Murray in his address. “The same authority shows that during the period motor fatalities with the liquor

traffic outlawed, decreased 50 per cent. In its annual report to stockholders for the year 1934 the American Motorists Insurance Company, one of the strongest insurance companies in the State of Illinois, says: ’Our results for the year were adversely affected by the sharp increase in accidents resulting from the combination of highspeed lightweight automobiles and improper regulation of the liquor traffic following the repeal of Prohibition.’ Mr Garner promised the people that if Prohibition was repealed legislation would be enacted to ‘promote temperance, effectively prevent the return of the saloon and bring the liquor traffic into the open and under complete supervision and control.’

“The Insurance Company says that ‘improper regulation’ of the traffic has adversely affected its results. So much fdr the promised ‘complete supervision and control.’ But the Insurance Company is not finished: it has more to say, namely: ‘Nation-wide results show sharp increases in the number of deaths and injuries due to driving while intoxicated. In one large American city which has kept accurate statistics the number of arrests due to driving while intoxicated, increased 150 per cent, and the number of deaths due to drunken pedestrians over 200 per cent. Increases as high as 70 per cent, in accidents caused by intoxicated drivers are not unusual. The explanation is simple. Politicians who promised faithfully that the saloon would not return promptly forgot those promises as soon as the election was over. The result is that not only has the saloon returned, but the regulation of the liquor traffic is probably the most lax the country has ever known. There has been a tremendous property loss in addition. Unless an aroused public opinion demands better motor vehicle and liquor regulations and better enforcement, this deplorable condition will continue and higher automobile insurance costs are certain to come.’ Brewers’ Expenditure. “In the face of all this, an announcement appears in the New York HeraldTribune dated March 8, 1935, that United States Brewers’ Association will spend at least £200,000 within the next sixty days to educate the American public to use beer. That 36,000 persons were killed and 882.000 injured in motor accidents in 1934 does not worry the brewers. “The abstract referred to shows that crime from drink decreased 70 per cent, under Prohibition. This year, the Department of Justice in the U.S.A, issued a report which states: ‘One of the surprises that has confronted the Department of Justice is the rapid increase in the population of the gaols since repeal of the 18th Amendment . . . For instance, the cost of the El Rono reformatory was estimated on the basis of 250 prisoners and they have 902 dt present.’ “On October 23, 1934, the Chicago Daily News published an editorial in the course of which it stated that it favoured repeal, but now refused to accept liquor advertisements. Amongst the reasons given for this attitude was the following: ‘The Daily News now reiterates its decision not to aid, even by indirection in its advertising columns, the promotion of a business which has already allied itself with corrupt politics, which is again providing a harbour and a refuge for the criminal element.’ The Chicago HeraldTribune on July 14, 1934, published an editorial protesting against an ordinance being sneaked through the council granting permission for saloons to remain open till 3 o’clock on Sunday mornings, and said: ‘This incident is a reversion to the tactics which brought about Prohibition.’ And it reprinted in that issue an editorial that appeared in July, 1917, which said: ‘The liquor business has been the faithful ally of every vicious element, in American life. It has bribed politicians, juries and legislatures.’ Revenue Position. “President Rosevelt said liquor revenue was necessary. Other prominent politicians, that is, the candidate for Governor of Minnsota, declared liquor revenue would relieve taxpayers and balance local, state and national budgets. Published estimates ranged from £1,000,009,000 to £150,000,000 per annum. The actual revenue has turned out to average £34,000,000 —just onequarter of that promised by the most modest prophet and one-twenty-sixth of that promised by the most boastful. And now, although taxation has been increased 65 per cent., we have the President fighting to impose still more taxation. Before repeal the Budget deficit was £200,000,000, and after a year of repeal it stood at £800,000,000, so that repeal failed ‘to balance local, state and national budgets.’

“Repealists promised that repeal would solve the unemployment problem. Just before full repeal took effect the American Federation of Labour in November, 1933, reported 11,030,000 unemployed. In January, 1935, the Bulletin of the National City Bank of New York contains these words: ‘The relief rolls are longer than ever before, including almost 19,000,000 persons.’ As a measure of financial and economic relief repeal has proved to be a dismal failure.” On the motion of the Rev. A. G. Mackintosh Carter, who said he hoped members of the Presbyterian Church would obey the wish of the General Assembly to vote for Prohibition, a vote of thanks to the speakers was carried by acclamation.