PROHIBITION IN STATES

Taranaki Daily News, 6 August 1930, Page 14

PROHIBITION IN STATES

REVIEW OF ITS OPERATION IMPRESSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS. REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS VIEW / (No. 7. By T.0.L.) “How are the prohibition laws working out in the United States?” This is a question often put to the peregrinating American away from home, lhere were quite a number of representative Americans aboard the Niagara when we were going across from Auckland to Vancouver who were returning from holiday visits to New Zealand and Australia. Incidentally all were charmed wuu what they had seen of our Dominion and impressed with its people. One wall Street financial magnate was loud in his praises of New Zealand’s scenic attractions, and said the most beautiful town he had ever seen in his traveiS was New Plymouth. The replies to the question will differ in some respects but they are agreed on one aspect—the United States will never return to the open saloon. They suffered too much from its abuses and the accompanying social degradation to ever desire its return. In the States there is also a difference of opinion as to the results of the working of prohibition.' One section admits its abuses, the boot-legging that is going on everywhere, the disrespect for the law' that is apparent on all sides, but say that with all its failings prohibition is worth while, if not for the benefit of the present generation, then ,for the. future .generations who will grow up without a knowledge of liquor. Another section, and a very considerable one, declares that prohibition is a huge failure and a huge blunder that is doing untold harm to the American nation. To one who has made but a hurried visit to the States it is difficult to obtain an accurate cross-section of the position. This would take a long time and involve a patient and thorough investigation of all matters affecting it. But one can say unhesitatingly that from what one sees and hears on a brief sojourn in New York city the system of liquor control is a failure. The stranger has no difficulty in obtaining liquor in any part of the city. The amazing thing is that it can be so easily procured. The traffic is carried on” with brazen effrontery, right under the noses of the police, who appear to be quite indifferent to what is taking place. MORE DRINKING PLACES. ‘’Under license,” declared the,head of one big concern whose activities extend to all parts of the world, “we had 10,000 licenses in the city. To-day I am sure there are 35,000 unlicensed places in the city.” He went to his window, situate near the. Times’ flat, iron structure in Broadway, and pointed out' several offices and shops. “There,” he said, “you can get all the liquor you want.” He went on to say that hardly a day passed without someone calling on hifh or ringing him up soliciting an order for liquor. The bootleggers were .keen on business and had no difficulty in supplying any brand of liquor. He showed us his own private hoard—a case of Scotch and another of gin in their original covers, wrapping and boxes. The price was round about five dollars a bottle, nearly double what it used to be sold for under license. The same story was told by other business men we met. They complained that they- were obliged to keep it in their offices, to facilitate business rela-. tions with some of their customers. That sort of thing never prevailed under license “We. have become a nation of gin drinkers,” declared the head of another big house, who went on to explain that young boys and girls, out of defiance of the law, took freely to drinking, and soon fell victims to it, and, as a result prematurely became old looking men and women. He suggested we should ' take up a position on the kerb of Broadway and closely watch the people and take notice of the faces of' the crowds streaming by. We did. It was an interesting and illuminating experience. Few there were who were robust and 'healthy. All the young men were pasty faced and tired looking. As for the girls' and women, it was hard to tell what was beneath their thick layers of rouge and paste and the fiery redness of the lip-stick, but their deportment and physique were not impressive. They would stand no comparison with the crowds in the street of any New Zealand city; One wondered as one watched them stream by in their thousands wherefrom the great American nation got its urge, its initiative, its capacity, its enterprise. Surely ■ not from such a polyglot people. Later one came in contact with the industrial, commercial and financial leaders, all young men, and one realised that here lav the driving force and latent reserve responsible for the progress, expansion and success of the United States. IS EFFICIENCY IMPROVED? ‘■'But has not prohibition improved the efficiency of the manufacturers and the workshops?” I asked of the head of one great iron works. “Not at all,” he replied. “Three fourths of my men are practically unfit for their jobs on the Monday,” ho went on. They did not want ordinary liquor, these men. They wanted something with a “kick” in it, and they got it in the form of “moonshine,” a locally distilled •whisky which was aways immature —the makers. were kept so busy in supplying orders that they could not allow it to mature. A better description of this vile liquor is dynamite, for it seems to have, equally disintegrating effect upon consumers as the explosive. Were good liquor always retailed conditions in New York would not be so bad, commercial men declared. Most of them had samples taken and analysed by a trusted chemist before they offered it to their friends or drank it themselves. Adulteration was rife, and the bootleggers peddling the liquor were not always sure of the quality, because of the hands it passed through before reaching them.

One could think that with conditions as bad as they are in New York the moderate and patriotic elements of the population would rise ip. their wrath and demand an alteration and the substitution of a bettor system. One commercial man explained' the .'difficulties in the way. “In the first place the big bootleggers have an enormous financial pull in high quarters. Many of our legis-

■latprs vote one w.ay and act in another. The ■ bootleggers jh&re numerous agents scattered over the countryside who are in - direct touch with the masses of voters. They -want no repeal of prohibition, and" naturally throw in their lot with the prohibitionists. Indeed, a great proportion of the funds of the latter come indirectly from the bootloggers. Against this curious and illsorted combination we would have no chance of success. Besides, our people are too busy with their own affairs to bother with the matter. And so the interested parties have it their own way, and we continue, to be the laughing" stock of the world.” That Prohibition does not work in the way it was intended is obvious, at least in New York. The State police are not concerned with its enforcement because they have eo much other work on their hands. A police official said the general disregard of the laws was largely due to the prohibition law which was flouted even by respectable, citizens and had not the backing of public opinion, at least in New York State. The public felt they had been tricked by politicians into prohibition, and because it was now part and parcel of tne constitution it was almost impossible to expunge it. The supervision,.. socalled, is in the hands of a force of special officers under the Federal Government. They stage a raid occasionally, and may* convict an underling or amateur but the high-up men are sacrosant. The gaols are already -overflowing, and what is to be done with the delinquents in future is a matter which is causing not a .little concern. The inmates, however, are not all bootleggers—the country is full of other criminals and desperadoes waging war on their own gangs and on the public at large.’ ■ .... But it is an ill wind that blows no one. any good. In the summer and fall tens of thousands of United States citizens flock over the border to Canada in - train and' car to take their holidays ,—and liquor. Last year it is estimated this tourist traffic. was worth the stupendous sum of seventy millions sterling to Canada, and this year it is expected to reach even higher figures. But for this traffic the palatial hotels built and conducted by the Pacific Railway Company, surely the most wonderful transportation concern the world has ever seen, could not be justified. Most of the big American conventions are held in Canadian cities —the Yankees are great on conventions—and whilst in Toronto we saw in the Exhibition grounds preparations being made for the accommodation of the 300,000 Shriners expected there in June. Ottawa was the scene of a recent American convention, which, it was reported to us,' was so thirsty that local supplies of liquor were soon consumed. Every responsible man we had the pleasure of meeting in New York favoured the introduction of the Canadian system in the United States. The open bar and private control of liquor were to them just as objectionable as the present system of indiscriminate and unlicensed drinking. They would not stand for it. But how the present law is to be revoked is another and a different matter. In their anxiety to preserve and extend the liberty of the subject the Yankees have succeeded in manacling themselves and centralising and fortifying authority in such, a way that repeal is almost impossible. The British political system is more resilient and, as in the case of Canadian liquor laws, can be repealed, modified or altered as desired. For the same reason, the British legal system is much more speedy, complete, efficient and equitable than the cast-iron system which serves the States.

We were given to understand that in the South and West prohibition was muon more succesisful than in New York and Chicago, and had largely eliminated drunkenness and crime, and that consequently it had the support of responsible people, who would never think of the repeal of the law. In the southern •States, too, it had been an instrument for good, particularly in the areas where there were large black proportions. In the rural districts it had also proved a success. Consequently it would be'very difficult if not impossible to obtain a two-thirds majority of the States to ensure the repeal of the measure, apart from the attitude and influence of the illicit sellers cf liquor who are so prominent a feature of New York life.