CAMPAIGN OF EFFICIENCY

Waikato Times, Volume 90, Issue 14025, 31 March 1919, Page 4

CAMPAIGN OF EFFICIENCY

BUSY WEEK-END IN T

MISS BUTLER’S FINE ADDRESS

There was a large audience at the Theatre Royal, Hamilton, yesterday afternoon, when an address on “National Efficiency from the Woman’s Standpoint ” was delivered by Miss Butler, B.Sc. Miss Butler, who is principal of the Auckland Girls’ Grammar, School, gave a very fine address and dealt with her subject with a clarity and conciseness that was telling. 'Dr; Douglas occupied the. chair, arid lady members of the Hamilton branch of the .League occupied a placp on the stage. Dr. Douglas said that as chairman of the men’s branch of the National Efficiency League, he had much pleasure in welcoming Miss Butler to Hamilton. They had heard a good deal of national efficiency from the men’s point of view, but it would be fresh and interesting to them to hear the subject from the woman’s standpoint. To his mind the question ahead was the biggest ono that New Zealand ever had to face, and unless they tackled-it now they would liaye to endure it for another three or four years at anyrate. They had not the ghost of a show at a general election with the three issues before them. Miss Butter, who was loudly applauded on coming forward to speak, said that on the purely efficiency side erf the question there were the moral and physical aspects, which counted for a great amount. It was woaian's function to help the men also in attaining the highest physical, mental and moral standard. What Was Required.

An analysis of the. word “efficiency” showed that it was the power to carry out to the highest degree the functions of the mind, the body and the soul. Nine out of every ten were not attaining what they should in that respect. We were to blame in a great measure ourselves, while the system of education, the home training, the circumstances under which we lived and last, but not least, the inheritance our parents gave to us at the beginning of life assisted. The speaker said that she had great faith in the power of upbringing and environment, but she realised very strongly that the battle of life was very much increased for those people who had not a good inheritance. They all held that every man was responsible to the State and Empire. Four years ago they had sent their men Home to fight and everywhere through the length and breadth of the Uiilted Kingdom the ■ New Zealanders have the highest name. Doors were open wide to them and they were welcomed in. She had had expressions of opinion on the spot that the New Zealanders did not talk much, but they did a great deal. That was a high compliment to pay. They had set a high standard of courage, resourcefulness and ingenuity, and in most cases were exceedingly pleasant additions to society. Did they not think that there was a greater duty owing to the children of the next generation, to raise the standard higher and not allow it to fall? The sacrifice will have been useless unless they realise how dearly the inheritance had been bought and prized it just as dearly. They wanted io come forward in greater strength and with higher ideals, to have the sense that their country Is a precious thing. Pride of race was an essential development. What ideal had they set as a race to hold forth to their children? They w r antcd a man with a perfect body, a well trained mind and a soul with ideals considered higher than those of any other man in the world. It had been the ideal of the British race all through the ages. They were the successors of those men and women and could they themselves do less than they had done? They w'ould say that they lived lives of the ordinary individual. That was true, but the first aspect of this great question they had to consider, for the true welfare of the nation was not the uplift of the strong man but of the weak man. In educational matters it was not the training of the brainy child, but the child whose brains were not good that required major attention. The question was asked why should they give up drink when it was, they argued, doing no harm but simply the other man abused it. I'hey had to remember that they were subject to the laws of the country to which they belonged. Here they had to obey thousands of laws and that boasted liberty of theirs had changed the free will of the nation to the highest form of liberty for the greater good. She asked , that if there was only one man or one woman in their midst to-day whose life had been broken, whose soul had been lost and whose mentality had been ruined by drink, would they not do anything to save that person? If they were true to their ideal they would. It had been stated that they were going to extremes, but if they did not face these questions they would not advance their ideals .. any further. The war had shown them that they must not leave the work to the other person to do. The w r ar pesimist was rife in the lan in those times, but he had never sat down to think it out What contribution he could have made towards national efficiency.. No, he sat at home and judged the man who went out and did the job. If he had been Lloyd George or King of England the war would have taken a very different course. (Laughter). If maximum efficiency was attained along the right lines the race would progress to an astonishing degree. A learned professor, dealing with the psychology of society, once said that it took six weeks to form a bad habit. How many of them worried about the habits they were forming? The pfoper meed of praise was justified but if they pointed out the defects and made suggestions for improvement in one another it would be a very vast help towards attaining a clearer view of their problems. They were selfish interests and not community interests as they should be. If they accepted the benefits of the Stale then they must seek the advancement and progress of the State, too. They, heard frequent complaints of what the Government was not doing, but did they ever know a man get up and say what he had not done? If the two lists were compared the latter would be longer many times. If they were going to he good citizens they were going to do their duty by New Zealand, otherwise they had. no right to partake of its privileges. • - 7 - Effects of the Drug

Miss Butler sand that she would come at that stage to the much more practical side of the issue. They had to consider the liquor just as they would any other substance or drugits relationship to themselves and to their descendants. In regard to the harmful effects of the drug upon the human system they had the scientific researches of noted men who had earthed their experiments and investigations out for their own knowledge and the advancement of science and not. for the prohibition campaign. Victor Horsley, an eminent author-

ity, in one of his books, stated that' it would be'a great gain if the world! could get over alcohol. He treated it as he would treat cocaine and many other things. The speaker reminded her audience that she was not saying that alcohol should be swept off the face of the earth. It had its proper value as a medicine in the hands of the properly qualified people. It would no more be swept out o£ industries and medicine than common' salt would be swept out of.daily use. They should make no-» mistake that fhe. was only arguing,, on:*daily uncontrolled use; of the. drUggby the individual. She did’ not- -know.* why healthy people indulged in alcohol, except thatt they had .got Into.'-.-a habit of taking it. The lecturer passed on to refer to 1 scientific data which supported the. conclusion that a finer .result, physically, mentally, and in/ every other way was obtained when ■ alcohol was not indulged in.. Why, she jisked, did they bother the.' doctors at all if they attached no importance to their verdict on a vital que's--tion of this kind? There might be men and women who took alcohoLand ,showed no effects, but medical •• science incontestably held that there would be better development, and a finer system without it. There was ; also authority to disprove the statement that alcohol was an aid ta longevity. It spelt a large waste of tissue and small repair. Where quick stimulation was necessary it might be--of advantage for the a£ed to have if! under medical care. If alcohol wa*r a proper substance it would tend" to 4 improve the system and not go for" the degeneration of it. What a vast difference there was in the calibre of the various brains one had to meet. Education the community had to pay for, and from an economic point of view they should see that the material put at their teachers' disposal! was the best the country could pro--duce in every individual case. It’ was a great crime on the free system of education that many children weredeficient in grasping their studies. She would not say that it was ' a’< waste of time for them to come, but in the mental development the staffs ; in these cases could accomplish little'because they had not the material to 1 develop. How often, she asked didl they blame themselves and not the' school and the teacher? Hardly evert Any excuse but the right one of getting down to bedrock. If they and* their ancestors had done all they should have done the offspring in these cases would have had a much better chance in life. They gave the, child a human body, but they strapped pri to it such a load that it could hardly? carry it. . '•> ■. ", ■ They realised that there Were otherevils beside alcohol, but they werenot so pressing for the moment as; they were not affecting so many people.. The accomplishment of this was just a great step in national progress. If they were not the first to achieve: their ideal they would bracket with, some one els?, but they must get lower. (Applause). The speaker drew attention to the lack of consid-’ eration in one’s own life and <he failure to understand the position one bore to the child. Two drug fiends" should not have the right to produce children, as they were a burden to themselves and to the community. The result of the depressing effect of alcohol upon the human body as set out by some of the greatest students of the day, was here itemised by the speaker to lend further weight to her argument. They were experiments which were not made in five minutes, but which ran to as long as five years in some cases. , They were made through all classes of the community —on the great brain as well as thefeeble and mediocre.

By subscribing to it they were los- ’ ing judgment, time and opportunity,, business’ and everything else in the-, world. It would not be unjust tq* ask, “ Are you not robbing the State of a better citizen than you are at the* moment? Wouldn’t it be better for ■you to get the maximum out of yourself than a little less? Alcohol's stimulating action lasted but a few minutes, its depressing action lasted for hours. One doctor had said that it made you jolly for half an hour and down in the dumps for about four and a half hours.’’ Women and Drink. The degradation of the home was the greatest crime against the State, the speaker stated, when turning lothe question of women drinkers. It was because we had some ideal of home that we had risen to the nation we were. She told the women that their doctor knew when alcohol wasrequired and he could provide it. It was the cry against the worldly woman that she was eternally seeking false excitement. “Do you do it,”' the lecturer asked, “ to dose yourself with a drug which will liter give you depression?” The speaker, after delving further into medical testimony as to the deleterious effects of the drug, asked her audience if they wereaware of the disinterestedness of the medical profession, very “ many of whom had come forward to eradicate the drink evil. All doctors were not money-grubbers, thank heaven, and: why, she asked, should they support a system that was to go against them, financially. They were out to do> their best to return them to normal. They found them with a disease in;, the community, they realised how’ farreaching the abuse of drink is, and were coming forward and saying that they wanted this disease stamped o*t of the country. Why did they call it such a great handicap to do without their drink, though they did nfft take 1 sufficient to get “ nerves ’’ or “d.t.’s.” The lecturer pointed to the transference of alcohol that was possible from mother to child and the father had also equal responsibility with the women so far as safeguarding the ne,xt generation was concerned. Records showed how many patients from alcoholic indulgence had entered' asylums and a great many cases, a doctor had pointed out, had arisen* from the patients’ start as a moderate drinker. “We want to advance New Zealand and is it not up to you to sit down and consider what you will do to clear the country of some of this', temptation?” the speaker . asked. When one parent was making the most of the faculties he possessed and another was abusing his, the poor ,baby was going to pay the toll at the .end of it. We are born to-day and' die to-morrow, but the threads continue on to the end and was it not for them to realise that the therads must be good and not evil. TheEfficiency Board had shown them that in the liquor traffic they were indulging in something which was slowly mastering them instead of them mastering; it. This was one particular drug which held a false place. “It vis not you or I, but the children of today and to-morrow and after that, who are going to pay the increased ■ burden every year. Vice increases quicker than virtue; aren't you imperilling it for the future? We did not always have the chance to rid ourselves of the drink evil, but we have it now, so let us look at things in their proper proportion and decide that all our own vices must go.” The fact that their population was spread precluded the same perspective as if the people were aggregated, but they

would be surprised at the vice existent. They must disabuse their minds' of the thought that they were so very good. Everything was in their favour at present of minimising the danger. Par too many degenerates were created by alchohol, and if they could only lessen the number by a single one it was worth their while to do it. Those Who Suffer. Speaking to the male portion of her audience Miss Butler said that ;t was the women and cuildien who generally suffered through the abuse of the drug. She would admit ipai the number of women-who were addicted was on the increase and furl her tuat it was a more deadly vice with a woman than with a man. Would they care to see .. any woman they loved the subject of the indignities and tire humiliation which was the dot of the drunkard’s v. c? "icy. did

minimise the chance if they cut out y-' the cause. Proud of their son to-day, what would they think and feet 21) years hence if they saw him with his self-respect gone and his head in the dust. Five hundred times the tax and /’a million times the compensation /' would be cheap as the price of that / boy. Was it a very gi sacrifice for them to do away w.ih tills minute pleasure to safeguard the people of the luture? It was the ideal to prop up the weak ones in a community. That would not be nearly the ideal state but the abolition of the traffic would be one step towards it. They must go forward. This was the first , hurdle they were up against and they must leap it. When the next one came, along they would show their breeding at.d leap that, too. (Applause.) The lecturer admitted that there was extravagance in dress and tremendously inflated values. “ You men say, ‘one up your dress and wo will give up our drink.’ Well,” added the lecturer, “ you wouldn’t like us without our dress and you’re also mighty particular that we dress a Jitlle better than the next.” (L.uighif,r and applause). In dress, as in all else. they wanted efficiency. The lecturer adm.Ued that the ab-i.-w of anything was a vice and should be -’ topped. “ I want the brewery interests. when they get the COupiimi;on, to open draper’s ghOJ’4 ahd s.dl at lower rates, I guaraniee that I would go there and buy my dress.” (Laughter). They could also launch out into other trades as well, as com-’ _ petition was a good thing and essential to community Hip*. Dealing with the yearly taxation of 4s 6d if the poll were carried, the lecturer asked that even if they looked upon it as a widow’s mite in the price of a human soul r would it not be worth while? Answering statements which had been made that sly-grogging would increase, the lecturer asked if they ’ thought them fools and were making a law which they couldn’t keep. She * i would say to these people that the police who were now busy in Queen street arresting drunkards, would be put on to manage the sly-groggers and they would- do ,it well. (Ap plause.) What they were out for might be an experiment but •-it was an experiment which was well worth trying. If they did not they would be placed In the category '■’V. of the individual who looked on at suicide or drowning and held it was none of his business. They would live to suck sorrow with a long spoon if they did not take every chance for good that came their way. They wanted to give their Slate a chance of fostering * the finest t-;- pe of citizen in the world. Other States had done it and they could do it ,too. If y they did not meet their liabilities they only had themselves to blame. D.d they know that some children wire -- net getting a fair show, and it was tneirs and the lecturer’s business to see that they did. The speaker concluded a stirring address amid enthusiastic applause. * »Mr. J.. A. Young, M.P., said that they had listened to the finest intellectual treat ever provided in Hamilton in Miss Butler’s address. She had dealt with her subject in an able and convincing manor, and the high message delivered was sure to have good effect in the campaign. He appreciated very much the magnificent address by a lady whose whole life, soul and ideals were for the uplifting of the women who were entrusted to her training in this country. At a later stage the speaker said that on Monday of next week he intended iddressing the public, when he- woo'd ■show them why they should pay £4,500,000 as compensation. He would further tell about reveneue and deal with the prohibition problem from a political standpoint. Votes of thanks were enthusiastically accorded Miss Butler and the chairman, and the proceedings closed with the' National Anthem. ADDRESS TO WOMEN. If the crowded attendance at the Theatre Royal tea rooms on Saturday evening to listen to Miss Butler,,B.S.c., speaks for the interest on so vital a subject as the carrying of National Prohibition, it augurs well for the goal which Miss Butler has set out to reach. There were many who could not find seating accommodation, and her discourse was listened to with the utmost interest, by all present. Of the distressing and harmful effects on the human /body, both physically and mentally, that the indiscriminate use of alcohol has, Miss Butler spoke eloquently. Gifted with graceful language and a beautiful speaking voice, she held her audience to her final utterance.

ADDRESSES BY AUCKLAND BUSINESS MEN.

A large audience assembled in the King’s Theatre, Hamilton, on Saturday evening, when addresses were given hy Messrs R. Laidlaw and AUan Brown, of Auckland, representing th National Efficiency League. Mr C. L. Mac Diarmid presided. Some intensely interesting view's of Red Cross work on the battlefield, on the hospital ship, and in the hospitals at Home were shown.

Mr Laidlaw said that after witnessing the sad sights on the screen they could not help thinking of Mr Lloyd George’s statement that “they were fighting three great evils—Germany. Austria, and drink—and the greatest of the three was drink.” They had now defeated the first two. and had the opportunity of donating the greatest of all w>th pencil and paper on April iOth. Canada and the United States had suppressed liquor altogether, and othe” countries would have to deal with it. The character of drink remained the same —it was always,bad. and was ever an enemy to progress. The liquor party •were trying to make capital out of the proposed payment of* £4.500.000 compensation, but was it not worth while to pav this amount and get rid of the evil ipr all time. Gladstone had said was a greater curse- than pestilence and famine, and they had the cry of Thomas Bracken, who. from bitter experience, had called it “the vilest fiend of all.* Mr Laidlaw quoted figures to show that the country would be far better off. eeonomieally and morally, under prohibition, when the money now wasted in liquor would be diverted into more legitimate channels. The liquor party, in advocating State control, asked every ratepayer to

become a shareholder in an evil traffic which was being turned down by the whole civilised world. Drink was in- . herently bad, and gave its character to touched it. In every school in the country there were notices warn- . ing the children against alcohol. The State Fire Insurance Department and the Police Department were also flghtI ing tlie effects of alcohol, and if the j Government took control of the traffic ] it would be warring against its own I departments. The cry about “personal I liberty” could not stand, as all laws 1 were prohibitory and compulsion was ' necessary for the maintenance of law and order and the good of the whole communityi There were 250,000 children in New Zealand under the age of 12 years, and 450,000 under the age of 21. and for the sake of these everyone should vote for prohibition, ftrink had revealed itself as the despot of the whole civilised world, the foe of efficiency, and the enemy of righteousness, 1 and it must be wiped out of this fair I land for ever. (Applause.)

1 fl Moderate Drinker’s Views. I Mr Allan Brown said that Mr Laid- ; law was a teetotaller, but he was a 1 moderate drinker, and from that stand- ! roint desired to address tiie audience, i He and Mr Laidlaw, however. stood_ on I the common platform of national effl- ! cioncy. The business men thought that ' the recommendation of the National Efficiency Board should be carried out. They had no personal axe to grind, and were putting their money into the campaign because they believed the country would be better from an efficiency no'nt of view if liquor was abolished. That motive alone actuated them He honed all moderate drinkers would say, “We like our liquor, but we like our country better.” With the carrying of prohibition liquor would be available for medicinal, sacramental and scientific purposes, so that the bogey raised by the trade regarding the epidemic would not stand. It was a sound business proposition, to wipe out the traffic for £4.500,000. The League claimed that under prohibition New Zealand would be, richer, better educated, healthier, and more efficient. They realised that in the great industrial war which was sure to follow the world war they were up against the opposition of twp great countries which had gone uJy, and would be seriously handicapped unless they too went dry. The liquor trade exercised an unhealthy poltiical influence, and this was not a sound business proposition. Mr Brown went through the 24 “reasons” of the Liquor Party, and- claimed that many of them were palpably absurd. He said that if the men who went to the front considered it was good enough to lay down their lives for their country, surely it was idle for the moderate drinker to talk .of “sacrifice” when asked to go without their glass. (Lour applause.) Votes of thanks to the speakers and the chairman closed a successful meeting.

LABOUR AND LiQUOR. Outside the King’s Theatre on Saturday evening, Mr Oscar Mcßrine gave an address to a fairly large gathering on the subject of “Labour and Liquor.” The speaker stated at the outset that he was a waterside worker and a member of the Laljour Party, but he was not pledging any party or any body of workers. His object was to give his own ideas and reflections on the liquor question and its relation to the working classes, with which organisation he had been associated from the period he had' the power of discernment. The progress of the whole of humanity was bound up in the Labour movement. He approached the liquor question from the viewpoint of the welfare of the whole, and had come to the conclusion that it was no good to the worker. He did not mean to imply that the whole evils of society were the . result of drink, but a large amount of thenj were due to it, and this was peculiarly so with the working classes. Attributable to this cause, the speaker held that there were thousands of working class children who did not get sufficient food and clothing or the maximum of leisure and recreation that was due to them. That bad start meant that they wore handicapped all through life, and when it came to making the most of the opportunities that offered, the matcral was not at hand. The speaker contended that the women generally had less of the rosier aspects of life than men. There was an eight-hour day for the man. but there was none for the “missus” yet. It was his Arm conviction (hat they had ten times a worse job in a great many cases to make the “family brdrmt” square than had the Minister of Finance, in his responsible duties to ihe country. The position was materially accentuated when a large part of the 'family income was passed over the bar to keep “someone else’s wife in luxury and comfort.” The speaker alluded to another aspect of his argument, in the fear and trepidation of the household at the homeconr'ng of the inebriate. He was out for efficiency for the working class, but he wanted it in brain matters—in the “upper storey.” That was one thing in which a maximum result for good could not be accompTished by liquor. It was his conviction that the next five years would be many times more critical than the war period had been. The test would be for brains, manhood, levelheadedness and courage, and New Zealand required them all if she wished fo move forward. Liquor was a stumbling block fn the way of reform and of combination. It did not make for the best results in solidarity and strength. One of the evils of drink was that it cut the reserve away. The Moderate League and the Trade generally raised the cry, why should the whole suffer for the sake of a few? It was not true that, as they argued, that the people who gave way to liquor were without brains or will-power. The speaker, in support of his contention, illustrated Jack London, whom he characterised as in the forefront in the world of letters in his particular line, and Tom Bracken, the New Zealand poet. The former, he said, became an absolute wreck through alcohol. The police court annals showed that in 1915 there were 14.600 convictions for drunkenness in New Zealand. and 1400 of tiiis total were also .convicted for some other offence due to alcohol. The law could not afford ,to hold liquor responsible and not the man. The working class, he held, made up a greater proportion of those who appeared in the records for offences due fo drink. The others drank all right, but the environment of the wage-earner did not make available io him the conveniences which the other sections of society possessed. Turning to the aspect of disease, the speaker held that medical testimony affirmed tiie fact that much of the feeble intellect in children was traceable to the drinking habits of their parents. Again, the Official Year Book showed that the greatest single cause of lunacy was alcohol. He, exhorted his hearers not to the question from a selfish viewpoint. It was an accepted fact that the working class progress was due to the strong supporting the weak, and he held that Ibis was applicable to his argument why his hearers should vote “Dry.” The speaker, who answered several questions in a satisfactory manner, re--1 reived a patient hearing throughout his i address. MR J. A. YOUNG AT GORDONTON. 1 I j At the invitation of a number of Gordonton settlers Mr J. A. Young, | M.P., addressed a well-attended meei-

ing on Saturday night in the public ' hall in furtherance of the National Efficiency League’s prohibition campaign. iM r John McGregor was voted to 'the chair. Mr Young spoke Rigorously for about an hour, dealing mainly with the query, why pay the £4,500,000? He answered a largo number of questions to the satisfaction of his audience, and at the close was accorded a hearty vote of thanks. Mr Young will speak to-night at Morrinsvillc, under the auspices of the League at that town. CHURCH SERVICES. Yesterday was observed as a special d?y of intercession- ! in the Methodist Churches in connection with the forthcoming licensing- poll. At St. Paul’s at night there was a very large coi>g¥ e r gallon. The pulpit was occupied by IfeVs. E. O. Blami.i’es and F. Frost’ the latter being a chaplain who returned from the front last week. Mr Frost made a strong appeal to his hearers, especially the returned soldiers. to “strike out the top line.” Incidentally, he mentioned that the rum ration, of which so much was made by the other side, consisted of only a snoonfnl each day for four months out of the twelve. He also compared experiences going out when military police had to round up soldiers under the influence of drink at Capetown, with the conditions which prevailed on the return journey, when the boat touched at Norfolk (Virginia), a prohibition area, and for the three days’ stay there was absolutely no drunkenness. He closed with a stirring plea to the moderate drinker to vote prohibition for the sake of the children. During the service the choir rendered the “Gloria,” and Mr T. S. Webster played a number of organ selections.