PROHIBITION PROBLEM.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15230, 5 May 1923, Page 5

PROHIBITION PROBLEM.

AMERICA'S EXPERIMENT. ANXIOUS WATCHERS IN BRITAIN. LESSONS FROM THE WAR. Australian and N.Z. Cable Assn. LONDON, May 2. Mr Lloyd George contributes this week an article on the problem of prohibition in the United Slates and Britain. "The United States," he writes, "treats prohibition as one of its greatest moral triumphs; j3rilain treats it as a joke. What accounts for this remarkable disparity in the attitude of the 1 " two great English-speaking communities' towards one of the most banting and elusive problems of civilisation? Ii cannot be due to a fundamental difference in temperament cr moral outlook. If the evils of excessive drinking were more apparent ir. the United States than Britain, 1 could understand it, but the facts are exactly the reverse. The consumption of alcoholic liquors in the Uniled kingdom .before Ihe war, per head, was twice' that of the United Stales. Poverty, disease, and caused by alcqhol, therefore, were far greater in Britain than in the United States. "What then accounts for the United States forbidding the sale of alcoholic liquor, and the reluctance of Britain even seriously to restrain it? Ido not care to dogmatise, but I will hazard two or three possible explanations. I set aside the suggestion that propertyowners are frightened by the sequel to prohibition. I have heard it argued that the Tsar's prohibition ukase was responsible for the Russian revolution.

A Lesson from Russia. "That is probably -correct, for people stupefied by alcohol will stand anything. The' inefficiency and corruption of the Tsarist regime were so appalling that no sober nation could have tolerated it without rebellion for a single year. When the fumes of vodka, ceased to muddle and bli'nd ihe moujik he rebelled against the aristocracy that had betrayed his country into disaster.

"There is a ready argument , that old countries are very conservative, and do not take Madly'to changes; their joints are stiff with age, and .they lack the suppleness of limb that tempts younger communities to sprint across untrodden country. I am afraid that this explanation will not hold. Old countries, when • thor-' oughly moved, can leap ike the hart. The French Revolution demonstrated how one of the olderst countries in Europe could tear along unbroken, traits when impelled by a 'new passion, and 1 saw Britain spring to arms in 1914 without the lash of compulsion to stir her blood. England's movements had the energy, audacity, Aid endurance of a people unlired by the marih of centuries.

"This pcopc, if stirred by a call which reaches the heart or conscience, is capable of action as bold as that which "Wrested the Magna Charta out of a despot in the Thirteenth Century, overthrew afn ancient religion in the Fifteenth Century, led a King to the scaffold in the Seventeenth Century, or challenged the greatest military empires of the world in the Sixteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth Centuries. . If they were convinced that the liquor traffic must be destroyed, they would execute it witli as little compunction or hesitation as they displayed in suppressing the'Mass or decapitating Charles the First.

How America Experimented. "At the present moment the British people are not in the least persuaded that the evils of alcohol for a minority of the population cilanot be dealt with effectively without resorting to the drastic expedient of forbidding consumption by the moderate majority. The United States reached prohibition by the path of experiment. The Federal system lent itself to the trial of every form of remedy. For well over half a century there has been almost every forni of temperance expedient in actual working in some State or other long enough lo enable the AmericAi public to form a judgment on their merits. Without this experiment, I doubt whether the American business man would have assented to prohibition. The British ConsUlutica does not lend itself to these experiments. "As far as Scotland, Wales, and England arc concerned, there is in practice a certain relaxation of this rule, but as.far as liquor laws go, any serious alteration in any part of the Kingdom is difficult to secure if it offends the prejudices or damages the interests of the rest. There is no freedom for experiment. The Scottish Local Veto Act is a compromise, modified lo suit English sentiment, and it took 30 year's of Scottish insistence to carry it. Wales has beeM denied local option, although it lias been' demanded by four-fifths of its representatives for over a generation.

British War Measures. "In the absence of suclr experience it has been found impossible to educate and organise public opinioli throughout Britain to a point of concentrating pressure on this one issue. Other issues always cut across and jam the curretil. You cannot secure unanimity on Ucmperanco reform, even among religious forces. If they were united and prepared to enforce it at elections nothJug could resist their power. 1 have seen the fiercest champions on local option supporting the brewers at elections, because they were official opponents of Irish Home Rule. The Irish'issue dominated the elections for nearly a generation. Free Trade lias played a great part also. This is the main reason Why British opinion is so far behnd the .\meriean. The battle of sobriety was fought on the State plaitform, while the national platform was left free for other conflicts. The war, however, enabled the British Government to effect reforms materially reducing' the consumption of alcohol. Deaths from alcoholic diseases were more than halved during I lie same period. The effect is striking In its encouragement, and it would lie a serious national misfortune if the admirable results obtained by war measures were lost by relaxation. The beer duly has been already reduced, 'with I lie anticipated effect of rJcrcasihg' consumption. This is •regrettable. It means so much reclaimed land once more sinking into malarial swamp.

"But all this is a long, long way oil' prohibition. Tin 1 majority was 20 lo 1 against Mr Scrymgeour's Bill, and the majority four lo one in favour, of cheaper beer. Both votes were recorded in the same Parliamentary week, it is not encouraging to those who would suppress alcohol in Britain. Temperance reformers are watching the progress of the United Stales with hopeful', if anxious eyes anil longing hearts. What Britain noes nitxt will depend entirely on the success or failure of what the United States is doing no\v.