PROHIBITION IN AMERICA.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XVI, Issue 938, 27 February 1908, Page 22

PROHIBITION IN AMERICA.

Although, the advocates for out-and-out prohibition in this country have never been a. numerous body, their numbers,.are said to be increasing, and there are many extremists who would gladly welcome legislation on the lines that have proved guch a failure in certain states in America. To all such we would recommend a perusal of the exhaustive report on Liquor Traffic Legislation of the .United States,” prepared by Mr R. C. Lindsay, second secretary to the British Embassy at Washington, and recently issued by the Foreign Office. At one time or another, it appears, 17 states have had'stringent prohibition; It is now only retained by three, and in those, according to Mr Lindsay, it cannot be looked upon as a success parts of prohibitory states have always been in open rebellion against the law; drinking has never been impossible; the sale of liquor has always been profitable, and seldom disreputable in the eyes of the public. Violation of the law

has been open and avowed.” The extremes to which legislation providing for local option has gone, may be gathered from the statement that in Vermont an election is provided for to decide what kinds of liquor may be soM in the township, and in Wisconsin the price of the liquor license is determined by the popular vote. Where in theory there is no drinking, in theory there can be no intoxication ; but from the practical point of view such arguments, Mr Lindsay says, cannot be justified; indeed, according to this official, it is quite impossible to say whether prohibition has actually diminished drinking—that is, whether less has been drunk in a state when under prohibition than when under some other system of law, all of which goes to show that prohibition has proved a failure.