A LEGITIMATE TRADE.

White Ribbon, Volume 23, Issue 268, 18 October 1917, Page 1

A LEGITIMATE TRADE.

“We have got to remember that the licensing trade in a l< K>tiniatc trade.’* —Ft. Hon. Mr Massey. “But Brutus sa\ s it is legitimate, and sure he is an honourable man. ’ What is this trade which our Premier is so anxious to whitewash? What is it licensed for? It is licensed to sell alcohol. What is alcohol? 4< lt is a racial poison, says Hr. Saleeby. It has been banished from the pharmacopoeia of 1.5. A., because it is valueless as a medicine. It was d scribed by Sir Victor Horsley as “the most popular poison known.” l)r. Chappie says: “Our hospitals do without it .and the death-rate goes steadily down.” It has been pronounced by another authority as a “body-destroying, soul-destroying, and nation-destroying drug.' Is it 1 gitimate to trade unrestrictedly in poison? The Pren er says it is legitimate. We are engaged, so our leaders are always telling us, in a life and death struggle for our national existence. Kvervthing must be sacrificed for efficiency’* sake. We must “scorn delights and live laborious days” to increase that efficiency. Does this trade increase the efficiency of our soldiris? It was stated on good authority that mu«h of the Mesopotamia muddle was due to the le: ders* brains b ing fuddled with drink. It was stated in the British House of Commons that 40 per cent, of Kitchener’s Army was in hospital from

preventable diseases, and “that, in military language, means wine and women.’ It is asserted on competent authority that, during the first 18 months of the war, more men from one of the great Powers were in hospital from venereal disease than from wounds received on the battlefields. AH medical authorities examined before the Royal Commissions both at Home and in New South Wales, stated that qo per cent, of the soldiers affected b\ the Red Blague would never have b 'comc diseased unless they had taken alcohol. The Dean of the K.u ultv of Medicine in Sydney Universi*y says: “Alcohol spoils soldiers. It is subversive of discipline, and robs a man of prudence, judgment, conscientiousness, and higher morality. I have seen 400 men in one day in one place. The/ all came from one military camp, and alcohol was the indirect cause of all their misery.” It is an admitted fact by scientists that alcohol weakens the power of self-control, and taken to excess inhibits or jrnts out of action this power. What can we call a trade which deliberately debauches and runs our soldiers, sending boys who entered the Army, abstainers, home to their mothers, drunkards? Is it legitimate or diabolical? Mr Massey says “Legitimate.”

Does this trade tend to increase race efficiency? France set up a Commission of Doctors and Scientists to solve the question of why the* grave was b ating the cradle in the national race of life. The* report submitted to the President said, “The greatest cause

of race suicide is alcohol.’’ Dr. Sims Woodhead says wc might shut up two-thirds of our hospitals if we could get rid of alcohol. A noted Judge, charging a jury, said: “The saloon causes thousands of imbecile, deformed, and diseased children to be born into the world, and increases the death-rate. The children of drinking parents are below normal in ratio of four to one, and liable to die in infancy.” Is it legitimate trade that curses the unborn child? The Premier answers “Yes.” l)r. Forbes Winslow says th« ' ;'t 25 years he treated over 80,010 case* of insanity, and two-thirds of them were v due to alcohol cither by use or heredity. The New York Commission on Lunacy reported: “The first great cause of insanity is alcohol.” A celebrated conference of alienists and neurologists pronounced: “Every drop of beer destroys a nerve cell.” A Russian medical journal, commenting on the very low ratio of mental trouble in their troops in this war, says: “The main cause of the decreased rate is the total absence of alcohol. We have not had a single case of alcoholic insan’ty during the whole campaign.” A German official return certifies that 60 per cent, of insane, 5J per cent, of epileptics, 46 per cent, of criminals, and 82 per ci nt. of immoral women are born of drunk n parents. At a time when all thoughtful people are deploring the increase of insanity, when Government is building huge mental hospitals, is the trade which is responsible for over 60 per cent, of these unfortunates a legitimate trade? Doctors, Ho.ilth Congresses, Business Men, as well as Social Reformers, all urge the outlawing of this legitimate (?) trade, so as to increase our efficiency during the war. Shall we not need a sober and efficient (for the terms are synonymous) race in tin* period of industrial reconstruction which must follow the Declaration of Peace? A noted Socialist says: “The sole hope of the Labour movement is the brains of the working man. Nothing on earth is so destructive to brains and commonsense as tin* lquor trade.” The “Economist” remarks; “Prohibition is no longer championed by eccentrics. It has reached the stage of statesmanship, and involves the existence of

nations.” Congressman Hobson said: “Drink undermines national vitality, which is without doubt the determining factor in the survival of nations.” Iceland has Prohibition, and with a population of 718,000, it has no gaol, no police court, no social evil, and only one When this legitimate (?) trade is outlawed, with it go the gaol, the mental hospital, and the Red Plague. If our Premier is correct, and the trade which si>oils soldiers, manufactures criminals and lunatics, curses unborn children, is the cause of ra< e suicide, converts grain into poison, and lessens the supply of bread; if this is a legitimate trade, then it is high time New Zealand elected a House of Parliament which will out law this trade, and acknowledge that healthy children arc a more valuable asset than all the dollars the brewer ever contributes to our national exchequer. “They enslave their children’s child ren who make compromise with sin.”