EXTRACTS FROM AMERICAN REPORTS.

White Ribbon, Volume 28, Issue 332, 19 February 1923, Page 10

EXTRACTS FROM AMERICAN REPORTS.

The following p , tis are tak'i from the American Reports sent to tin "International Woman suffrage New fO (Mob. i aad Novembei : "The aewapapen are mating much o the Bad that on various oommttb • formed by the Wets' SO wok for a I tia repeal of tl V-.|-teul Prohibit'>' Act, and the return to the sale and uo light wines and beer, women ear* beside *he men. It would be Strang* indeed if all women thoughT alike <»: any public question, and there ar> many women who are greatly oppose to Prohibition, The consensus of opin ion seems to be. however, that the SJM jority of women would like to see thf law stronglv enfo*ced. The opinion \t more and more strongly prevailing ths( flu wets' seem, numerous because tho\ make a loud r.olse. Investigations th.it have been made recently show the fnl lacy of many of their arguments. TliA'nerioar' Association for OrgaQJ.dnc Family Social Work and the Boston Family Welfare Society have collect figures from seventeen cities, covering 3:>.o00 families, comparing the incidence «.f drink in families relieved by private family welfare agencies for the year* 1917 and 1981. The decrease In the number of families under tne care of

lIMM societies, in which drink was a factor, varies fro.n 40 per cent, in Portland. Maine, to 100 per cent, in ftMTtlCkot, Rhtdl Island. The averag. tleccrease is almost 90 per cent. Thi. seems to refute the statement con star.tly made that there is more harr •lrinking than i>ver before. Anot'ier in igation, conducted »y the Rev. Franklin C. Southworth, President of the Theolopicnl School, ha.s brought rr suits encouraging to the women who favour Prohibit!'n for the sake of .he rising generation. Mr Southwrrth enquired of the deans of 486 Arr.erican colleges as to 0M prevalence nf drinking among the students. He n celved replies from 30? colleges, ind as a result states emphatically: The 'enor of the replies received was ove.-v he'mingly in favour cf the proposition that instead of an ir.cease in the n»n .ber of students addicte 1 to the use of iquors, there had been a mailed de•psase. Sporadic cases utract more Notion than for.nerly. r.nd en tcoount i f poor liquor, an ntt m led \vi -1 > wone results. But in the vest maj;. :ty (.f American colleges th< drinl. problem ha.s ceased to exist.' "

"The 'Literary r*j, r est.' a leading weekly magazine, w Inch took a straw vote of those who v ere in favour of enforcing the Volster A Act, of modifying it to permit the sale of light wines and . . or of rep-aling the Prohibition Amendment, has shown that 88,115 women voted on tne question; and that 38.211 wer< for enforcement. 32.f»6r« were for modification, and 17.33.' for repeal of the prescn* law. The women showed about six p r cent, greater dryness than was shown at the general poll. Organised won en have come out

strongly for law enforcement. Among the great organisations whose eombin ed membership amounts to millions that bnve endorsed it. an the National League of Women Voters, the Cieneral Federation of Women's Clubs, the Young Women's Christian Association, and the Women's Christian Temperance I'nion."

The same report, under the heading, 'Education." has the following paragraph: -"An interesting and unusual educational suggestion has b'on made by two business organisations, and is being carried out in a practical way. Realising that thousands of dollars would be saved to the people of the

I'mted States if the standard ui hull eyty weie raised, and if truth-telling in advertsing, stock promotion, manufacturing and retail business were enforced, the Association of Advertising; Clubs has induced the l.'niversi'y of . '• -njisx !van*a to add to its curriculum a course on truth-telling, and business experts are preparing a series of lectures to form a course of instruction for students. The National Surety Com pany is launching u movement to secure the co-operation of School Boards fcoju hers, and public welfare institutions throughout the United States in teaching common honesty, while the Better Business Bureau, composed of representative merchants and manufacturers, and the Federal Trade Commission. is aiding the truth-telling cam paign, and working to put a stop to de- ■ • ptrvt business practices, teaching tn< youth that deceit does not pay either morally or financially in the long run. Business women, as well as women teachers, are enthusiatfically helping in this moral movement."

There is surely food for reflection here as regardu our future campaign. At the International Moral Education Congress, held in Geneva lart July, the object of the Congress was summed up in a single sentence, thus: "Every one Knows tnat no true reform can be gain ed except as men .and women become better; that is why we are working." May not this suggest one possible cause of our failure? For truly no moral reform can ever be successfully accomplished except through the raising of the general standard of morality in the community as a whole Withcot this as its t>asis, no real reform is possible; for the evil that is prevented from manifesting in one di»ecfion will only reappear in another. Until the root is destroyed, the nature of the Plant cannot be changed, but will con tinue to bear fruit as before.