DR. FRANK CRANE GIVES A MAN IN SHANGHAI THE FACTS.

White Ribbon, Volume 29, Issue 344, 18 February 1924, Page 14

DR. FRANK CRANE GIVES A MAN IN SHANGHAI THE FACTS.

A iiw.ii from Shanghai writes me, in substance, that, noting 1 have recently visited his city, ami believing that 1 am in a KKsition to kn nv American condl lion.-, pretty well, that I am not a fanatic or a propagandist, and that I am honest enough to tell the truth as I see it, he would like to get from me my views on Prohibition in the United Spites. From the newspapers he gets the most diverse opinions. Is Prohibition a farce? Is it being violated everywhere? Will it be repealed? Or modified? My answer is simple. Prohibition is in the United States to stay. The sa loon is gone forever. The law may possibly be modified, but not probabl) in our lifetime; but the gist of it will remain. This drug hits l>een placed for all time along with opium, cocaine, and other habit-forming drugs, to be sold only under the supervision of the medical profession. Prohibition rests upon a constitutional amendment. This is the hardest kind of law in the worild to pass. First, an amendment must receive an overwhelming majority in both the National Senate and House. After that it must Ih> ratified by three fourths of the State Legislatures. All this takes much time, and the utmost publicity. The richest lobby in the world fought this amendment at every step. Almost every agency of public opin ion was against it. It was opposed by the greater part of the newspapers, by tto* lalxiur organisations, by the leaders of society, by the intellectuals, and by the enormous momentum of tradition and habit. Nobody w;is left except the plain main street folks, and there were so man> of them, and they were so solidified in conviction, that they swept the amendment through by a decisive vote, and with few exceptions every body of legislators that has l>een elected since lias lieen even more strongly in favour of it. There isn’t a chance in the world of Prohibition’s being repealed; at least not until woman’s suffrage and negro eman cipation are repealed. You will see the saloon com*- I tack a lout the time you see the auction block once more set

up and slaves sold in the market place. Personally, 1 am not a teetotaller. Hut even that does not make me blind or cross-eyed to facts. And the fact Is that no human being ever needed alco hoi except as administered by a physi cian in a crisis. The further fact is ’that the open sale of alcohol is unde niably prejudicial to public welfare ’provocative of crime and disorder, and a recognised enemy of efficiency. Prohibition was not put over by fanatics, hut by hard-headed business men and sober-minded common-sense folks. It was the greatest moral gesture ever made by a free people in history. In carrying it out there will be mis takes, extravagances and foolish things done, of course, for we are human. Rut in nine-tenths of the United States the law is well observed. Mil lions of boys and girls are growing up and never see a drunken man. Savings have increased, thousands of homes are happier, labour is more effl cient, and property and life arc mon secure. -"Chicago Daily News."