THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE U.S. AND PROHIBITION.

White Ribbon, Volume 32, Issue 378, 18 January 1927, Page 2

THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE U.S. AND PROHIBITION.

(By Blanche Read Johnston, Hon. (Secretary* Worlds W.C.T.U.) One of the most delightful experiences of my last visit to the South.(United States of America) was the great pleasure 1 had in meeting Mrs Maudie Perkins. Mrs Perkins is the National Director of the Young People’s Work for the Women’s Cthristian Temperance Union of the United States. She is bright, keen and alert, and enthusiastic upon the question of young people; an eloquent exponent of their cause. The important position she occupies in relation to the work gives her authority to speak of conditions. She visits and addresses the young people in thv educational institution* throughout the United States. Therefore she is rigid in the heart of the young life, knows how its pulse l>eats, its aims, ambitions, and ideals. We discussed the question of the insidious propaganda which is being directed against the young people of the United States by the anti-Prohibi-tion forces. She assured me that it was a malicious scheme of misrepresentation. FALSE REIORTtt. We continually hear that the young people of the United States indulge in drink more freely than before Prohibition was enacted. We hear of "petting parties," of “nip flask," and a general downward tendency of the young folk of the American Republic. Doubtless there is a class who so indulge. They are always looking for some new excitement and some fresh extravagance and new indulgence by which they ma> spend their money. “The occasional flask displayed at social gatherings is often the expression of bravado.” It is a shame to stigmatise the young people of the United States in this manner because of a limited class of transgressors. Of course, the whole object is to discredit the Prohibition law. It is in Inspired attack on the good name of the >oung people of that country. Mrs Boole, President of the National Women’s Christian Temperance Union, says*—“There has been no cheaper trick in all American politics than this false picturing of youh. No meaner political slander has ever been invented than this business of rubbing smut on the boys and girls by the liquor interests and their friends."

PROOFS. Tin.' American public has been treated L several graphic demonstrations of Le untruth of the wet slander. Ten thousand young people marched in protest against this accusation in Atlanta. Georgia. A college executive, carried L»a> by the excitement of the occasion, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that students were drinking t o excess, and when he returned to hts fronds, the students made him publicly iisown every word he had said. A poll of American colleges shows a big maority of young men and women seriously in favour of Prohibition, and onlyin inconsequential percentage in favour of a return to beer and wine. Charges that the every day lives of nigh school boys and girls have degenerated Into drunken orgies have been investigated, and found false. This nation is basically sound, and the at»m]>t by politicians to survey the coun try* through a wet keyhole has produced the usual results that keyhole operators obtain. After the wets had thoroughly »uttered their slanderous propaganda that the young men and young women of America arc engaged in a prolonged drinking orgy, many serious studies of the situation wire made by people In a 'osition to know what they w r ere doing. Says a .other writer: "The studies brought to light that college boys and nrl.x M e seriously in favour of Prohibits , and that the prosperity and general r.iotal tone of the United States has no J a college enrolment of 726,000, * i *as just before National Prohibition there was only a third of that sumber. USEFTH. SURVEYS. The Inter -collegiate Prohibition Assotation made a representative test of the '*ntim«nt of college students, and In a national survey covering 102 schools In thirty-two States, received replies from K 2.000 students favouring Prohibition, uid 1998 opposed to Prohibition. The *pli«*s show: "There Is less drinking unoeg college students than ever. Present conditions surrounding students in college communities are more conducive to sobriety than were conditions Prior to Prohibition. Every' charge that school boys and girls are demoralise! by Prohibition has been investigat’d and prtved wrong.” Th* former Dean of the University of California says there Is less drinking ainoi ; the college students than among the older people of the nation. The

Editor of one of the leading papers has written that he has dozens of young friends of college age, and not one is a flask drinker. "Indeed, the idea ol trying to mix booze and study is much more repugnant than it was to our own school mates at a time when a boy could get a drink of whisky from a conscienceless dive-keeper for ten cents or a schooner of heavy beer for live cents ” "You have heard much on th.s side of the Atlantic about the failure of Inhibition. and perhaps you have heard repeated here the slanderous statements that this law has demoralised the young people," says Dr. Daniel A. Poling President, United Society of Christian Endeavour. "As one who knows the North American continent across ail its distances, and who has been personally and intimately acquainted with its young people for more than a generation. I say that the charge is utterly false. lYohibition is not a failure, rind America’s youth is not demoralised. "In a recent poll which 1 made hurried 1> before appearing before the Judiciary Committee of the United States Senate in connection with the Prohibition hearings, letters were addressed to the Presidents of State, district, county, und large city Christian Endeavour Unions everywhere in the United States. The 538 replies received were divided as follows: —

"Five hundred and thirty-one voted against the legalising of light wines and beer. Only seven voted for such legalisation Five hundred and thirty-two voted against the repeal of Prohibition. Only six voted for such repeal. Five hundred and twenty-nine voted that Prohibition had bettered conditions financially, socially and morully. "That these young Presidents are representative of America’s youth will not be disputed when I tell you that they are the elected leaders of a movement which enrols more than two million young people." LESS JUVENIIJS DELINQUENCY The State Board of Charities, New York State, in its annual report to the legislature In March. 1925, declares: "The fact that the population of the reformatories of the State has decreased constantly from 1917 to 1925 would not indicate an increase in Juvenile delinquency. "The hundreds of tho isands of youth formerly debauched annually by the saloon under license are to-day Ailing

our colleges, athletic fields, and business institutions ruther than our Courts.” The women's work of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union is organised practically throughout the whole United Spates. A patriotic roll has been organised. This is presented to the young people of high school and coliege years and already the names of half a million have been inscribe! These young people Have sworn ulleg'»ncc to the law enforcement, which means observing the Prohibition law. Mrs Perkins assures us that one of the liest ways to refute the charges against the young people is to secure all the names of the youth between the ages of 14 and 20 in a pledge for total Prohibition. The aim of her Branch is to secure a million such names before the next World’s Convention. One branch of young people’s work at present is surveying the iesults of Prohibition in their own local communities. She says it is highly interesting to learn the places of business which stand where once the saloon existed. The young people’s branch are very active in their work. They have been filling pulpits and taking charge of young people’s societies, holding socials and picnics, hykes and lawn parties, distributing literature, and in a thousand ways they are endeavouring to en.ist the young people of the Republic under b«ir tiGiiner. Not «nly In total abst’ivnoe and law observance, but in every form of Christian service.— 18 Cowan Avenue, Torrnto. Canada.