WOMAN’S FIGHT FOR PROHIBITION.

White Ribbon, Volume 33, Issue 394, 18 May 1928, Page 2

WOMAN’S FIGHT FOR PROHIBITION.

(By Guy Hayler, Hon. President

World Prohibition Ft*deration.) W’hen Congress adopted the Prohibition Amendment to the Constitution, a new' phase of the w omen's warfare against the Liquor Traffic in the United States began. All the campaigning of the previous years, social, t*ducational, scientific, moral and spiritual, now began to bear fruit. There w'as yet a huge task facing the opponents of liquordom. Aided, however, by the organised Churches, the Good Templars, the Sons of Temperance, the Prohibition Party, the Anti-Saloon League, and a hundred and one other agencies interested in human welfare, the second half of the victory was striven for—and won. The The Ratification of the 1 Sth Amendment before many months passed was secured by 4k out of the 48 States, splendid evidence of the well laid plans of persistent and unwearying workers. So it was on January 16th, 1920 -to* year indicated by

the slogan, National Prohibitum by 1920 National Prohibition w r as proclaimed the constitutional law of the United States. No social law was more popularly received. Something like 177,790 liquor saloons, 1,092 breweries, and 236 distilleries were closed down. The displacement of labour thus created was quickly absorbed in the staple industries of the country which were given a fillip by the new law. WOMEN CONTINUE TO FIGHT. Many branches of Temperance effort, probably thinking that was the end of the liquor traffic, slackened in their labours and some societies ceased to exist. Not so the women of the W.G.T.U. who carri* d on their campaigns and sought to strengthen the dry forces by increasing its own membership which it has successfully done. In 1921, Congress and the State Legislatures adopted the 19th Amendment which gave the vote to twenty million women. This suffrage reform raised the whole status of legislative work, and an impetus was given to the activities of the women all over the country. It was uow r made clear that w’hat had been legislatively won by the votes of the men, w'ould be upheld so far as the additional votes of the women ware concerned. No one seriously ques tions how women vote on the Prohibition issue in the United States. PROHIBITION BENEFITS. The testimony of Miss Jane Adams, founder and Superintendent of that vital social centre in Chicago—-Hull Hous:* —is worth some consideration. She recently declared that, "Here around Hull House w-e used to watch whiskey and beer being left at saloons by the dray load. The poverty and suffering from drink were appalling. There is such a difference now, that it like another world. Our poor are moving away into better parts. The whole standard of life is rising for idem. Drinking has decreased, and so has our work or rehabilitating fain,lies wrecked through intemperance. We have hardly any more squalid homes and neglected families to deal with, f would not the old system again for anything." To this testimony one can add that given by Miss Evangeline Booth, of the Salvation Army, who says that,

"Every phase of the Salvation Army activities united in extolling the Prohibition Law as beneficial in its results; while it was declared at a representative gathering of workers, held in Washington, D.C., last December, 19 27, that "Prohibition is not a theory, it is a fact; that it is a good law which has been demonstrated by labour enriched, business enlarged, and the public savings vastly increased. Morally, it is the greatest social adventure in history.” NO SUPPORT FOR A WET PRESIDENT. To secure the election of a <li\v President in 1928, and to help towards better enforcement of the law. women have great schemes on hand. They have enlisted the help of some of the most influential bodies in America, including those of all denominations and parties who propose giving the dry law r the best possible chance to prove its worth. Any Candidate for the Presidency will have to reckon with the legislative pow'er of the women since it is on the side of maintaining a sober nation. Roosevelt: "If a candidate be corrupt, then refuse, under any plea of party expediency, under any consideration to refrain from smiting him with the sword of the Lord and of Gideon."