PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS—1935.

White Ribbon, Volume 40, Issue 475, 18 April 1935, Page 2

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS—I93S.

To the W.C'.T.t. of N.Z. By K. I». Taylor. Dear Sisters, — The swift passing of time brings us once more into National Convocation. We meet for the closing Convention of our Jubilee Year, and for the opening of the campaign for our longdelayed poll. The occasion is unique and full of possibilities tor future development. It has l>een somewhat difficult for me to decide which, out of the many worthwhile aspects of our work, is most imperative, and most worthy of our time and thought to-day. Need it he said that wc must courageously face the future as well as the present, and through every avenue of the long struggle against all that hurts and damages mankind, hold fast to our ideals. For this year, however, another year of opportunity, the essential thing for us will l>e the work of the poll. And of that work the underlying purpose must l>e to persuade all women, especially Christian women, of their duty to God. themselves, and their children, on the drink question. To such women there can he no way of escape from the necessity for voting against the traffic in drink, and doing everything possible for its overthrow. So long as a woman measures herself and her actions by Christ’s standards, this must ever be so. If she ceases so to measure herself, she repudiates His commands and His purpose, when He said, “T am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Measured by this standard of His, theie is no room in our lives, or in the life of any self-respecting community, for the toleration of anything that stands in the way of full and complete life. If a nation or an individual is hint bv any money-interest, any tradition, habit or appetite that cuts across the pathway and hinders the attainment of such a life, then the inescapable duty of every woman who names the name of Christ, is to stand four-square against

that interest or custom, and seek to break its power—nothing less will satisfy Him whom we profess to love and follow. Complacency will not save us from llis condemnation if we fail to see the inference in the drinking customs of to-day. We have no excuse wherewith to justify our indifference. Sociologists, economists and scientists, athletes and churchmen, have joined forces in classing alcoholic drink as the most potent enemy of man in his search after the best in life. Eugenists, pathologists, alienists, criminologists—have given us a background of authority for our attitude which cannot lie refuted. The latest of these is Dr. A. F. Tredgold, F.R.S., etc., etc., lecturer on inenta' deficiency In the University of London. The results of his own research leave no doubt In the mind as to the damage wrought by alcohol on the body and brain of the unborn child to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation. I wish every woman in New Zealand could read his l>ook on mental defect, as well as our own classic authority, “Horsley and Sturge,” and Dr. Saleeby’s “Methods of ltace Regeneration," all commended by Dr. Tredgold. I cannot imagine any intelligent Christian woman doing this and finding herself unfilled with the holy seal to save the race from alcoholic suicide. May all New Zealand women pray that entrance to their hearts may l>e made for those things that are of eternal value in life, for the truths that abide with us through the ages—may they l>e enthroned in our consciousness and find expression in our actions —for indeed nothing less is worth while in the plan of life, as set out by the Master. We must leave this line of thought for a time and turn to details of our own special activities. The event of most outstanding interest to us as W.r.T.U, members during the year has, of course, been the World Convention at Stockholm. New Zealand was ably represented by the Misses Mclaiv, whose devotion to our work received there very high commendation, and whose ability was recognised by their names appearing several times on a very full and exacting Convention agenda. The story they had to tell of W.C.T.IT. activities in this country, especially amongst our Maori sisters, was listened to with keen interest From many sources comes the news that they did honour, not only to New Zealand and the Convention, but to the cause they represent, wherever they found themselves. You will have various opportunities to from their own lips of the doings and sayings, as well as the personalities, and the inspiration they gained from such a marvellous gathering. 1 will not detain you, therefore, any longer on this absorbing topic, further than to say that Mrs. Ella A. Boole’s presidential address must have been a masterly array of historical facts dealing with tie- story of the W.C.T.U. ond the liquor abolition fight both before and during prohibition in America and

since tlie repeal of the 18th Amendment, it covers rapidly the whole amazing story of sixty years’ struggle against a ruinous vested interest, and brings us out in 1934 just exactly as the women of the Crusade stood all those years ago. That is to say, it brings us to the place where the W.C.T.U. still stands, with an unbroken front—opposed resolutely to the liquor traffic in any shape or form, or under any system of control. A message of love and loyalty and congratulation will go from this Convention to our great President, the World leader of the dry forces; she stands alone, queenly and indomitable, facing ith sublime courage the machinations of the liquor business and its propaganda in her own and every other land. Another gathering of women, full of help and significance for us, has taken place this year. 1 refer to the Pan Pacific Women’s Conference at Honolulu, with emphasis on the “Health" and "International Rerelationships" sections. A message from that Conference was sent out to the women of the Pacific, stressing the finding that the physical and mental stability of the children of all races is endangered and in deadly peril from the racial or protoplasmic poisoning of syphilis and alcohol and strongly recommending the work of the W.C.T.U. to all women. Another statement of the utmost significance to us, was made by Mrs. Mane Keening, director of the “International Relations” section, when she said —Mrs. Marie M. Keesing, of New Zealand, emphasised the futility of merely talking peace and goodwill, especially to “peoples who have a sense of oppression and injustice.” The basic causes for unrest should l>e well understood, she said. As an illustration, she declared that the present military movement in Japan found its source in the national immigration and tariff policies of English-speaking countries. “We cannot Imnk our hopes for peace on maintaining the status quo if the status quo is based on wrongs," she said. ‘To secure peace we must have it on a basis of justice. In preparing for future conferences we must concentrate on the real problems of the Pacific. We must consider the problem of having vast lands in some places and in other places having families huddled on little farms too small to support them. We must consider the problem of limiting production when our machines are not turning out half of what is needed by the world; of destroying crops when half the world is atarv mg. "The difficulty is that each nation is fighting for its own self-interest. "We are told that problems should be left to the experts,” she said, “but if we women leave them to experts, we find that they are really left to politicians.” It may l>e a matter of interest to some of you to know that your Dominion President was re-appointed at the Stockholm Convention as a meml>er of the World’s Advisory Committee. In

this connection 1 hope you will pardon a personal reference to my work on that Committee, ol which 1 have l>een a member now about six years. I Hiring that time 1 have corresponded v,ih other members of the Committee. w tii National I Ysridinta In man - parts of the world. It has l>een my privilege to try and keep New Zealand before the eyes of our world officers and women in other countries, more ♦ specially those of the Orient and the Pacific. A certain measure of succes has attended our efforts in this direction. Through correspondence or personal contact with members in China, Japan, Australia and Hawaii and the International World Officers, we have tried to voice the needs of the Pacific. The fact that no World Convention has been held either in the Pacific or the Orient, appeals to us all as a, perhaps unavoidable, neglect of u very great opportunity. Ever since 1928 and 1930, when the example of the Pan Pacific Women 1 Conferences opened our eyes to w hat women are willing to attempt in int. rests of Peace, through international understanding and co-operation, and furthermore, since Mrs. Broughton, the very able President of the W.C.T.U. in Hawaii, inaugurated those delightful gatherings attended by W.C.T.U. women of all nations round the Pacific, and following on the I*an-Pac:fic Conferences, we have been convinced of the possibility of such a Convent .on and its usefulness. For four years, therefore, we have carried on a correspondence in favour of elTort being made in ihis direction. It is essential that this new world of the Pacific should have the uplitt and the inspiration that comes from such a gathering—we have seldom had the privilege of direct representation for New Zealand at a World Convention such as we had last year, when the Misses McLay represented us at Stockholm. The distances and the expense are usually too great for most of the far off countries to send delegates to Europe or the Atlantic, hence we stand to lose most of the uplift and enlightenment that come from personal contacts, sympathy and the discussion of mutual difficulties and aspirations, as well as the inspiration without which work such as ours is bound at times to languish and the lamp of its progress to burn low. Since writing this I have heard that it has been decided to accept Japan s invitation for the World Convention in 1910, the 1937 one will be held in Washington. U.S.A. So we have five years in which to plan representation at the Japan Conference, which will be essential. You will see from the number of reports before you how the work in New Zealand is progressing. I am happy to say it goes steadily forward. This is gratifying, for it is only as wc educate public and the youth of this country, on the evils of strong drink and the devastating madness of war. that we shall ever develop a conscious demand

for the ending of l>oth as part of national lift- and our social structure. Our l’eace department lias lieen very active this par, and has taken as large a i art as any other group in promoting public opinion in favour of the league of Nations and Peace generally, as well as having gained members for the League of Nations Union. Mrs. la>w, our late Superintendent for Peace, was largely responsible for this work, and we mourn her loss as of one whose place it will not, bo at all easy to fill. in the interests of penal reform, part of our Hood Citizenship Department, there is a healthy activity and a spirit m challenge abroad in the community, owing largely to the work of the Howard league and its individual members. In ali this the W.C.T.I*. has shown active sympathy and support whei ever possible. At the last Convention, New Zealand officers and members of the Conxeiition to the number of thirty went in deputation to the Crime Minister and the Minister of Justice, asking that the recommendations of the Prisons Board in 1922 be given effect, that is, "That men found guilty of criminal offences against young girls; be given an indeterminate sentence,” A long overdue and much needed reform. On the question of the Nationality of British women y ou have already heard from, Miss Henderson. This is a ques tion that the W.C.T.U. has buttled for all along, and your President and their officers have left no stone unturned to educate members of Parliament on every aspect of the demand, and on the developments in tlie Imperial Parliament, in women’s organisations in Great Britain, at Geneva, in the Assembly of the league and the Women s International Consultative Committee ol the League of Nations. It is u matter for congratulation to the Misses McLay and New Zealand that the World Convention considered Miss A. Mcl>a> worthy of lieing api>ointed ‘‘World Superintendent for (rood Citizenship -and we extend to her our very hearty congratulations and good wishes from this i ’onvention. The angel ol death has passed once again through our ranks and this year we have to record the passing to higher service of two of our outstanding meinl»trs, known and loved and respected throughout New Zealand. I refer to Mrs. lxiw and Mrs. Lovell-Smith. Mrs. Low was our National Peace Superintendent —a woman of fine intellect and great heart —she was devoted to the cause of peace ami a very able exponent and supporter ot the league of Nations. Her place will t>e very difficult to fill. Of Mrs. Ixivell Smith we can say that she lived to see the fulfilment of her greatest wishes for the women of this country. A logical, convinced, and consistent feminist, she gave her young womanhood and middle age, and all her great gifts of mind and spirit to winning of the franchise, and full citizenship rights, for New Zealand women. Unlike so many valiant reformers, she lived to see the fruit of her lalx>urs. This Union

is the poorer for the loss of two such noble women. Of them we 'an say, "Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn, At the going down of the sun and in the morning We shall remember them.'' The question of the poll is our outstanding problem this year. It demands our best thought, our closest attention, and our wisest planning. Moreover, we have much leeway to make up. owing to the postponement of the poll and its deadening effect upon the conscience of tile nation. The psychology of the liquor interests was correct in this respect, and has i>een made more effective still By the socalled failure of prohibition in America and the repeal of the 18th Amendment and the Yolsted Acts. Nevertheless, the last word on prohibition in America is far from having been heard —repeal cannot change the nature of alcohol, o” by flooding the country with drink do away with its dire results. All the world should lie told that repeal has only plunged America more deeply into the deadh" clutches of a pitiless vested interest. State and Federal enforcements are bewilderingly in conflict. States that voted repeal a year ago are realising their mistake and voting prohibition back again by State preference and local option. At the same time legal and bootleg liquor interests ire cutting one another’s throats —Legal liquor firms themselves declaring in full page newspaper advertisements that over fifty per cent, of the liquor drunk to-day in America is bootleg and poisonous. In one such full page advert is* ment in the "Chicago Herald,” the following paragraph tells its own tale: — "It is estimated that over fifty per cent, of the liquors consumed in the United States are bootleg liquors made from unknown ingredients at some unknown source. Many legal brands of liquors —not definitely dangerous, but practically unfit to drink — evade tile spirit if not the letter of the law.” Just here we may as well take a few minutes to look into what is happening under repeal of American Prohibition. for no large headlines, or iat>els are sent out now boosting conditions under the new regime, but plenty of information is to he found by those who will look for it. The sumx/rters of repeat claimed: (1) The Saloon was never to return; (2) Bootlegging was to lie ended; (3) Drinking to be reduced; (l) Temperance to l>o promoted, and youth protected from drinking; (5) Unemployment to be greatly reduced; (6) New Revenue was to roll into State and Federal treasuries in vast sums. (7) The Nation was to i>e saved many millions in the cost of enforcement.

None of the promises has been fulfilled The saloon is hack, liquor is in politics, bootlegging continues, drinking has increased, unemployment is worse,

the revenue returns to the state treasury are far below the hopeful estimates ol' 1933, and the cost of fighting the illicit traffic is still burdensome." The Rev. Blanchard in an address delivered in this town last November had the following to say: repeal which was "to save the Ih>>s and girls" had not only failed, but was working their ruin. And the plausible advocates for repeal who used the cry of the boys and girls were silent. The cables that were used to send us constant stories of alleged terrible happenings under prohibition were silent alxmt the more terrible happenings under repeal. Repeal has not solved the liquor problem in the United States of America. It had not made alcohol nonintoxicating; it had not made the liquor traffic law-abiding; it had not raised the standard of living but lowered it. Repeal was proving that prohibition had prohibited far better than regulation could ever hope to regulate. American citizens would again have to grapple with the problem. In New Zealand their task was to continue the struggle against the liquor traffic liecause of the havoc* worked by that traffic in the !><*- minion. Nothing that happened elsewhere altered that. On December 11th, 1931, three months ago, the crime problem in America had reached such proportions that an AmiCrime Conference was called by the At-torney-General—and then* Mr. Roosevelt, the President, delivered himself of the following impossible proposition, impossible while liquor remains to aid. originate and foment crime. Mr. Roosevelt asked that the problem in* put before the nation in its true light, so that this symptom of social disorder might l>e eradicated. Mr. Roosevelt said that the home, the school, the church, the community, and all social agencies must co-operate to "substitute order for disorder." At the conference, the Department of Justice disclosed that in addition to the sensational killing of Dillinger. ‘‘Pretty Boy” Floyd, and Nelson, almost a score of other gangsters had been killed by Federal agents since the campaign against gunmen started. Seventy-four kidnappers had been arrested, the great majority of whom had been convicted. And this is going on a year after repeal has come into its own. I have before me a letter written this year from a Chicago Y.M.C.A. Youth Work director —a young man whom I know personally and who was not keen about prohibition as it was enforced he tells me the following:— ‘‘l am sending the enclosed newspaper clippings on the assumption that you are interested in hearing of the ‘great noble American experiment’ of repeal, license and unrestricted sowing of the proverbial wild oats! ! These are but daily expressions in the Press, of one of the most vile messes in which Chicago and Illinois, at least, have found themselves. It's the old, old story of the vested interests selling their product to the utter disregard of the questions of social status and economic security of individuals. Tne big slogan

is—‘Come and drown your worries and cares,* '.Malt for Health's Sake.’ ‘Ladies, you need it—-drink it daily,’ etc., etc. The new saloon is tell times mote disgusting than ever the old was. It's a crime to see how women drink themselves silly in this town. Young girls in saloons often outweigh the men in numbers! I’ll send more reading matter as it comes to my attention. ‘‘l wanted to get off to you another little piece of news about the ’noble’ experiment of repeal as far as Chicago is concerned. When a good drug store, retailing liquor, will spend a fabulous sum for a full page in a Chicago daily to warn people about the terrific flow of liootleg stuff, you can believe that repeal has utterly failed." And this is part of what he sends me:— ‘‘Chicago Herald and Examiner.” (Leader Article, 2*711/31.) ENFORCED LIQUOR LAWS. Apparently the Illinois liquor law as it now stands is not sufficient to cope adequately with the bootleg liquor situation. Something should la* done about it. Also something should be done about such enforcement as is possible under tiie present faulty law. Since the return of liquor, there has hardly been a single del.itte prosecution of any consequence under the new law*. The public is getting the worst of it. in that it is getting a lot of bad liquor. Tiie State is getting the worst of it, in that it is undoubtedly losing millions of dollars in revenue that it should collect; and the legitimate liquor concerns are getting the worst of it in that their liquor is being mixed with bootleg product. The available information is that the taverns are dealing in large quantities of raw alcohol. Presumably they get this alcohol for use for non-beverage purposes. Of course they do not. They get the raw alcohol so as to cheat their customers. As we stand to-day. we seem only to have made i>ootlegging safer and more profitable for the crooks. He also sends the following from the “Chicago Daily News,” 23/10 34. AN EDITORIAL. The "Daily News” is now the only newspaper in Chicago which declines to accept liquor advertising. Everything which has taken place since the repeal of prohibition and the legalising of the liquor traffic has served to confirm us in our original decision to employ all the influence of the ‘‘Daily News" on liehulf of temperance. Nothing more discreditable has developed in Illinois since the repeal of prohibition than the downright repudiation of the Democratic party’s pledge against the return of the old saloon. Th»s repudiation was accomplished in the face of tiie active opposition of the Democratic President of tin* United States and the Democratic Governor of I llinois. The existing tavern, under the present liquor law in Jilin is, retains all

the evils of the old saloon, and has added new evils of its own. The obi alliance between the saloon and politics has been resumed. Every promise that, after the restoration of the liquor traffic to legality, the business would he made and would l»e kept respectable and law abiding has been violated. All this information has come to me unsolicitated; 1 did not ask for it, or even suggest, having it sent. It is not Anti-Saloon League propaganda, nor does it come from the W.C.T.U. It comes in their own public news print, and in the Editorials of their ow n daily papers. So much then for the repeal promises of good liquo;, no return of the saloon, law enforcement and greatly increased revenue. Now what aUmt the fanatical zeal of th»* repealists to save tiie Youth of America from drinking? These are also excerpts from their own papers. From the “Chicago Examiner," 28^11/3 4. comes this: Girls of il and Mi are hostesses in road houses. Juvenile authorities demanded reform when Anna Vanek, 15, was found dead from poison, November 7, after a disappointment in love with Norman Wing, young orchestra leader, in the Willow Springs road house where she worked. The result? Police Magistrate Frank Pavek of Berwyn issued a warrant yesterday for tiie arrest of George Dugd&le, owner of the road house, on a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Dugdale employed t>oth Anna and her 14-year-old sister, Pat*y, the juvenib* authority says. Patsy’s story was this: — The hostesses had to keep long hours and drink w*ith men who came to the road house. They were paid only three dollars a week and permitted to have a day off once a week. And from an article by Mr. Tully, special w riter for a large chain of newspapers, comes the following:— Repeal brought the open saloon —the old-time saloon —hack to gay lx>s Angeles and gaudy Hollywood. And repeal also brought women—alluring beauties of the cinema world as well as shopgirls and housewives —l>efore the shiny *r“»hogany bars, there to imbibe alcoholic drinks shoulder to shoulder with schoolgirls and high school youths. Shocking conditions have lx*en disclosed in a report of school investigators showing that children under 18 years of age have i>een served intoxicants it*, ixis Angeles beer parlours. Thirty-, ive establishments have l>een named in this report as serving liquors to minors in an environ! «nt classified as "worse than the old saloon days.” The report continues: “There is an appalling number of young girls patronising these establishments ai I drinking heavily. As many girls as buys were found in these establishments. Dim girl, approximately 16 years of age, was discovered in a drunken condition, while in another

saloon a 3-year-old child and a 8-year-old child were found asleep on a l*e« r keg.” Women, who drank hut little before the Eighteenth Amendment, began frequenting the saloons in ever-growing numbers after repeal, and they imbibed freely. Whereas in other days there wen* “wine rooms” for the few women win went to saloons, they now stood or sat vhere all might see. Yes. distillers may Ik- disturbed beta use the whisky business is “running hog wild.” but nevertheless they are leaching out after more and still more business. Especially are they anxious to enlist youth in their campaign for “tine living.” Cocktail Hour Ruinous to Young Women. The cocktail hour, ingeniously popularised for profit b> the lug hotels of Washington, New York, ami other large cities, is more perilous and ruinous to young women than the old-time barroom treating custom ever was to young men. Employing the insistent influence of social custom to promote alcoholic habits and liquor sales, the cocktail hour alone is sufficient to condemn repeal as an inexcusable crime against American youth. Senator Borah gives us this picture:— The Senator read, from a < ’hicago newspaper, statements that children were being served drinks without question, children were serving and mixing the drinks, and the children were entertainers for those who were drinking. The sight was revolting. "This is not an exceptional scene," the Senator averred. “It is commcn night after night, week after week. Tin* old saloon was not so degraded. Hen* they are degrading children for gain, for profits. Some of this I do not care to put into the record. “It is too revolting. It would shame a brothel. In one place it says: *A blond child of sixteen is dancing for the crowd at the bar. Her skills are to her hips. She is very drunk. The crowd cheer her. She kicks higher ami higher. Suddenly a foot slips and she falls on her fiack in a f>ool of beer on the floor. The crowd roars with laughter.’ This is going on openly,” declared Senator Borah, “notoriously, night after night, under the permission —I will say—under the very eye of those who have to do with the enforcement of the liquor code.” I>r. J. Woo! ever. in the Pacific Christian Advocate, describing a fraternity dance of the Central High School students of Washington, states: “In a generation of journal.sm during my college days, and since, I have never seen so many children who were just dead drunk. It was a new sight—a sad sight.” The Menace of the Road. In an editorial of the Detroit Free Press, we read the following: “The report which says that traffic accidents attributable to the use of liquor have increased 164 percent, in Detroit since prohibition repeal, does not come from dry sources. It comes direct from the police department.

“The complete accident figures shj.v that 198 people were killed on tUe streets of the city during the tii-st five months of 1931, which was an increase of 56 over the 1933 total. The increase in the number hurt but not killed was proportionate, the total being 6,233, and there were 9,402 accidents in which nubody was injur* d, which was more than a one-third increase over a year ago. “A part of the generally deplorable record is a result of the presence of more cars on the road or is the consequence of growing recklessness. But booze imbibed by the drivers is the big trouble, and the city may as well face this fact now as later. “Indeed, the whole country must face it. For the growth of highway perils is nation-wide, and is so appalling that i'resident Roosevelt in writing t*» the convention of the American Automobile Association expressed deep concern <n* r 'the staggering toll of deaths, injuries and heavy property damage and declared that the nation cannot afford to temporise with the pro*deni any longer,' “The President is right: but what’s to lie done n out it? Who lias the answer?” Well, since you ask —why not close the saloons? The record speaks for itS ( If. The streets of Detroit, under pi dilution (granting that tile law was i oorly enforced) were 161 per cent, safer they are to-day. From the American Business Men’s Research Foundation. From Berkeley, California. From St. Louis Post Dispatch.—From the Motor Register of Massachusetts. —From endless other sources comes confirmation of the awful Increase in fatal motor accidents due to drunken drivers. I'mler pretence of the argument that revenue must he increased, these are some of the devilish things that the legalised liquor traffic is doing: HEA-GRAMS ONCE MORE. Marshalling Recruits. Here is a sample trade booster w hu ll was sent to members of a sorority in Brooklyn, New York, according to a press release by Ltum Bindley, research secretary of the Anti-Saloon League. What a pity that the “Sea-gram” didn’t carry a warning. “Drink Moderately”: Enticing Girls and Women. SEA-GRAMS. AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM SEAGRAMS. DISTILLERS SINCE 1857. <G>py) Sorority, St., Brooklyn, N Y. You can stand up at the bar or sit down and Irink your cocktails and summer drinks in the beautiful aircooled Manhattan room of the Hotel New* Yorker. Prices are moderate. For a real thrill try an “Old-fashioned” made with Seagram’s full bodied rye a “Manhattan” with Seagram’s “Vo” a "Mint Julep” with Seagram’s Bourbon. Don’t miss trying Seagram's famous new “Depth Charge” cocktail

—every drop Iwittled in bond after scientific ageing in charred oak casks. Always say “Seagrams, and l>e sure,” at the New Yorker. Seag nun-Distillers Corporation, Chrysler Building, New York. FEN AT COCKTAIL TIME—SEAGRAM’S. [Return this message with 5 cents in stamps or coin (to cover mailing) for your copy of Seagram’s “Fun at Cocktail Time” the most talked alnnit contribution to the Cocktail hour. | Women Drinkers. (Boston Transcript, October 31. 1934.) Every generation has had its women who could carry their liquor and did. But if reports are true, women to-day take their cocktails along with tin* men, and bid fair to outdrink their brothers in the race for prosperity through liquor. Because of this growing custom, writers in popular journals, and even the wife of the President, have urged the necessity of educating young girls \ the art cf drinking. Yt * despite society’s endorsement of the halt, there is inherent in the minds of all who have at heart the good of society and the preservation of tin* race a deep repulsion to the drink habit among women. A drunken father of a family has always l>een regarded as pretty hopeless; but when the mother takes up the habit no basis for decency in the family Is left. But women are paying for their indulgence. O. O. Mclntyre, popular columnist, recently used a letter from a nurse in a private sanitarium which descrtlied the “rich debauchers” —young women addicts of liquor and drugs. To tin* columnist the nurse wrote that cocktail parties are the gateway lwrriers for most of the cases which finally end up in the sanitarium. Boston reported an increase of 73 per cent, in drunkenness amongst women. The Mayor of Chicago commented on “the regular sight of women drinking and carousing at tavern counters.” No, my friends, the last word on repeal or prohibition in America has not yet been said. The position and the poesibi ,: ties are well summed up in th»* following letterprinted in the “Boston Herald” and “Boston Post” from a correspondent in Brookline: — “For several years 1 watched tin* ’noble experiment’ with growing disfavour, with the certainty, in my mind, that it had failed. Twice on each opportunity given me, I voted for repeal, and hailed the day when it arrived as having been the dawn of a new era of prosperity and freedom from gang rule. "To-day I find myself, strangely enough, convinced that we have been bitterly cheated and fooled through the clever propaganda of men wno had millions to spend. “Let me make one prediction—if the women of America do not cease drinking. i inhibition will return within three wars, and this time to stay. "Insane? lad me quote one of the leading hotel men of New England, who recently said to me: —

'* ‘He |►♦•aI has helped by business and jet I am afraid my conscience would cause me to vote dry to-morrow. 1 have never seen anythin*; like this erase of women and Kiris for liquor. It was not so in the olden days. 1 did not * Xpert it now. We ure having no trouble with men drinkers, but I am sorry to say we ure having it—and plenty of it —with women.’ ” \> orsr Than Sulimki. “Another thmgr. we ure told there would Ih* no return of the saloon. In some States the saloon itself has come l*a< k in lull glory. In others, Mich as our own, place." infinitely worse than th< old saloon ure to in* found, and five and six of them in every block. Certainly it was never the intention of those of us who honestlj voted wet in the belief it would restore prosjieiity, that soda fountains, grocery stores, candy store, and other similar places when childr n congregate should sell liquors. "We were told that waxes would increase. that uneinployineut would cease, that the prosperity ’just around the corner’ would come rouring l>ark at us Tiie truth is that waxes have i>eeu lowered, there are more men out of employment than ever in our history and prosperity is farther away than ever Indore. The artificial stimulation of the isist year which has given meagre work to many under governmental dole systems cannot continue and has no relation to the liquor question. \ Ihirk Question. “There are more men and more women—drunk on our streets in one month than in a year past. Automobile accidents are constantly increasing. < hir children are being reared in the isdief that drunkenness is no sin. Men who took wages home to their families ure spending it for boose. Young girls are drunk on the streets. • Jang rule and depredations have inc leased instead of decreasing. The bootlegger is still with us. The millions of revenue we were promised have not materialised and the honest merchant has suffered through the inability of men to pa> their just debts because their earnings have lieen spent on liquor. “Truthfully, that is the situation today. I voted wet. I preached it, I talked it, I iielieved it. Put to-day I am convinced that I wa« wrong and am willing to admit my error. Pare you do the same? Tnlesa there is actual law enforcement and actual control of liquor and unless our women of to-day awaken to the peril of their own families, prohibition is coming back, and this time it will be no experiment. noble or otherwise. “It’s not a reformer speaking. I have drunk many a cocktail and shaker many a highball. But to-day I am through, and may 1 add that from m> own conversations with friends, others are with me and that both great political parties should heed the warning in the skies and take an active stand tor real liquor law enforcement tiefore ve again And our so-called liberties taken from us ’’

Someone may say, “Oh yes, all very well, but that is America New Zealan i is not America, what have we to do with America?” I xidies, let us not Is* deceived it is iiot America, hut the drink traffic that we are concerned w ith. This problem is not American only, it is universal, and it i. international Scottish distilleries, English breweries, European wine producers and all tiu* bootleg manufacturers in the world have swooped down like vultures on the r.S.A, under repeal, and have their claws already sharpened to fasten in your young people and ruin the youth of this nation as well as the youth of every nation. Sir Edgar Saunders, Chairman of the Nationa* British Brewers Association, bus told the world, "We want to get the beerdrinking habit instilled into thousands, almost millions, of young men, who do not at present know the taste of beer." In Bulgaria, throughout ore large urea at least, children are lieing given wine instead of milk for breakfast. One school master recently stated that “tin children behaved very curiously in morning classes, some falling asleep regularly and others very plainly ill,” which is no wonder. Then, following the repeal of National Prohibition in the I’nltod States, the Press reports a “liquor ring ' established to capture school children with penny iwmbons filled with liootleg liquor as bait. The public has been warned of this by tlie “Christian Science Monitor.” Pespcrate efforts are lieing made by tiie Wets in all lands to win the young over to the drink habit. The methods are clever advertising, liquor sweets, und in some ra-ses free distribution of liquor. The Declaration of Geneva cannot Iw too often repeated: “Mankind owes to the chilli the best that it has to give.” If the infinite possibilities of childhood are to be sacrificed to th* ill-gotten gains of tile Wet interests, who will give us hack the youth we shall have lost? The people must rally to the protection of the child, not sonu*di; y but NOW! Yes, my sisters —vvhiU New Zealand has been slumliering comfortably, securely put to sleep by the clever psychology of the liquor interests in this country, when they told us we must not waste the country’s money on a poll in 1931—the enemy has been sowing tares in the darkness of the night as well as in the broad light of day. Sowing not only among the young men. but far more fatally among the young women. In the seven years since our last poll the cocktail habit has gained an immense hold everywhere, nd is fast drawing the girlhood and womanhood of this country into its merciless toils, tbus endangering the whole race. Lady Horsley and other authorities have told os what terrible results can and 1o follow from this habit. Shall not vve, therefore, as keepers of the race and the transmitters of life, awake from our lethargy and sinful ease, and face forward to nnr responsibility here and at once? In his great book, “Tile Gross of Peace.” Sir Phillip Gibbs has said—-

“The wa> of Peace is a hard road, m> friend, but it goes uphill towards the stars. Many of us will fall by the wav ride lie I ore we reach the heights when humanity will tie true to its own intelli Mine.” How wonderfully parallel run." that other steep road, our road to emi the lavages of the drink traffic. The way indeed is hard, but it does ;o uphill towards the stars -many have fallen by the wayside, and still more will fall, I* fore we leach the heights where humanity will lie true to its own intelligence. Intelligence has often grasped the truth of this reform of ours. Put cannot face the cost of loyaltj to the truth. We women of the W.C.T.I’ are pledged to fare it, and to face it as ve And jt. Furthermore, all women v. Ik* claim the Christian ethic as their guide must lace it. one way or the other. Thev simply must decide whether the use of a!cohollc drink is a factor in bringing about that life more abundant, the life of the spirit, which is (bids gift, or whether it is a hindrance, whether it is in line with Christ’s order in human society or is frustrating and delaying that order and His i**demption, and when the decision is made follow onward to the heights. We can weep with Elizabeth Browning. whi n she says:— “Po you hear the children weeping, O my brothers, In the country of the free? How long?* they say, ‘How long, O cruel nation, Will you stand to move the world on a child's heart, Stifle down with mailed heel its palpitation. And tread onward to your throne amid the mart. Our Mood splashes onward, O our tyrants And your purple shows your path. But the child's sob curseth deeper in the silence Than the strong man's in his wrath." We too may weep with them, but what is our weeping worth if we attempt not to lift the mailed heel of the drinking customs and the vested interest that would to-day “move the world on a child's heart" and “stifle down its palpitation" till its blood splashes up or it lives for a future worse than death. If nur love of our country and its children were tore Christ-like, and for N“\v Zealand* sake we could follow Him up the steep road that leads to Gethsemune and to the Cross, then gloriously upward towards the stars, we should surely hear Him calling every woman to stand fast In the fight, until she falls by the wayside. Not till then can we claim to have lived for that supreme patriotism “that asks for no heaven till earth be thine; No glory crown while work of mine Reinaineth here. When earth shall shine among the stars, Her sins wiped out. her captives free, Her' voic* a music unto Thee, For crown, rune work give Thou to me, la»rd, here am 1.”