The Eleventh ! The Hour! The Day! The Month!

White Ribbon, Volume 49, Issue 10, 18 November 1943, Page 1

The Eleventh ! The Hour! The Day! The Month!

W T h have j us>t been observing the two minutes’ silence, and listening to a talk iq>on the signing of the Armistice on * November 11th, 1918, which brought to an end World War 1. Naturally our thoughts go forward to another armistice which will end World War 11, and our prayers of thanks for Armistice No. I go on to ask that Armistice No. II may not be too long delayed, and that it may bring j>cace on earth, goodw ill to all; and the establishment of Christ’* Kingdom on earth. The Fifth Columnist. .But to women at home is specially given the guardianship of the Home Front, and by universal testimony of soldiers, scientists, educationalists and rulers, the greatest enemy to the war effort is the narcotic i>oison, Alcohol, and in a life and death struggle it is time we ended the home of this enemy, i.e., The Liquor Fur. Hear the testimony of a Council of Ministers of the Vichy Government, who stated that alcohol was the chief cause ot tiie collapse of the French nation. General Petain said: “Our soldiers were drunk and could not tight.’’ Regarding the tragedy of I’earl Harbour, in the Chicago UaUy Tribune of February 18th, 1942, you will find this admission, “During the evening of December 6th, there were 11,000 soldiers, sailors and marines on leave in Honolulu, where the majority of the 500 saloons were run by Japanese aliens. The attack at 7.55 the next morning found only 96 per cent, of the men and only 60 per cent, of the officers on duty.” The same testimony was given as to Smgai>ore and the Philippines, and the question arises, What to do with this traliice? A Threefold Course. I.—License it! Fees are paid for licenses. These licenses allow this jioison to be sold, men and women drink it and become unfit tor duty. A racial poison, it jioisons the babe ere it is born and in the words of General Booth, “These children are not bom into the world, they are damned into it.’’ We arc at war, but brewers and barmen are continuing their trade while farms and businesses arc starved for want of labour. Trans|>ort is found to carry beer by boat to Africa, by plane to Solomons, while guns and necessary war material have to be left behind. These statements are all from reputable Australian paj*ers. Men are making beer, selling beer, transiting beer, who should be fighting in the trendies or helping production on the farms, or transiting coal to districts where it is needed. State Control. I. —Here the Government takes over the control. Canada has had Government control, and a few months ago K h Mclntyre said. “So-called Government control lias been a ghastly failure. It lias been Government partnership with the big liquor interests. Our political life has been tainted by this unholy alliance. The smudgy fist of the brewer ha been too much in evidence. It has been the undertow in politics. The wicked partnership, unhoF* alliance, must be dissolved at the earliest opportunity.’ 1 And the considered opinion of social reformers has ever been. “The State docs not control the Trade, but the Trade controls the State. In State-controlled public-houses in Carlisle, the unanimous testimony is that the increase of drinking among women is great —among young people it is colossal. State Control w» ' not, as many supi>ose, prove a stepping stone to prohibition. The sale of alcoholic i>oison is such a source of re.' iiue that no government owning the trade would be willing to relinquish such a source of revenue. And so, because of the profit, New Zealand is still willing to sell her soul for gold. J. —Total Abolition of the manufacture and sale. Prohibition, becomes increasingly effective as time goes on, because under this law the young people do not learn to drink. When prohibition was repealed in the U.S.A., the News stated “Not one-tenth* of one j>er cent of the youths of America know the taste of real beer. We must educate them. ’ The brewers also stated, “During fifteen years of prohibition 12,000,000 i>otciitial beer drinkers came of age; during that time a taste for milk and soft drinks was built up. The habit of beer drinking must be built up again.” Prince Edward Island has retained prohibition for over fifty years and at the last vote, taken in 1940, 57 per cent, of the people voted to retain it, and Justice Arsenault put on record, “Prince Edward hsland ha> had no crime cases (luring the past seventeen years.” And everywhere are signs that the United States is turning again to prohibition. The Brewers’ Greatest Froblem. The Brewers’ greatest problem in the United States “is the always impending danger of Prohibition,” and their Jolation is eliminate drunkenness! Drunkenness can be taken out of the drinking business bv eliminating the drinking. No man runs the risk of getting drunk who never drinks. Closing down the liquor shops would eliminate much more than drunkenness, it would go far to banish Want, Disease, ’ mo ranee, Squalor and Idleness. These Are the Faets. During year 465 areas remained dry and 50 voted tor local Prohibition in 805 elections. Four precincts out of six balloting on local option in the City of Chicago went dry. More than Inlf counties in eight States, including Kentucky, are dry. More than two-thirds of the counties in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee prohibit tlie sale of alcoholic leverages. The Drys have won 9,205 out of 14,885 local option elections held since the rei>eal of the Eighteenth Prohibition Amendment. More than 25 million Americans, or 17.5 per cent, of the population, live in equally dry areas. The concept of Prohibition is a rising factor in American life and the Dry flag, figuratively speaking, may yet float alongside the Stars and Stripes over a freed i>eople.