p. 418 | The Problem of Drink

Signs Publishing Co. · Melbourne, Victoria · Jul 5, 1920

FromAustraliasian Signs of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 27.

The Problem of Drink

It is an old problem, many have tried to solve it, and many ways of solving it have been tried. The problem of “squaring the circle” may be more difficult, but it has not been tried by as many people.

America, Canada, and Sweden have tried the prohibition method, and are very well satisfied with the trial. They had tried other methods with ever more and more discouraging results. This method has gone to the root of the difficulty.

Nevertheless there are still many doubting Thomases. “Father” Joseph H. McMahon, of the Roman Church in America, expresses his doubts in these words:—

Prohibition is a religious error founded on the Protestant doctrine of the total depravity of man.

In Melbourne, Robert Heffron, a Socialist, lectures in the Socialist Hall on “A Socialist’s Case Against Prohibition,” and issues a challenge to prohibitionists.

Now the question of the prohibition of the liquor traffic is not a religious one, as the Catholic priest asserts; but it is a social problem, a civic problem, and an economic problem. Mr. Heffron, in considering it a social problem, is nearer right than the priest who considers it a religious one; but why he, if a true Socialist interested in the welfare of the proletariat, should want to challenge the prohibitionists instead of linking up with them, is difficult for us to understand; for nothing more unsocial and uncivil and uneconomic has ever come into the world to afflict the human race than the conscienceless and grasping liquor business.

A Move to Swing Backward

A strong effort is now being made in the United States to counteract and counterwork the sweeping victory of the prohibitionists. A few of the States, under the influence of reactionary governors, entered upon a campaign to have the Eighteenth Amendment (the prohibition amendment) declared unconstitutional. The effort has been nipped in the bud by the Supreme Court, which, after mature deliberation, has declared the Eighteenth Amendment constitutional. There the matter must end unless the liquor element can succeed in getting two-thirds of the States to vote for the return of the old conditions. This they can never do; and as the National Government has definitely decided to spend more than £10,000,000 this year in the work of enforcing the law, the liquor element may as well content themselves with the idea that the battle is finished.

Labour Leaders and Prohibition

Those who helped to win the victory are not the only ones who recognise that the battle has been won, and that it is a real victory. Labour leaders were not generally found advocating prohibition while the struggle was on. But here are a few testimonials from that class as to the beneficial results of prohibition, and we commend them to the consideration of Socialists and labour leaders in Australasia:—

I take great pleasure in advising you that the State Federation of Labour in Arizona is without reservation aligned with the temperance forces in demanding national prohibition. The workers as a class now realise that the industrial problem they are seeking to solve is of such great moment in the affairs of the human race that it is not safe or wise to divide their time with the saloon-keeper, and that in the oncoming fray which means industrial liberation and democratic control of the means of production and distribution for the proletariat and by the proletariat, our thoughts and actions must and will be sane and sober. When prohibition is realised we can then turn our thoughts to the complete emancipation of the toilers.—Thomas J. Croaff, President of the Arizona State Federation of Labour, in a letter to the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, dated March 20, 1919.

I cannot speak too highly of the results which I have seen from the enactment of prohibition laws throughout this country, and can safely say that the workers of Canada are socially and morally improved, and will reap a greater measure of success in their efforts to solve the great problems of the future than they have in the past, because of the abolition of the liquor traffic.—John W. Bruce, General Organiser for the United Association of Plumbers and Steam Fitters of the United States and Canada.

Canada is no whit behind the United States in the matter of temperance reform, and Canada’s labour leaders are outspoken in praise of the results of prohibition. Here are some of their testimonials:—

Let it be dry. I am satisfied with the way it is now. The carpenters’ organisation has had a clearer conception of industrial matters since prohibition. When I see the vast number of young people who will shortly take our place, I am not willing to vote the liquor traffic back to put a stumbling-block in their way.—Jack Cottam, Secretary of the Toronto Carpenters’ District Council and Financial Secretary of Toronto (Canada) Trades and Labour Council.

Words fail to express the wonderful benefits received by our members on account of prohibition and curtailment of the liquor traffic.—Mr. C. Lawrence, Chairman of the Dominion Legislative Board and Legislative Representative of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, Canada.

The prohibition legislation enacted by our provincial government and strengthened and confirmed later by our federal government has, in my judgment, greatly increased the efficiency of our Canadian workmen, as well as their sobriety, and has brought untold comfort and happiness to their wives and dependent children; the economical and safe operation of our public utilities has been greatly enhanced, and it is the experience of our business men that the commercial prosperity has greatly improved.—Hon. Gideon Robertson, Minister of Labour in the Dominion of Canada Cabinet.

Newspapers, which used to be the avowed enemies of prohibition, are also testifying now on its behalf. Note these:—

New York, December 25.—Christmas dinner went begging on the Bowery tonight. Roast turkey, with all its trimmings, candy and mince pie, failed to attract half as many hungry men as were served in former years. This was attributed to prosperity and prohibition. The famous Bowery Mission served only 400 persons, where in former years they have been called to provide for at least 1,500. At Hadley’s Rescue Hall fewer than 300 appeared for dinner. The usual Christmas noon hour dinner at the McAuley Water Street Mission was postponed until tonight on account of the lack of applicants.—San Francisco Chronicle.

Once upon a time in Portland the midnight cars to the suburbs on a Saturday were filled with drunken and quarrelling men; now any woman or a Roberts from Newark and any of his family may take such an “alcohol special” in perfect safety, in the knowledge that he or they will have no unpleasant experiences with roistering passengers.—Portland Oregonian.

And here is a testimonial from one who is well known to all Socialists:—

May I say everybody who has studied the matter knows perfectly well that Bolshevism and its successes would not have been possible but for the rescinding of the prohibition order established in the latter part of the Czar’s régime. With the introduction of prohibition the morale of the Russian people and the Russian army greatly improved. With the rescinding of that order and the return of vodka-drinking came drunkenness and disorder and the excesses of Bolshevism. One of the greatest generals in the Russian army told me last summer that the Germans had demoralised the Russian army not with guns and armament but with strong drink.—John Spargo in Baltimore Sun.

The Roman Catholic clergy are supposed by many to be against prohibition to a man; but this is by no means the case. We wish all the Roman clergy might take the position of the well known Cardinal of Belgium, whose testimony follows:—

I am a great believer in the repression of all intoxicating drinks such as alcohol and absinthe. If general prohibition were introduced, more human lives would be saved than by general disarmament. Alcohol kills more men than war and kills them dishonourably. When man is killed by war, an existence is suppressed, whereas the evil survives after inebriates have had enough of existence. Complete prohibition cannot be introduced suddenly, but gradually, step by step, taking circumstances into consideration. The use of alcohol should be made increasingly difficult.

Col. E. M. House, personal adviser to the President of the United States, gives this warning to the countries which are still tolerating the traffic in intoxicating drink:—

Prohibition in America will mean prohibition everywhere sooner or later. Europe will not be able to compete with us under such conditions.

The Conclusion of the Matter

We might give many other testimonials to the beneficial results of the prohibition of the liquor traffic, but these will have to suffice. The discussion of this problem simmers itself down to this! Do we want the best for the good it will bring? Or do we want the worst for the temporary pleasure it may give its victims while it robs them of their brains, their respectability, and their power to make a living for themselves and their dependents? Again, who is the best and most valuable citizen, the man who is sober, industrious, and prosperous, or the man who reels through the streets or sleeps in the gutter under the influence of strong drink, always in danger of losing his job, never prosperous, and always contributing to the liquor dealer who does not need it and has no right to it, the means that ought to go to his family that does need it and has a right to it and a right to expect it? What say you? Take these two men, place them side by side, and then answer the question. Prohibition makes it possible for all the citizens of a country to be in the sober, industrious, respectable class. The continuance of the liquor trade makes it certain that a large portion of the citizenship will belong to the other class. Reason and common sense ought to answer the question once and for all that the prohibition of the liquor traffic is the only possible solution of the drink problem.