What Judges Say

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 1, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 34.

Lord Chief Justice Alverstone, of Great Britain (1909): "Crime costs over £7,000,000 per annum. I have no hesitancy in saying that ninety per cent of the crime of this country (England) is caused by indulgence in strong drink."

Chief Justice Stephen J. Field: "By the general concurrence of every civilized and Christian community, there are few sources of crime and misery equal to the dram-shop, where intoxicating liquors, in small quantities, to be drunk at the time, are sold indiscriminately to all parties applying. The statistics of every state show a greater amount of crime and misery attributable to the use of ardent spirits obtained at these retail liquor saloons than any other source."

Chief Justice Walter Clark, of North Carolina (and he has the figures of the court to bear out his statement): "The state has been dry for two years (1911); and the records for the two years, as compared with the year previous to the enactment of the prohibition law, show that murder in the first degree has declined thirty-two per cent, manslaughter thirty-five per cent, murder in the second degree twenty-one per cent. Larceny has declined forty per cent. Burglary shows a drop of twenty per cent, and the reduction in minor crimes ranges from twenty to fifty-five per cent."