The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1907-02-22
AMERICA IS NOT
BAU FOR DRINK

huE HaAibhai tN'f
Miss Agnes Slack, honorary secretary
of the World s Woman's Christian TEN
perance Union, the United States is
land to be cnyied in this respect. Mis-
Slack, who came over for the Whit'
Ribbon convention in Boston, is one ot
the best known temperance workers II
the worlu, and, as she has studied thu
temperance question in a good man.
countries and kept in touch with it ii
all, she ought to know what she i.
talking about.
"You are fal in advance of Great
Britain in many ways" she said to
Tribune reporter yesterday. For
one thing, you have local option, which
we are now fighting desperately for.
The granting of licenses in any partcu-
lar locality is largely beyond the CON
troll of the people of that locality. Then,
the last government passed an iniqui'
tous law providing that license should
not be revoked without compensation
to the holder. This was practically
giving the property of the nation
which the licenses have always been, tC
the liquor interests. We hope that the
present Parliament will reverse thi:
law. and also give us local option.
"Then you have Sunday closing laws
They have them also in Scotland, but
in England we have succeeded in get
ting the saloons closed only during the
hours of church service. You think
such laws do no good because they are
not enforced, but you are mistaken. A
thing done in violation of the law is
one thing, and the same thing upheld
by law Ia quite another. You haven V
fftieth part Of tho drinking that you
would have on Sunday without your
Sunday closing laws If man cam
not get drink without violating the
Jaw he is not likely to get it unless he
wants IL pretty badly. But II drink
Ing is made easy men drink simply be-
cause the opportunity is there,
"yermont has just had d striking
proof Of this fact. AS they have had
prohibition for fifty years, these people
had got used to it and didn't realize
what it meant to them. Accordingly,
as a considerable amount of illicit liq-
uor selling went on, the people de-
cided that it would be more honest to
regulate the traffic by law, and the pro
ago. This, instead of doing away with
the illicit selling, actually increased it,,
and drunkenness increased so alarming
ly that they were soon putting three
people in one bed in the jails. In
Burlington, where spent few days
recently, many women, who had always
gone about the streets at night with
perfect fearlessness, feared doing SO.
These things so appalled, the people
that many of the counties have now
passed prohibition laws, and the man
who was most active in securing the
repeal of the state law is leading the
fight for its re-enactment.
But it is not only in your temper
ance legislation that you are ahead of
Great Britain. You haven't got the
customs and preiudices of hundreds of
years to combat. With us, social Gus
toms are the greatest difficulty we have
TO overcome. You have some of that
here, but not to anything like the ex-
tent that we have. For instance,
have been much struck by the small
amount of drinking in the hotels. In
one of the most fashionable hotels in
Boston | noticed only three or four peo-
pie taking intoxicants. In London a
good many people present would have
been taking them.
America is to be congratulated also
in having no barmaids. These are a
great evil, not only because of the harm
done to the maids themselves, but be-
cause they help decoy young men into
the saloons, They are often employed
for that purpose, and are chosen for
their personal attractions.
"Again, the women don't drink so
much here as they do in England. At
least, they don't do it so publicly.
have been told that they are accused
of drinking too much in public, but
after being accustomed to seeing wo
men 60 into saloons just as men do il
seems to me that women in America
drink much less than at home.
"But don't think that we are making
no progress in Great Britain. A few
years ago we had everything against us
custom, science and the law. Now
science and the medical profession hav,
come over almost completely to oul
side, and we have Sir Frederick Freres
the Kings physician, saying that tn,
smallest quantity of alcohol is njuri
ous.u
Miss Slack has given addresses il
Baltimore, Troy, Burlington, Albany
Montreal and Ottawa, aud has ha,
many urgent invitations to speak il
ath a,t Il