The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-12-28
IN HOTEL LOBBIES
Not so Many Prohibitionists

| Not So Many Prohfbifiopfsfs
 'FWlltle many men who are op- posed to the liquor traffic still call
 themselves prohibitionists compara- l lively few of them want to see the present drastic prohibition laws remain unchanged" said a prominent business man. q have heard several Anti Sa'oon leaguers say they were in favor of modifying the laws so that hotels and restaurants would be allowed to serve guests with liquor at meals and clubs be allowed to furnish drinks to their members. There will be a great deal of vociferous talk at Thursdays prohibition rally ring and about whisky heads. But l will make one prediction. There will be fewer politicians taking part in tho meeting than were in evidence at the Anti-Saloon rally that launched the famous amendment campaign It, lie more than a year ago. A great many politicians had climbed on the prohi- bition band wagon. thinking 1t the wagon on which to ride to office; but the situation is very different today Politicians who thought they heard the voice of the people demanding state wide prohibition and constitutional prohibition learned their mistake when the amendment was showed under Few indeed will be the men of political expectations attending this weeks rally.
 "The democratic party has declared strongly for a restoration of local op- icIa tax ha new administration can be counted on to give us democratic and not puri- tanical laws.
 And while on this important subject I am glad to find that scores of Bir- mingham people are reading Dr. Henry S. Williams able and ringing article entitled, Why Prohibition Has Not Remedied the Liquor Evil and Cannot Do So, in the current number of the Ladies' Home Journal.
 "It appears that in 1S5o,' says Dr. Williams. at the time the first great prohibition movement was just gaining neadway, the annual per capita con sumption of alcoholic beverages in the United states was 4.0S gallons. In 1860 it had risen to 64s gallons; in 1870 to ITO gallons in 1880 to 1o.0S gallons; in 1890 to 1858 gallons; in 1900 to 17.6S gallons; in 1910 to more than 23 gal Ions.
 "Tt appears, then, that the aggre- gate net result of 60 years of temper ance legislation Is that the average American Of today consumes almost six times as much liquor as did the aver age American of 1850. The redeeming feature of the case Is that the aver age man now drinks vastly more beer and relatively less spirits; but this change is not one for which prohibit tion can be responsible. It is obvious that in an attempt to eyade prohibi tion laws the more condensed spirits (being easier to handle, ship and con ceal) will tend to take the place of the more bulky ones; hence in so far as prohibition has affected the relative status of distilled spirits and beer its influence must presumably have fa- vored the former. In point of fact the consumption of distilled spirits alone in the year 1896 (the year in which Kentucky passed the local option law as Just noted) had fallen to 1.01 gallons per capita. But now the consumption of spirits again increased. year by year, and in 1907 1t had risen to 1.J3 gallons per capita.
 "If we turn from this general pre- sentation of the results of prohibition to consider an individual instance, the c;.se selected would naturally be that of Maine which is known as the ban Ter prohibition state. It Is extremely difficult to characterize conditions where the elements of political par tisanship and temperance fanaticism cannot well be eliminated. The situa- tion In Maine was. however. subjected 10 a most careful and candid investi- gation by the committee of 50 almost 20 years ago, with results that were far from inspiring to the friends of temperance.