Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-04-02
Liquor and National Safety.

Liquor and National Safety.
Along about twenty years ago, when
the late VIM. E. Gladstone was prime
minister Of England, a delegation or
British prohibitionists called upon that
famous statesman in an effort to inter-
est him in the curtailment Of the liquor
traffic, and 1t Is recorded that he dis
missed the delegation and the subject
in a manner that indicated that In his
opinion both were so puerile and in
consequential as to be unworthy Of his
attention.
When a d]eputation Of the Shipbuild-
ers' Employers Federation called upon
David Lloyd-G George, the present Brit
ish prime minister, this week, urging
total prohibition Of the sale OF intoxi-
eating liquors during the period Of the
war, that great statesman, who has the
same responsibility for the destinies OF
the British government today that Mr..
Gladstone had in his day. replied: w
are fighting Germany, Austria and
drink, and so far as I a see the
greatest Of these three deadly foes Is
drink"
While 1t is hardly to be claimed that
Great Britain Is q drunken nation, still
1t is a fact that in no other country In
the world is the saloon business as re-
spectacle as in the British Isles.
There, especially in England. the bars
are tended by women, and the women
have to be not only bright and attract
i've; but they must be Of good reputa-
ton. else they cannot hold their posi-
tons. While, Of course, many Of them
go to the bad, others marry respecta-
bly,, and among the middle classes none
of them are looked down upon because
of their occupation. In England the
saloon Is truly looked upon as the poor
mans club" and that Mr.. Gladstone
should have looked upon the Prohibi-
~tionists as cranks is not surprising.
Until about the time Of the breaking
out of the present war, Russia's prin-
cipal source of revenue was from the
government monopoly Of spirituous IL
quors. The feeling Of most Of the
statesmen was hat the more whisky
the people drank the greater the
nues Of the empire. AS the result OF
influences set in motion before the war
commenced the liquor traffic was en-
tirely abolished, and it was not a great
while thereafter before rel the car
began to realize that the revenue from
liquor had been coming at the expense
Of material production a hundred
times more valuable than those reve-
nues.
Until within a very few years past
the ruling classes in England have
been disposed to put very little value
on the common mantle lower ten
million. 1t might be surprising to
many Of our readers to know 1t; but
it is a fact that up to forty years ago,
the percentage Of iliteracy in England
was far greater than it is in South
Carolina today. Only the ~aristocracy
and the weather. middle classes were
able to educate their children. Meth
err class cared anything for the hum
bier classes except so far as they were
of use, and with half Of them in ignor-
ance and restitution there was still
enough for manual labor and mental
service.
1t will have to be admitted, and not
grudgingly admitted either. that
through his health insurance laws, m
ployment insurance, old age pensions,
and other reforms, Lloyd-George has
been the greatest benefactor the poor
Of England have ever known; but the
probability is that even he would new
err have tackled the prohibition ques-
ton. except for the fact that he sees so
clearly that the life of the nation is at
stake on account Of 1t.
Briefly the situation is simply this.
Every able-bodied Engishman within
reasonable age limits, whether he be-
monality, is now either at the front or
engaged in some employment absolute
ly necessary in the prosecution of the
war. Journeymen s%hipbuilders and
the front only because their services
at home are necessary to sustain the
men at the front. The men engaged in
the actual fighting are in need of arms,
ammunition and sea-worthy ships be-
yond the limit Of the capacity of all
the available workers left at home. The
effectiveness of the laborers at home
is being curtailed or an average Of
drink, and the situation has become so
desperate that all the more thoughtful
Englishmen are beginning to realize
that unless they can correct this con-
dition by removing the cause, their
chances of ultimate success are almost
hopeless.
All this is being stated mainly az a
matter of cold fact-tragic fact, 1t
might be proper to call 1t, and the
reader might be left to draw the moral
for himself. If the use and abuse of
liquor detracts from the efficiency Of
Russians and Englishmen, it detracts
from the efficiency Of Americans as
we'll. If the use of liquor endangers the
British empire, it endangers the COM
monwealth Of South Carolina. Under
all the circumstances, therefore. rath-
err than be forced to prohibition by dire
necessity, and as a matter Of life and
death, it Is far better to accept such
legislation voluntarily as a certain ave-
nue. to better and higher things.