The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-11-20
BRITISH WILL BE
 ASKED ID PLACE
 BAN ON ALCOHOL
Thousands Have Signed Pe' tition Which Will be Pre- scented to Government
 at an Early Date

London, November IA petition is shortly to be presented to the British government by the strength of Britain movement" asking that the British gov ernment follow the lead of the greatest of the allies to prohibit the sale of al cohol. This remarkable appeal has al ready been signed by 1000 representa- tives of the brain power of the nation, including leading officers in the army and navy, directors of munitions, privy councillors, prominent men in literature, art And music, finance and industry, university and college professors, heads of public and secondary schools, promi nent scientists and medical men.
 The memorial claims that two grave dangers stand before the country. hold ing back the power of early victory and throwing a shadow over the vision Of peace One is the wasting power of al- cohol the other is the imperilling of in, fant life. Among all the factors of weakness these confront us with terri ble vividness and they lie within our own control. With the weakening power Iof alcohol removed, our national effort against the enemy would gather in- creased strength; with the increased strength and more rapid supplies our losses in six campaigns would have been substantially reduced"
 The following facts are given con cerning the effect of alcohol:
 Tt flinders the army, delays muni- tions, keeps thousands of men from war work daily, makes good Workmen sec ond-rate
 Hampers the navy, delays transports, places them at the mercy of submarines, slows down repairs and congests docks.
 'frThraatpnS tha narcantila marine absorbing during the war between co., 1000 and 70,000,000 cubic feet of space and retards building of ships.
 Destroys food supplies; in 20 months of war it consumes over 2,500,000 tons of food, with sugar enough to last the nation so days and uses up more sugar than the army.
 Wastes our financial strength: in the first 20 months of the war our peo- pie spent on alcohol 300,000,000 sterling.
 "Diverts the nations strength; it uses 300 000 workers, 100000 acres of land and 1,500,000 tons of coal yearly during the war it has involved the lift ing and handling on road and rail of a weight equal to 50,000,0O tons
 "Shatters our moral strength; it's temptations to women involve danger to children and anxiety to thousands of soldiers"
 The appeal goes on to say that during the 18 months since the government ap- pointed the board of control it's work, though successful socially, has had lit- tie effect in the great industries on which the armies rely, and the men in the trenches are betrayed by an enemy at home.
 Russia and her prohibition is made much of in the memorial which con cludes:
 We are no temperance reformers as such We stand for the great desire of all good people to strike the mighti-' est blow for freedom of which Britain is capable. We support the demand for prohibition made to the government by it's own investigators. and by the ship builders deputation, with not tee. totaler among them, in March, 1915. Believing. in the prime minister's words, that no sacrifice is too great when freedom and honor are at stake,' and that rich and poor alike should bear it. we ask the government to suspend all drink licenses throughout the king dom for the period of the war.
 We believe golden moment has ar rived for our country; that. prepared for sacrifice by the example of the King and Lord Kitchener, the nation is ready for the natural step that France and Russia have already taken. The sus- pension of the liquor traffic during the war, the conversion of the public houses into houses of refreshment, will quicken up our civil and fighting populations, will raise new fire of resolution in our people, and will give to millions the first opportunity they have ever had of breaking old habits of weakness and forming new habits of strength. "We believe that in this. as in all other vital issues, there must be sympa- thy of purpose and unity of action be- tween the allied nations; and we appeal to the government to be bold and trust our people. to be strong and follow our allies. to be worthy of the mighty des{inies they hold in solemn trust'