The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-06-29
GILMORE SENDS OPEN LETT7TERT0 IT
 IRVING FISHER
Yale Professors Prohibi- tion Statements Question
 ed by Liquor Asso. Head

ne 1OllOWlnS open 1elIer mas been ent to Professor Irving Fisher of | ale University:
 "I have been looking over the ut erances attributed to you by the press l nd I have wondered at your state [ nents, in view of the fact that you old so high position in one of our l reat universities. l 'In any discussion you must speak i S an economist, as a philosopher as | thinker. Men of your profession | must hew to the line, regardless of | where the chips may fall. You must ielve for facts, and you must be sure If your statements, as inaccuracy of | tatement can have no proper place n1 your contentious. "In your rejoinder to my recent re- ply to your article, entitled "Prohibi- | ion Must Come Unless War Ends1 3oon, you say: '"The opposition to wartime prohibition comes almost l solely from those who are financially interested in the liquor traffic. Then | you call attention to the fact that
 am the editor of a wine and spirit paper. Isn't it perfectly natural that the l principal protest against wartime pro- | hibition shouldS come from distil1ers and brewers, and isn't it reasonable that I should oppose measure that would destroy me financially? The public will hardly take active interest | against prohibition until prohibition inaugurates it's inquisitorial methods and begins to be felt by the individu- | al. 1T notice in your rejoinder that you 1 do not undertake to defend your ori- ginal statement that Russia and Cana | . |. T. 4r-s -1 and sale of alcoholic beverages and your intimation that mo leaders in
 any nation have yet contended that the continued manufacture and use of
 alcohol offer any net military advan- | tage.'
 "I am, therefore, inclined to pur- \ sue this matter further, as you have presumed to speak on this question as a great authority and as president of l the committee on war prohibition who have undertaken to advise the press, l the people and the lawmakers of the United States as to what has happen ed in foreign, countries in connection with the liquor traffic. l With no desire to be offensive, but
 with a. disposition to defend the in terests with which I am connected from unjust and unfair attacks, would ask you if you are prepared to
 contend that Russia has adopted pro-
 htbition, or that Russia has put stop 1 to the manufacture and sale of Vod-
 ka, or of cordials, or of wines? 1 "If you are not prepared to make
 this statement, then why did you state
 in your original article that "efficien-
 cy of Russian labor has been greatly increased since prohibition, and pre- suInably because of it?"
 eff you believe that prohibition has
 been adopted in Russia, then am prepared to send you a quotation from
 Ia large house in Moscow on Vodkas,
 bitter and sweet; on Kumme1 contain ling 45 per cent. alcohol, and on varf-
 ous other liquors. such as Russians
 use.
 i Are you prepared to defend your Icontention that in Canada prohibition
 was adopted before any scarcity of grain had been felt?'
 ''If so, I am prepared to give you quotations from distillers in Canada on whistles direct from bonded ware
 houses. deliverable at any point in I Canada. and to give you satisfactory I evidence that the distilleries and breweries are operating at the pres I ent time and are supplying their goods T to such Canadians as desire them. T sA "Are you disposed to defend your contention that the leaders abroad see tno military advantage in the manufac- ture and use of alcohol?
 T If so, I can offer you satisfactory evidence that wines, beers, ales, rum, I etc, are being served to the men in the trenches by such nations as Eng land, France, Germany and Italy, al- though I am not in position to ad- wise in regard to the Russian armies.
 "Now, if there be no military ad- jvantage in the use of alcohol, would you explain why, in your opinion, Eng land should permit the manufacture of ten million barrels of matted H- I quors at a time like this when food products are so scarce? And, if there
 be no military advantage in liquors, l why should England serve rum to her
 soldiers in the trenches. and why
 should France purchase for the use of her soldiers hundreds of millions of gallons of wine, and why should Ger many, facing actual starvation, pro- 1 vide for the manufacture of beer from
 her scanty stores of grain?
 Further, if there be no military ad-
 vantage in liquors, why is it that the
 medical department Of the army has
 recently placed large orders for old | WHISKY III parFeiS ana OOtLleS, ana pro- , vided that at stations there shall be kept certain stocks of whiskies and at . each field hospital twelve bottles of
 one quart each?
 l, You say that European experience has convinced me, not previously a prohibitionist, that prohibition is now a practicable measure and I ask if
 you can afford as political economist lto refer to limitation in the n1anu-
 facture of beverages as being prohibit
 tion any more than you would refer
 to limitation in the food supply as being prohibition.
 "Also may I ask if you are willing that the impression should be created . that you have become prohibitionist since the beginning of the war in Eur iope? Isn't it a fact that you were a
 prohibitionist for some time prior to
 the present war?
 :.You say that the German Kaiser personally disbelieves in alcohol even
 in the form of beer, and that he has
 tried for some years to persuade his countrymen to give up the use of
 beer, setting the example himself
 T will ask you if you are prepared to confirm this a assertion that the Car