The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1917-06-05
Everybody Courage Break Engagement But the Re

heavy tasks, that repression OF inlti
ative on low planes of activity results
in the stimulation of initiative on
high planes of activity, the minds OF
the great inventors set themselves to
the task Of inventing mechanical de-
vices TO do the work. Repress the
low initiatives which produce the
liquor problem and there Will come
into being new initiatives on higher
planes of activity.
Now, of course, all the arguments
for national prohibition will hold
| good in times of peace are equally
valid in times of war. All the moral
| reasons for prohibition are enhanced
| by the special conditions OF war time.
| And all the political, civil and econo-
mic reasons for prohibition hold
good.
But there are special reasons for
| prohibition in war time, reasons
which are not usually operative. And
| il is upon the basis of these reasons
that we are urging Congress to adopt
national prohibition as war measure
The first and most cogent of these
reasons Is the need OF conserving the
national food supply. During the
past few months it has been brought
home to us with grim and tragic force
that we must conserve our food sup
ply. alike in our own interests and in
the interests of our allies. We may
have to endure real priyation before
the war is over in order to insure the
success of the common cause.
nrlx or hainu n1sUn1
to economize. On every hand we are
reminded that waste of our food sup
plies is a grave peril to the nation.
In every community people are pledg-
ing themselves to greater care in the
use of foodstuffs as a patriotic service
of the highest importance. All this
is very excellent, but to practice the
little economies which are possible in
the individual home and to waste the
food of millions in the manufacture of
useless and worse than useless in
toxicants. is very stupid. 1t is saving
at the spiggot and wasting at the bung
hole. 1t is penny wise and pound
foolish with a vengeance.
Think of the enormous waste of
foodstuffs involved in the manufacture
of intoxicants. Nowadays the Brew
ers are frantically protesting that they
don't use much foodstuff, but two or
three years ago they were as franti-
ca1ly telling us that they used so
much of the farm produce of the coun-
try that prohibition would be ruin
GUS blow to the farmer. IN the Brew
ers' Year Book for 1914, for example
Ics hof fnta1 1
value of the grain used in the manu-
facture of liquor for that year exceed
ed the total value of the crops of |
Vermont. Maryland and West Vir
ginia.
The New York Tribune published
on March 4 some remarkable figures
which showed that From the grain |
made into whiskey and beer last |
year.
100000 people could have been
supplied with rye bread for 100 days.
56,000,000 people could have been |
supplied with corn meal for 100 days. |
100000 people could have been
supplied with rice for 100 days.
100,000,000 people could have been |
supplied with IS pounds of rice each.
100.000,000 people could have been |
supplied with one gallon of molasses |
each.
2OS,2O0, 600 loayes of bread could |
have been made from the rye.
These figures may not be exact |
measures, but even if they are only |
approximately correct they present a
staggering total of waste To con-
-, To, flr ,yfo ,.f,..
is little short of treason.
To rot the peoples food in order to
make body and soul destroying drink
is criminal folly.
DR.. Alonzo Taylor. of the Agricul-
tural Department, has made careful
statistical study of this question
and proved that we are wasting in the
of intoXicants the equiv
alent of 100000 poundloaves each
day. That is, 100000 men at the
front could each receive pound loaf
every day from the grains now wasted
in the manufacture of liquor. That
is an almost incomprehensible fact
1t clearly means that if we stopped
the manufacture of liquor the danger
Of our own troops or those of our
allies suffering from food would De
removed.
This tremendous economy of food
would alone justify prohibition as
war measure. But there are other
reasons not less certain. In the first
place, the conditions of the war make
prohibition easy to accomplish. Or
dinarily, in peace times, we are told
that prohibition is too difficult: that it
will create new problems. We are
told that the liquor traffic gives en-
ployment to labor, and that its pro-
hibition would throw hundreds of
thousands of men out of employment.
This objection is not valid at this
time. There are some 2S9,000 wage |
and salary earners dependent upon
the liquor industry, including sales
men, brewers, teamsters, clerks,
and bartenders.
The labor of this army of 2S9,OOO
workers is needed in other places in
order that the war may be won. The
Young men are needed in the army or
The navy and the labor of others is
needed in the various industries to
i'll the gaps caused by the withdrawal
If soldiers and sailors, to produce