New-York tribune., 1918-05-18
Prohibition Attacked as Menace
10 Liberty in the United States
Liquor Forum
One More Day

One More Day
Owing to the great number of let
ters received in the eleventh hour.
one more instalment of the pros and
cons of prohibition will be printed
IN to-morrow's Sunday Tribune.
general use Of Intoxicating drinks: no,
the tact established by statistics &C
cessible to all that the idleness, dis
order, pauperism and crime existing il
lhe country are in some degree at least
traceable to tais evil" It is on con
clusions like this the prohibitionist:
oase their assumptions that all the wa,
from 10 to 80 per cent of crime, in.
sanity and pauperism are due to the
use OF alcoholic beverages, and state
~ as fact. However, | do not intenC
that any. ouibbling over the conditions
under which my offer was made shall
enable Mr.. Parsons or his prohibition
irlends 10 escape the necessity OF
| elther producing proof of their asser-
tions or confessing that they have
neen deceiving the public by false
statements.
My offer was distinctly based on the
production of "oficial records; ex-
parte statements and expressions OF
! not do; and if Mr.. Parsons will agree
mat the falsity of the statements upon
winch the. movement for prohibitory
laws was founded shall be established d
oy the failure to produce facts of Of
nclai record to prove the assertions
wnlch l denied in my former letter. l
VIII deposit Liberty bonds for $4,000
with The Tribune to be paid to the
Red Cross. the decision to be left to
an impartial committee of three.
1t must, however, be distinctly un-
derstood that conclusions prompted by
prejudice, manufactured statistics,
guesses by alleged scientists" or the
opinions of more or less eminent per-
sons who think they know the real
causes of crime, poverty, insanity and
disease will not be accepted as evil
dence The public has been deluded
long enough with mass of unfounded
assertions, ass; irrelevant or falsited sta
tistlcs and pure inventions of quacks
and charlatans. To all attempts to get
the real facts before the people the
prohibition agitators have replied with
personal attacks on the men engaged in
the liquor industry. The time for that
kind of improbable discussion has
gone by. If the prohibition charges
can be substantiated by official records
let the prohibitionists produce them
If, as believe, and l have caused the
official statistics of the United States,
the various states and the courts to be
thoroughly searched, there are none
the public should know it.
Tells What He Means
By Official Records
AS an illustration of what l mean
by "official records" the report of the
New York State Board of Charities for
1915. the latest available, gives COM
plete statistics showing the cause of
need for relief of poverty by public
agencies in all counties of this state.
AS New York has one-tenth of the
population of the United States the
figures may be fairly held to apply to
the rest Of the country. This report
shows that of all cases Of children
relieved 7.2 per cent was due to in
temperance of parents, of all wives
relieved, 81 per cent was due to in
temperance of husband, and of all
other persons relieved only 81 per cent
was due TO intemperance.
The report of the New York State
Hospital Commission for the year 1916
shows that of all admissions to hos
pitals for the insane during that year
81 per cent of the cases were of
physicians hold that even in these
cases the excessive use of liquor was
not the cause of insanity but symp-
tom of an already weak or defective
mind.
The report of the Secretary of State
on Statistics of Crime for 1915 shows
that of .all 10,158 persons convicted of
crimes in courts of record in this state
during that year 9,343 were temperate,
766 Incorporate and 40 unknown, or
less than per cent Incorporate. Of
course the criminal with naturally
crooked tendencies always tries to
escape punishment by saying "Drink
did it," but that this is merely an
excuse is recognized by all who come
in contact with the criminal courts.
The United States "Mortalty Re-
ports" for the year 1914 on cities of
more than 10000 and less than 100000
population shows that the average
death rate in twelve prohibition cities
is 217 per 100000, while the average
rate in twelve wet cities is 1875. If
disease, why have the dry cities this
much higher death rate?
Mr.. Parsons shows that he is anxious
to escape from the predcament ~in
which he finds himself by trying to
have me change the terms Of my chal-
lenge so that it will read that alcohol
is "the chief single factor" instead of
"the chief factor" as asserted by your
correspondent who made the original
statement. l did not make the charge
on which my offer was based. 1t was
made by a prohibitionist, and it is
either true or rot true. 1t is up to
Mr. Parsons to furnish official records
to prove its truth.
HENRY j. KALTENBACH.
Would Let Dealers
Liquidate Business
The following discussion Of pro-
hibition is from Louis G.. Balsam, q
Brooklyn liquor dealer, who writes:
''The mere fact that I am inter-
ested in the business should be OBJ
waited, for the reason that l am
broadminded enough to discuss the
issue from an impartial standpoint. +"
To the Editor of The Tribune:
Sir: The question whether liquor
is good, bad or Indifferent is imma-
terial so far as I am concerned. The
~ &c hot