New-York tribune., 1920-10-17
Drys Massing
Their Forces to
Win Scotland
Land of Johnnie Walker and
Other Noted Members of
the Barleycorn Family Is
Considering Prohibition
Elections to Decide Issue
More Than 1000 Parishes
and Boroughs to Register
Opinions in November
From a Special correspord,nt


LONDON, Oct. 5,-Hoot, mon. An
dye ken the tidin's frae bonnie Scot
land?
No? Well, Scotland is considering
prohibiton,
Strange as it may seem, it's true.
The land OF the wee doch and doris,
the home of Johnnie Walker aud other
we'll known members of the British
branch of the Barleycorr family. the
place that supplies all the senior part
ners of the Scotch & Soda firms, is
contemplating amalgamation with the
Sahara.
OF course. the bonnie banks of Loeb
Lomond and the rest of Scotland are
nc linking Of going bone dry Even
should the results of the November
elections prove complete victory for
the prohibitionists, there still will be
somethin IN tho bottle for the mornin'.
But while the drought which may ensue
would seem to Mr.. Bryan or to Will
liam Il. Anderson a condition of ex-
cessive moisture, il would neverthe-
less mean, SO far rs the land Of the
heather IS concerned, df9stic change.
Few people are making any pre-
dlctlons relative to whether Scotland
VIII go dry or not, and as to what
the possible effects of the Scotch
elections viii be IN England and Wales
a Glasgow correspondent Of The Daily
Mail predicts victory for the prob BIZ
tlonists; and a serious editorial in
The Times warns that England may
eventually have to consider thought
fully the question OF prohibition Tor
lo l.
are as skeptical as they were-well,
say as they were N the United States
in 1915
Johnson Persona Non Grata
Anyhow, the cohorts arc gathering
TOR the fray. 'Pussyfoot' Johnson
blew into London the other day, went
down to his Fleet Street office, and an
nounced that he had leased it for
t"enty-one years; mat he had ac-
qulred new glass eye to replace the
optic which he had lost when the Lon
don medical students ragged" him
on his first visit to England and that
he came not TO interfere with Britaln's
internal affairs, but merely to tell the
people here how delighted America
was with prohibition. There was no
moaning at the bar when he put out
to sea, but there was CONSERVATION In
the pubs" when he landed.
After the preliminary greetings,
mostly to the tune of Hes Jolly
Good Fellow (his good sportsmanshi p
in the matter of his rag having i'm
mensely pleased the English), the news
papers began to print more serious and
plain-spoken articles, to the effect that
Mr.. Johnson was, to say the least,
persona non grata. There was moth
ing like Bert WiIliams's pithy predic-
ton tnat He's goin' to lose his othah
eye but it was made rather plain
that American propagandists were not
welcome.
A more thinly skinned prohibitionist
might have taken the hint "Pussy-
foot" merely smiled from his window
at the famous Cheshire Cheese Inn,
which is just across the street, and
made his preparations to speak before
the North Wales Temperance Fedora
tion the next week, and then to pro
ceed to Scotland
Lady Astor's Position in Doubt
He may have other American speak
ers to help MIN out. All of the news
papers have mentioned Lady Astor as
d probable anti-rum campaignor; but
Lady Astors secretary stoutly denies
that Britain's only woman NJ. p is to
take any part in it, Lady Astor herself
cannot be reached so there the matter
rests.
The conditions under which the
Scotch elections are to be held are
most complicated. To begin WITH there
was the Scotch temperance act, dated
August Is, 1913, providing that it
should come into operation "on the
expiration of eight years from the
lst day of June, 1912" the interval
being allowed in lieu of the possible
necessity for compensation for the
publicans.
This act stipulated that at the ex-
plration of the eight years elections
should be held in any area where petit
tons requesting it were signed by 10
per cent OF the registered voters The
petitions were to be handed in by the
end of September (last month";. and
the actual voting was set for Novem-
ber or December
1t now seems probable that in prac-
tically every electoral area in Scotland
which is not already dry (there are
about 800 of the latter category polls
viii be held This means that more
than 1000 country parishes. boroughs
and borough wards will register their
opinions on prohibition.
Local Option Elections
ne cunning electloNS. theref ore, are
strictly local option affairs Scotland
IS still long, long way from anything
like nationwide prohibition.
The majority OF the elections viii be
held on November ., which is the stat
utory date of the Scotch municipal
elections. In some places. however. in
ciudlng the city of Edinburgh, the poll
viii be held on a separate day. in
order, as 1t is expressed, that there
may be no confusion Of issues"
The voters will have three proposi.
tons submitted to them:
l. No change.
: Reduction of number Of licenses
by one-fourth
g. No license
The first means obviously that ex.
lstlng conditions are satisfactory The
third would not mean absolute "hono
dryness, because there is loonholc
IN the governing law, which provides
mat licensing court may, in special
circumstances where it may seem de-
slrabie, grant one or more certificate
Tor an mn or hotel" or for restau-
hONTCLAIn. NEW JERSEY