The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1921-09-09

Prohibition has been effective only
two years in Finland, since June l,
1919. Experience OF Prohibition III
several states of America clearly indi-
Gates that two years are not generally
sufficient in order to FULLY demon
strate the value of this great social
reform. The same is true of Finland.
Great changes for good are al
ready noticeable. Great sections OF
the country have been practically
freed from the drink evil, and in
others has been greatly diminished.
In some places it has done away with
much of crime and poverty. In other
places, especially some OF the larger
towns. considerable Bookkeeping is
being conducted, giving the oppon-
ents OF Prohibition some occasion for
their cry: "Prohibition does not pro-
hbit." The seeker for truth will find
that Finland's Prohibition is by no
means failure, but has brought so
much good with it and is so much ap-
preciated by the people that its CON
tinuation is a surety.
DR.. kujonen OF Helsingfors. deliv
cred lecture at the Tenth Northern
Temperance Congress at Copenhagen,
Denmark, in July, this year. will
make a few extracts from il:
Law Enforcement Problem
When the Finnish Parliament
adopted Prohibition in 1907, a law
that was then vetoed by the car. a
prominent temperance man predicted
that it would require 40 years battle
before Prohibition would win its ulti-
mate victory. We knew it would
mean fight. But we did not know
what forms the fight would take.
We have learned that the enforce
ment OF the law is harder than we
thought il would be- In 1907 we had
not taken into consideration that a
world war would come, that would
tend to weaken all conceptions OF JUS
tice and morals. and that an unlim-
tied greed for money and pleasure
would overtakc the world as conse-
quences of that war. =
Temperance Societies Rapid Growth
The strong power for unfolding
the dry law is, of course, the temper
ance forces. At present their ranks
are being strengthened and they are
becoming more active. In 1910, when
the law went into effect, the three
largest temperance organizations
Friends of Temperanee.% Swedish
Temperance Alliance Of Finland,
"Workers' Temperance Alliance
had 379 societies and 21,991 members
A year later the number of societies
in these three organizations had in
creased to 631 and the total member
ship to 40,796. Besides there are sew
eral other organizations.
The regular temperance organza-
tions i'll Finland have a very strong
ally in. the Finnish Young People 5
Association" This organization re-
quires total abstinence OF its mem
bers and the members must take upon
themselves the moral obligation to
work for the enforcement OF the dry
law. At the end of 1920 the mem
bership of the branch societies who
send out yearly reports, was 66,468.
Another allied organization is the
Prohibition League" The initiative
to organize this League was taken by
the author and political leader San
teri Alllio, who also organized the
Finnish Young Peoples Associa-
ton" Two of the largest political
parties have joined the League
namely, the Social Democrats and
the Agrar Party, controlling 122 OUT
of the total OF 200 votes in the Parlia.
ment. The Prohibition League does
not consist entirely of those who are
politically interested but has also a
good number of members, whose spe-
cial interests are: religion, education
science and economy. Five hundred
and eight societies and associations
belong to this League. Its total
membership is about 100000. 1t is a
mighty organization. In behalf oi