The Semi-weekly leader., 1921-12-07
PRoHIBITIoNPREs AND TO
COME.


There are many people WHO believe
that prohibition is a failure and i
imagine that conditions are getting
worse, when "moonshine" liquor is
manufactured in most every commu-
nifty. Conditions are not as bad as
some would have you think as the
following from the ably edited
Youths Companion, indicate:-
"The constant reports of bootleg
ging and rum-running have created
widespread impression that prohi-
Oition has failed Those who favor
ene new law are anxious but not dis
couraged. Those who oppose it are
sIad or every successful violation and
.egald il as evidence that the law
Aas failed.
Present conditions may easily
mislead the thoughtless and the SUI
perhclal. When the laws went into
erect there were immense stocks OF
liquor, beer and wine on hand. Those
who had any made haste to hide it,
and when they sold any demanded
several, times it's normal price. 1t
was not easy to transfer it from the
owner to the consumer without de-
lection, nor is it easy now. Much
of 1t is seized. Some gets by, and
people hear of it. By charging an
exorbitant price for what he>does de-
liver, the seller carries on a profit
able traffic in spite of occasional loss
es and raids.
Moreover, new stocks of liquor
get in from abroad. The Canadian
boundary is long and difficult to
guard. Automobiles and aircraft Of
ten succeed in lodging the officers.
and a certain amount of liquor is
smuggled in along the coast. There
will always be rum-running so long
as Canada allows liquor to enter, and
there will always be certain a.
mount of smuggling. Those who
want to violate the law match their
wits against the shrewdness of the
officers and often win.
Another difficulty is that Illicit
distilling and home-brewing cannot
be wholly prevented for the process
es are simple and require little e.
qllipment; but they cannot be un-
dertaken on a large scale without
being discovered, and if they could
be discovered the products could not
be sold openly, or even secretly ex-
cept to very limited extent
Taking a broad view of the sit
uation, then, we may admit that pro-
hibition cannot be completely en-
forced; but no more can the laws
against theft and murder. There will
always be illegal manufacture OF
liquor, as there will always be coun-
terfeiting, and wine will be SNUG
gled as diamonds and opium are
smuggled. But let us not forget that
we are dealing with strictly tempo
rary conditions. The government
used to collect every year on the
average excise taxes of one hun
dred and forty million gallons of
spirituous liquors and two billion
gallons of beer, and an import duty
on foreign wines. What was on
hand when prohibition became effect
i've is steadily diminishing, and the
amount that now comes in illegally
is not a hundredth part of the
amount that formerly came in legal
ly. The great distilleries are clos
ed, and the breweries are so closely
watched that they can make no al
coholic beer except for medicinal use.
"Since the carefully husbanded
stock on hand when prohibition went
into effect will last long time, we
cannot yet know how thoroughly the
laws can be enforced, but they will
certainly be enforced much more
thoroughly than they are today. 1t
may be impossible ever to stop all
the leaks, but in few years they
will be as the trickle from a worn
faucet to the full flow from the same
faucet open and with strong pressure
behind it,"