Evening star., 1922-10-19
ME most urgent question at
present in New York, as in
all America, is that of pro-
hihifiAn and the visitor Is

all America, Is that of pro-
hibition. and the visitor Is
brought very squarely up against it
from the first moment of his arrival.
I enjoy a glass of good wine. in
season. but neither my wife nor 1
have been regular drinkers of alcohol,
SO we have found it no intolerable
priyation to be without 1t. I don't
care. however. about being forced into
virtue, and I feel about wine as Barrie
felt about the dictionary, that "even
IL he did not use it he liked to feel
that it was there"
Still, I admit that there is some
thing very noble in a great nation
saying: Many of us enjoy our wine,
but we are prepared to give it up
and make this sacrifice of our habits
and comfort in order that all the
crimes and poverty which come from
the abuse of drink may be done away
with" Surely no one can deny that
such an attitude is fine, and America
leads the world by its action.
But Is it really necessary to be so
drastic? Why should extremists al
ways have their way? Might we not
preserve the social amenities and the
pleasant varieties of experience
which light forms of alcohol give and
yet shut off those stronger drinks
which make for intoxication? l should
personally favor such a law, even if it
were to be only a halfway house. The
MAN objection to it is that it would
reopen, TO some extent, the saloon,
which is now shut down, and which
was always a center of evil. That.
however could surely be met in some
way. Europeans must not make too
much OF the bootlegging and Illicit
drinking which bulk so large in the
papers. Reformers have always reck-
oned on years of unrest and are pre-
pared to wait for full realization of
their hopes when the new generation
arises.
Available for Those Inclined.
AT present, liquor can always be got.
but you have to go out Of your way. to
pay high price, to accept an inferior
article and occasionally to run a risk, so
that there is no inducement unless a man
Is very inclined that way. l have seen
TASKS drawn out occasionally, and /
have seen lady produce a cocktail in
the course of a dinner as if it were a
conjuring trick. Twice when 1 dined out
l found wine on the table and once a
friend told me that he had a small il
hclt consignment and was puzzled how
TO conceal il. l volunteered to conceal
a small traction Of it for him. But save
Tor these small adventures We never
came in contact with alcohol at all dur
ing the three months of our wander
lngS. We carried two bottles of medi-
cal comforts with us all the way and
gave them to friends as parting pres
tntS when We left. One curious remark
frequently made is that every crook in
the country would vote prohibition. so
we'll have they tlouriShed as smugclers
On April 16 We had a sitting with Mr..
John Ticknor, we'll known amateur
medium, on the invitation of Mrs. Cogs-
well. who afterward furnished us with
verbatim account of the proceedings
taken by stenographer. This is a
wonderful help in checking a seance, for
are very inadequate. There were sew
eral sitters. and Stefansson came with
us once again.
AS l look over the notes now the
results seem to me remarkably ac-
Curate. Mr.. Ticknor is a stoutish.
rather Pickwickian figure. kindly.
clean -shaven and true to type as an
American business man. Sitting in
an armchair. he closed his eyes,
breathed hard through his nose. and
III d lIiiHule was IN d deep state OF
what we must, l suppose, call self
hypnosis. There was agitation and
contortion of the face and apparent
spasms of pain or emotion before he
reached an equilibrium.
Deep GrumblinE Voice.
Then. in a deep grumbling voice. he
began to talk, the words protesting to
come from the usual Indian control,
Black Hawk in this instance. He
spoke for nearly two hours. chatting
with us, joking, introducing other
spirits. answering questions. and in
all ways playing up the part. He gave
the names of a dozen people at least
upon the other side who had messages
for my wife or for me-about equally
divided between uS-and every one of
these names did really represent some
one who had lived.
The proceedings showed an intimate
knowledge of my family history, so