Hickory daily record., 1922-12-29
CANADIAN PROHIBITION
" hat Writer of the Seven 'sDry'
Provinces and 'Wet" Quebec Found


Provinces and "Wet" Quebec Found
Dr.. c. W. Salesbv in the Mancheste,
Eng., Guardian.
1t is surprising that prohibition in
che United States should excite SO
much interest in Great Britain, while
l phenomenon no less remarkable is
20 be observed in Canada. The theory
that prohibition is Yankee device,
Invented by the hard-headed Anleri-
can manufacturer in order to grind
more money out Of his wage slaves,
and that it is alien to any ideas Of
liberty that could exist under the
British flag. requires drastic revision
when ones begins to make acquaint-
ance with the facts. | have done so.
having now been several weeks in
Canada in the course Of fourth
visit in successive years, during
which | have Travelled in every prov
tnce except British Columbia.
The record, as in the United States,
begins long ago through prohibitions
is nowhere in Canada as old as in.
Maine or Kansas on the other side of
the frontier. But the little province
Of Prince Edward Island has been
under prohibition since 1900, for IL
stance. During the war q prohibitory
law was enacted in Canada and came
into force, partly in order to save
grain for Britain and her allies and
partly in order to protect the young
soldiers in the Canadian training
camps. This came into effect long be-
fore the United States acted, and all
of us in Britain are greatly indebted
to the patriotic Canadian action.
After the war the question of re-:
turn to the old conditions or mainte-
nance of prohibition or some conl>
promise arose everywhere. Many pop
ular votes have been taken, snecifi-
cally directed to the question in hand,
and the result of them is that today
of the nine provinces of Canada seven
are dry (Ontario, Manitoba, Sask-
atchewan, Alberta, New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island), !,
and two (Quebec and British Colulla-
bia). sell alcoholic liquors under new
conditions, indicated by such terms as
government control and govern
mcnt dispensaries." One may here add
that the Dominion of Newfoundland is
also dry.
Being undesirous of acting like
those millions of persons who are
ready to pronounce finally on prohl-
bition in North America without hav-
ing even 50 much as set foot in New
York, / will say nothing here about
British Columbia except that general
opinion seems to suggest that the
present arrangement can only be
temporary.
In the seven dry provinces, which
I know at first hand, it is generally
i 4ac, 4 Fl
the present laws. The actual records
of voting here as in the United
States dispose of the idea that when
the soldiers returned they would
make short work of those who had
'>filched their liberty at home while
they were fighting for liberty abroad,
(By the way, we need a unlVersa1
law to prohibit any but poets and
philosophers from ever using those
noble words, love and liberty, which
are the oftenest prostituted of any
| in our language) The security of the
present laws depends upon their sue
cess. AS vet | have only seen On,
drunken man in Canada in four vlslt'
land that was in this "wet" city
of Montreal two days ago.
! AS early as 1919, when VISITOR:
came to Ontario from many parts O
the world, official evidence Of variet
kinds, both in Toronto and OttaW;,
was ready to show the value Of tn
|regime of the three preceI:nc wears
Today the evidence in the dry PROV
/ inces is everywhere at least s1x year
old and its nature is beyond question
! If | began to recite statistics The
would never end. Students would d
we'll to obtain the striking and yer
: carefully complied record, six year
dry." dealing with the leading an
populaus province Of Ontario an