The New York herald., 1922-05-24

speak spanish. shot oack the Member
from Plymouth.
Still holding the gift in her arms
Lady Astor turned to the reporters to
give her final message Its very sad,
this going away" she said. when
you are on a steamer several days you
get TO be such friends with everybody.
Eight years ago when l came over l
knew the stewards and the stokers and
everybody on board. One of the stok-
ers l saw in a hospital later and as l
passed by he called out, Hello. Mrs.
Astor'
There has been only one discordant
note In my visit over here" she con-
tinued seriously "and that was the voice
OF the people who wanted me deported
as an undesirable alien. Those people
are the people who preach bate In the
name of God.
"The only thing that the Northcliffe
papers printed about me- since I've been
in America was about the h. of c. crit
icism. They've not had a line about the
pleasant things"
Lord Astor stepped into the picture at
this minute and reminded his wife tha'
they must find their starerooms. well
I've had a very, very happy time" said
the Viscount shaking hands. Later on
al the AQuitania, which was crowded
with passengers and whose departur :
was being speeded by four times their
number waving flags, banners. hats ana
handkerchiefs, both stood at the deck
rail to wave good-by to friends on the
pier. Lady Astor wore a dark blue
dress and small black tricorne with
black aigrettes.
The Hon. Mrs. Alfred Lyttleton, who
came over with them, was also a mem
Der OF the returning party. Among those
who came to say good-by were Philip
Kerr. formerly secretary to Lloyd
George and Mrs. Ronald Tree.
Before going to Plymouth Lord and
Lady Astor will visit some of their
children who are in school. Bobby
steamship. and We'll see Helen and
David in London, and then wen go on
a visit with the Others" Lady Astor
announced.
Her Prohibition summary.
The prohibition statement which she
had prepared and gave out before leav-
ing Mrs. Gibson's house at 127 East
Seventy-third street. follows:
Neither l nor my husband came over
primarily to investigate prohibition. Nor
have we made comprehensive exam
ination OF it's effects. But obviously the
subject has been included in our talks
with Senators and Congressman, with
heads of organizations. such as the SAL
walton Army, with. representatives of
the police force, with the leaders of the
woman's movement and with representa-
tives OF business and labor
Opinion is not unanimous. You
would not expect 1t to be on anything
in an Anglo-Saxon country. Individual
experiences often conflict, but neverthe-
less a perfectly clear, broad national
conclusion may be drawn. Let me illus
trate this. I have been constantly told
that the rich could get as much liquor
as they liked if they were willing to pay
the price and that society was drinking
hard. / cannot honestly say | witnessed
this myself. But 1t is equally true that
the task of the Salvation Army, OF social
welfare bodies. of the churches. has
been hugely reduced by prohibition. The
leaders of these organizations told me
so quite definitely. When 1 balance
these results. when I Offset the uplift-
ing of the poor and struggling and the
salvation which prohibition has brought
to many wives and children against the
alleged degradation of some of the rich,
well, I have no doubt that the net result
for the country has been good. found
some resentment against the rich break
ing the law but the general sentiment
seemed to be that Il was they, and not
the poor, who really got the worst OF 1t
because of this.
IT found no one, whether wet or dry,
moist or parched, who wanted TO re-
establish the liquor trade and have il
again as an organized political force
! am not surprised. I have seen tie
dangerous use of this power in municipal
and national politics in England. The
liquor trade in its effort to fight prohi-
bition has been driven into anti-Americar
propaganda. This has been the only anti
American propaganda I have noticed In
England.
by their stand against the tempta-
tions and seductions OF alcoholism the
United States and most OF the provinces
of Canada have made a big contribution
to the spiritual regeneration of the
world.
II am constantly asked II on my re-
turn to England / am going to advocate
the passing of a prohibition act there.
IT am not. / shall support and urge
the adoption of legislation giving locali-
ties the right or option of deciding by
direct vote whether or not they want
drink to continue. and also the extent
| and method subject to which it is to be
sold.
THAT seems to me to be democratic,
to allow local experiments to be made
and to be suited to the present state
of public opinion in Britain, which is far
less advanced than here in the United
States"