The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1922-01-03

Gives Decrease as 50 to 80 Per Cent -
Law Well Enforced In Nine-tenths of
CONTEMPLATING OF In Grimes and
Poverty.
CHICAGO. Jan 3.-Prohibition is ex-
area Of the country and in the remainder
is sufficiently wen enforced to be a very
| great Improvement over the license sys-
/ tenn.
! This is the result Of an investigation
covering several months, through official
channels and direct inquiry as announced
today by Or. Deets Pickett. research sec
rotary of the board of prohibition, tenn
/ perancc. and public morals OF the Meth
/ odist Episcopal church. The organization
Of the church was used as one Of the
agencies of information, which was OBJ
tanned from 10000 heads of churches and
with numerous leaders of the 10,O00,00A
! lay adherents. The statement includes no
! figures not personally verified, DR. Pickett
states.
Failing on in Arrests.
The investigation showed that there
has been an enormous decrease in the CON
sumption of liquor. Il decrease not less
( than - and possibly more than 80 per
cent" according to DIR. Pickett This
has resulted in n very large decrease in
, the number Of arrests for drunkenness
and in n very considerable increase in the
purchasing power Of the poor and Of the
skilled and unShilled laborers" says the
report. In San Francisco, prohibition
decreased arrests for drunkenness in its
first year from 1851 to 1.S14. In Los
Angeles from 1880 10 2.JS9. IN BoS-
- ~ e.
Baltimore. in the last wet October there
were 1865 arrests for drunkenness and
in the first dry October. l19 We have
similar reports from the heads Of police
of Washington. st. Paul. Lincoln. Calves
ton ST. Louis and other cities.
More Purchasing Power.
The fact Of increased purchasing
power i attestgd by signed statements of
the secretaries of chambers of commerce.
real estate dealers. furniture and musical
instrument dealers and merchants of
MANY kinds.
There has also been a large decrease
in petty crimes. I'm Boston. prohibition
brought about a decrease i'm the number
Of cases Of assault from 2,l27 to 1913 in
one year In st Louis. petit larceny de
clined from 6.16I to 3.J03.
There has also been Il decrease in more
serious crimes in many cities. The wet
propagandists have spoken much of Al
crime wave IN New York. | have IL OH
the authority of the commissioner of no
lice of the. city of New York that in 1918
there were 11,611 burglarieS and in 1920
only 6,S30. lie. makes similar statements
/ aS TO commissions of crime of serious ma
ture on other charges.
4 Even better results have been obtained
in rural and small town districts.
Hospitals Are Relieved.
There has been "a startling decrease
in poverty and financial distress. The
hospitals have been relieved In Phila-
delphia. i'm six months of the last wet
year there were LISA eases If alcoholism
in general hospitals and i'm the same
months of the next year. 276. Similar re
ports have been received from other cities.
1t is frequently stated by alcohol
|propagaEdistS that there il in the United
7 States enormous Illicit distillation that
nearly every family makes alcohol. Ob-
| viouSly. this IS simply an expression of
opinion. IN America, only Il few families
! of German extraction know how to make
/ palatable beer Whiskey. iIlicitly pro
duced. : 80 nearly non-palatablc that only
| habltual alcoholics can consume it. Pri-
vate distiliatiUn and brewing. while it
worries the prohibition officers by neccs-
stating many arrests. is an insignificant
| factor.
prohibition is u relative success now.
and Is on the road to complete success. '