The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-08-10
BY ROY A HAYNES. United states Prohibition Conn

siOner.
 The Eighteenth amendment has cut the number of aresrts for drunken ness more than in half.
 It has reduced the arrests for drunkenness among women by more than one-third, in some localities as much as so per cent.
 It has cut heavily into the num- Der of arrests Tor offenses against chastity.
 It has reduced by half the deaths from alcohol and alcoholic insanity.
 It has lowered the national death rate to an extent that can now be measured tn figures.
 It has materially cut down the populations of state penal farms. prisons and alnishouses, releasing thousands of citizens for useful work.
 It has had marked influence in the reduction of the number of cases of juvenile delinquency as shown by court records. speaking not only the force of exanpie at home. but an increased sense of responsibility and exercise of restraint on the part of parents.
 Those are but some of the remedial effects; and the torerunner of great I' constructive and reconstruotive pro- cesses whose true import we can but inadequately measure.
 There has been a steady falling off in industrial accidents anH an in crease in the workers efficiency
 There has been q rapid improve ment In school and college attend- ance,
 Effects On Home Building.
 There has been continuously increasing activity in home building which can be attributed only parti- ally to the housing shortage caused by the war. Over 6,000 new homes were built in each month of 1922, representing a total investment of SIP, 900 for each month of the year The volume was five times greater than that of 1918. the last wet year.
 There were, during the single new life insurance policies written, month os April, 1923. over 1.137, ,000 exclusive of renewals and revivals, increases or additions by dividends. This was 2S7,000 more than the high est previous record. of March, 1922, when S50,000 new policies were is- sued. The face value of the new pol ices issued in April, 1922, was S727.- 179,0 The same month. also broke all records in industrial life insur- ance, held mostly by wage earners, with a face value or S20s, ,105,000.
 There has been a definite move ment toward more wholesome forms of social life and recreation, Dur ing each month of 1922 there were social and recreational buildings con- structed that represented an expen- allure of $9,164,000, or an outlay for these purposes of s2.200.OO0 per month greater thsn in 1919.
 There was. as shown by figures &,r-T TV1,- kI-.N currency on 623 mutual savings banks, an increase In savings bank deposits during 1921 of S953,336,000 over the previous year and a gain in depositors of 173,993
 Churches As The Gathers.
 There mas been an astonEhjng increase in ths strength and mem bership of our churches since prohi- bition enforcement became a fact creased 200, ,000. In 1922. there was an increase of over 950000 over the previous year. For every day of 1922, three thousand persons joined the church, twelve ministers were licensed or ordained and seven con- gregations were organized. During the year an average of $7,172,000 was expended each month for the erec- tion of churches esd other religious or memorial buildings.
 Broad statements, some of them, to be sure, especially those that re- late to what have termed the cura- tive influences in prohibition en- forcement. But let us look at them more closely. They will be found to be abundantly borne out by the lating daily from every section of the country.
 Do not misunderstood me. I do not claim these results are the ex elusive product of prohibition, but they have In prohibition their most dominating and determining force. The Case of Detroit. Mich. Michigan Is a border state, The greatest city in Michigan is a bor- der city. Any border territory is, 1n it's very nature, the most difficult for the enforcement agencies, If for no other reason than the proximity to foreign supply.
 Detroit. too. is a city of great for tunes, quickly made. It Is still in its boom period It Is city of free spending. Characteristic of all com munities of this nature is a tendency toward a not-too- eticulous observ- ehce of laws and regulations.
 Michigan, and especially Detroit have been difficult territory from the beginning. The figures from this section, then, may reasonably De reSafQeQ, even Dy the iuuSL Skep- ticai, as furnishing. If not a below normal, at least a fair cross-section of what 8 going on in this country as the direct result of prohibition enforcement.
 In 1907 the doors of 9,207 saloons were swinging night and day in Michigan. Today, in virtually every city and town in the state, business locations are at a premium. Where saloon, grog-shop and dive once stood there now stand business houses that are contributing their share to the wealth and happiness of the state.
 Before prohibition became effec- tive there were sixty-one brewer making beer in Michigan. Twenty brewerios are in operation today for the manufacture of near-beer' and soft drinks. Of the forty-one that went out of business. some have been torn down to make room for new properties and others have been turned into cold storage plants or factories.
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 Records From Michigan.
 A recent report of the attorney general of Michigan shows that ar rests for drunkenness have been ,Sut nearly in half. Figures on this type of cases formerly were compiled ev-