The Cordova daily times., 1923-02-02
By DANIEL O'CONNELL

certain to come to the Irish Free State, in the opinion of the Most Rev. Dr. P. Coffey, head of Maynooth Col lege, the geatest Catholic ecclesiasti- cal college outside Rome. Dr. Coffey is also president of the Catholic Total Abstinence Federation. In an inter- view he said:
 "Only the willfully blind cannot or will not see that in the past excess sive drinking has gravely demoralized the Irish nation. It has grown be- yond the power of temperance re- formers to cope with. The nation must and disgrace.
 "An unregulated saloon traffic, with a drink shop for every fifty families; a widespread unlicensed saloon traf- fife, with countless shebeens, methylat- ed spirits hawked through the poor districts of our cities, our young peo- pie lured into drinking habits by the thousands; thirty million pounds ster- ling spent on drink and how many millions levied for the upkeep of the victims-is that a problem for the church and state in Ireland to leave in the hands of the few who are called temperance faddists because they show some concern at the disgrace of their country and their religion?
 q would earnestly plead that not total abstainers alone but all right minded Irishmen should ask them selves what they are going to do about it.
 Religion Futile
 Do they think the evil will ever be remedied by the moral appeal in the name of religion? If so they are mis- taken. Moonshine making is in some parts of the country, a reserved sin, and this ecclesiastical measure is wide | ly ignored. l have been assured that the most effective way of stopping that particular abuse is by stopping the free importation and sale of the raw material, which is treacle. This may or may not Ee feasible, but any how it implies Government action. The moral appeal is useless while the 1 traders who set it at defiance are free to lure people to drink.
 "The saloon keepers here always approved of the moral suasiOn' type of temperance reform, knowing how innocuous it is to the liquor interests. But it is very sensitive to any self protective movement of the citizens for the enactment and enforcement of the liquor traffic legislation. The man. ner in which the liquor traffic was conducted in the past in the absence of coercive control has made more converts to total prohibition than any amount of 'Pussyfoot' propaganda. Charges Bribery
 "The saloon keepers in the past made friends of the members of the Royal Irish ConstabuIary by bribery, with the result that they were able to sell broadcast at any time of the day or night. Now Ireland has it's own police force-the Civic Guards ! and should the saloon keepers succeed in making friends of it's members it will give the country another argu- ment for total prohibition.
 'In face of the fact that. apart from shebeens and clubs and 'off-lcenses, Ireland has drinkshop for every 250 inhabitants, while England has only to 400 and Scotland i to 700, it is unthinkabla that the Irish liquor traf- flee should be allowed to go an as it is. True, the morale of the country has been reduced by the recent out rageous happenings, and so one can not be too sure of it's willingness to react against it's present drink demor alization. But, supposing it does, there are only two alternatives con fronting the liquor traffic. It will have to be either mended or ended. I know there are many who, believing sincerely that it cannot be mended, would advocate ending it.
 Urges Free State
 "But I think that, while the saloon keepers themselves would ce,tainly choose the alternative of mending, the majority of the Irish people also would like to give the Free State Gov ernment of their own selection a chance of mending it.
 "The need of drastic reform is ur- gent, and a government cannot very we'll tackle such a grave national prob lem without a fairly clear mandate