The Washington times., 1923-01-22
SALOONKEEPERS
Of IRELAND
WARNED
Must Mend Their Ways, PreIate
Warns, or Free State
VIII Go Dry.
By DANIEL O'CONNELL,
international News Service.

by UANlEIL OOOGNNAA%p
international News Service.
DUBLIN, Jan. %. -Saloonkeepers
Of ireland must reform or prohi-
hilton is certain to come to the
irish Free State, in the opinion
of the Most Rev DIR. F. Coffey,
head Of the Maynooth College,
the greatest Catholic ecclesiastical
college outside Rome. DR.. Coffey
is also president of the Catholic
Total Abstinence Federation. In
an interview he said:
"Only the willfully blind cannot
or will not see that in the past
excessive drinking has graveiy de
moralized the Irish nation. It has
grown beyond the power of tenn
perance reformers to cope with. The
nation must deal with it or go
down in dishonor and disgrace.
'tAn unregulated saloon traffic,
with drink shop for every fifty
families; widespread unlicensed
saloon traffic, with countless She
beens, methylated spirits hawked
through the poor districts of our
cities, our young people lured into
drinking habits by the thousands;
thirty million pounds sterling spent
on drink and how many millions
levied for the upkeep of the vic
tims-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
7 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.
tsDo you think the evil viii ever
be remedied by the moral appeal
n the name of religion? IL so they
are mistaken. Moonshine making
g.. In some parts of the country,
q reserved sin. and this ecclesiasti-
cal measure is widely ignored.
have been assured that the most
effective way OF stopping that par
tIcular abuse is by stopping the
free importation and sale of the
raw material, which is treacle.
This may Or may not be feasible,
but anyhow it implies government
action. The moral appeal is use-
less while the traders who set 1t at
defiance are free to lure people to
drink.
The saloon keepers here always
approved of the moral suasion'
type of temperance reform, know
ing how innocuous it is TO the
liquor interests. But it is very SEN
sitiye to any self-protective move
ment and enforcement of the
nquor 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 pro-
hibition than any amount Of sPus-
syfoots propaganda.
Charges Bribery.
The saloon keepers in the past
made friends Of the members of
the Royal Irish Constabulary by
bribery, with the result that they
were able to sell broadcast at any
tine of the day or night. Now Ire
land has its own police force-the
Civic Guards-and should the sa-
loonkepers succeed in making
friei,ds' of its members it will give
the country another argument for
total prohibition.
I'm face of the fact that, apart
from shebeens and clubs and off
licenses Ireland has a drinkshop
Tor every ESQ inhabitants. while
England has only one to 400 and
Scotland one to 700, it is unthink.
able that the Irish liquor traffic
should be allowed ito go on as it
is. True, the morale of the coun-
try has been reduced by the recent
outrageous happenings, and so one
cannot be too sure OF it's willing
ness to react against its present
drink decentralization. But, suppos.
ing it does, there are only two
alternatives confronting the LIQUOR
traffic. It will have to be either
mended or ended. know there
are many who, believing sincerely
that 1T cannot be mended, would
advocate ending it.
Urges Free State.
But / think that, while the ga
laankepers themselves would GER
tainly choose the alternative of
mending; the majority of the Irish
people also would like to give the
Free State government of their
own selection a chance of mendine
1t.
THE need of drastic reform &c
urgent. and a government cannot
very well tackle such a grave ma
ttonal problem without a fairly
clear mandate from the people. We
shall have a general election some
time this yearLan adult suffrage.
From the legislature then elected
the country will expect a construc-
tive policy and program Will the
people tell their future legislators
In advance that they consider Iegis-
lative reform of the liquor traffic
an essential condition of all ma
tional reconstruction? They ought
70 do it, for 1T is. But 1 cannot
answer for them, The people, as
citizens, must demand temperance
legislation from parliamentary cans