The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1924-01-25
DRY ANNIVERSARY REPORT
MADE BY MAJOR HAYNES
Cites Closing of Distilleries,
Breweries, Saloons, Ending
Open Sale of Liquor
BENEFITS ARE UNIVERSAL
Commissioner Calls Present a
Period of Challenge to Per-
sonal Liberty Lirnita-
ton by Law

The four great outstanding accom-
plishments of prohibition in the four
years it has been in operation are the
closing of the distilleres, the closing
OF the breweries, the wiping out of the
saloons, and putting an end to the
open making and selling of liquor as d
beverage declared Federal Prohibi-
ton Commissioner r. A. Haynes, jan
uary 10, i'll commenting upon the
fourth anniversary OF national prohi-
bition.
I'm accomplishing these four things"
he said, prohibition has decreased
most places it has almost ceased to
exist; IT has lessened poverty and
brought prosperity; it has given chill
dren and girls and mothers better
chance, has reformed countless drunk
ards and brought happiness into thou
sands OF American homes. 1t has
cleaned up Main Street; one can
spend time in hotel Hobbies, i'll parks,
at baseball games, i'll theaters, on the
streets and in public resorts and not
see drunken man. There is prac-
tically no open and above-board drink
ing anywhere, that is to say, drinking
i'll so-called saloons is so guarded and
done so eptitiously, that under
cover or disguised agents are required
to secure evidence that will convict.
On every street, in every city, there
are legitimate business places where
once were saloons and dives generally.
There is not first-class hotel any
where in tho with h1rrnn,11
and no first-class hotels permit drink
ing in their public dining rooms. The
average tirst-class hotel manager does
not desire drinking in private rooms.
First-class restaurants do not permit
drinking and are opposed to hip
pocket violations. Truly open drink
ing and treating have gone. Imagine
being asked to have another drink of
hair tonic, or canned heat. or gin or
Scotch made out OF the same sort OF
alcohol used to keep automobile radi-
ators from freezing, or another drink
of moonshine made in a swamp or
dirty cellar, i'll old ash cans, galvanized
iron pipes and lead coils ferinented
with I've and colored with iodine. Typi-
cal of the decreased drunkenness evil
dent in the larger cities, Mayor Dever
OF Chicago announced that there were
twelve arrests for drunkenness in Chi
cago New Years day, while i'll New
York, according to report OF the di-
visional chief in charge, there were
only six arrests made by his men.
1T is impossible, even for the Amer
lean who is least inclined to put his
own weight behind the Eighteenth
Amendment, most loath to forego per-
sonal indulgence, to ignore the fact
that the prosperity OF the United
States has not been due TO any in
crease in her foreign trade, against
which the exchange rate operates;
that we are consuming more of our
own products. He cannot dodge or
fail to take account of the fact that
the men who make Americas automo-
biles are driving them; that our silks
and hpe textiles are finding buyers
among our own people; that sober
workmen are consuming a larger por-
ton of our manufactured products
than ever before in our history.
"He knows, if he reads his daily
newspaper, that we are the only ma
ton in the world without an unem-
ployment problem. The sums we
once invested in the destructive dis
tilling and brewing business now
operate factories, mines and railroads.
Our school life has been length
cned. The family purse today sufices
for the family support, now that the
barrooms arc closed, without the chill
dren adding their pittance. Revived
ambition i'll the home has sent to high
schools, &C a e nj es, preparatory
schools and colleges thousands who,
i'll our wet years, lacked the means or
the encouragement to study. or both.
I'm the factory, the counting room,
the store; in the mines, on the farms,
in the great open spaces, in the home
in the schoolroom, in the church.
there is great. quiet resistless force
in motion that is lifting America to
place of unchallenged leadership Of
the world.
Enforcement OF the prohibition law
has not been without its difficulties
but there have always been those who
failed TO obey automatically for time
such statutes as were regarded to be
in conflict with their personal lib
erty. However, it is my opinion that
in the years to come, the period
through which we have been passing
will seem as inexplicable as the vigor-
Gus challenges which have been ut
tered throughout the history of legis-
lation wherever personal liberty has
been limited by Constitution or stat
ute.
"These are my convictions and they
cannot fail to be the conviction OF
every serious-minded American who
will study the facts and figures as they
come in from every state, city and
village of the land
A FAIR SUBSTITUTE