Milford chronicle., 1925-02-27
FIRST FIVE DRY YEARS
ARE ALWAYS THE HARDEST
But When We See What Has Been
Done in Half a Century, the
Prospect is Not DiScOuraging
(From EYening Ledgerl

(From Evening LEDGER
Social refOrmers will take heart
when they consider what has been
accomplished through the efforts of
the Women's Christian Temperance
Union, the fiftieth anniversary of the
founding of which is now being cell
ebrated.
If it had not been for the work of
this organization, founded by a few
pious and public-spirited women
halt century ago, it is doubtful if
the Eighteenth Amendment to the
Constitution would have been adopt
ed. The organization grew as the
years went by. 1t acquired funds for
its campaigns, and it fought without
mercy the politicians who sought to
block its plans. 1t worked with a
high purpose and a consecrated
heart for the protection of women
and children from the suffering
caused b ythe waste of the wage ear
ners' money in the saloons.
Half century is short time in !
which to do what has been done. |
The legal saloon has been abolished.
The production and consumption of |
alcoholic beverages have been re-
duced to figure not thought pos
sible five years ago, and in spite of
many surface indications to the con-
trary the country is more temperate
than at any other time in its history.
There is every reason for believing
that in another fifty years the laws
which it took fifty years to enact
Will be generally observed and that :
t Will then be unnecessary to have a
arge corps of enforcement officers E
ieVoting themselves exclusively to :
he detection and prosecution of Of
enders.
1t is worth while reminding our-
elVes of what the annual produc- 4
ION and consumption of alcoholic i
r1nks used to be and to compare il II
With the present figures. In 1918. II
wO years before the Eighteenth II
amendment was adopted, 9O,OOO,OO II
allons Of tax-paid whiskey, alcohol II
nd spirits were released from bond II
nd 5O,OOO,OOO gallons of denatured II
lcohol were produced, or a total of II
4O,OOO,OOO gallons. In 1924 the pro-
uct1on of denatured alcohol in II
reased to 67,60O,O0O gallons, but the
mount of tax-paid alcohol and
1hiskey released from bond fell to
100000 gallons, making a total of
s, 100000 gallons all told, against HI
40,000,000 gallons in 1918. II
If all the denaturing substances
-ere distilled from the denatured al III
ohol, and if the total amount were
sed for the manufacture of bootleg III
-h1skey and gin, there would still be
reduction of 61,O0O,0OO gallons in
le amount of this kind of alcoholic III
averages available for CONSUMPTION. III
ut large quantities of denatured III
nd pure alcohol are still used in the III
IT'S. iii
The smuggling of liquor into the
'untry by sea and across the nor
fern and southern borders, great
1T is, does not add to the domestic iii
lpply an amount anywhere equal to
e difference shown by the figures
st quoted. And the illicit stills run
abandoned stables and cellars and
e like cannot produce either aIco-
u or Whiskey in quantities that can lII
mpare with the amounts turned lIll
it by the distilling companies be-
re the adoption of the prohibitory
lendment.
A comparison Of the production of
cohol and alcoholic beverages in
18 and 1922-the figures for 1924 W
e not available is equally illum- I'LL
ating. In the earlier year, 17,S83,-
gallons of whiskey were distill-
, but this was only about one
,th Of the 100,000,00O gallons dis
led in 1911. But in 1922 only 315,- Hi
D gallons were made in the distil- IIIl
les. The production Of rum de- llll
eased from 1,525,OO0 gallons to lIll
1000, and the amount of all kinds Illl
alcohol fell from 10000, 900 gal Hill
Is to 79,600,000, while the produc- Hill
n Of fermented liquors fell from l|l
25O,OO0 gallons to 6,350,00O. llll
# a law the enforcement Of lll
ich will change the habits of a llIl
number of persons can llllII
luce the production and conse- Hill
emily the consumption of alco- lllll
ic stimulants to the extent indi- IllIl
ed in the short space of five Hill
Lrs, what can it not do in fifty lllIIl
RS? Hill
n spite of all the superficial ap- lllI
frances Of a general flouting of Illl
law, the results that it has pro- Dl
ed in five years are by no means lIl
to those who urged it's ll
ption. They worked under great llIIl
Iculties when they began but they ll
sisted. Those who agree with Ill
m will continue to persist, no lllN
ter how long it may take to ac- "
lplish the end at which thew aim W