Palisadian., 1925-12-18

The drunken driver evil sis a curse
inflicted upon the American people" :"
declared State Motor Vehicle Com
missioner William Dill at a meeting
in Jersey City the other night.
A drunken man is far from an as
set under any condition, but a
drunken man at the steering wheel
of huge piece of machinery, capable
of dealing death upon innocent users
of the public highways is no more a
curse than that phase of the drink
evil which has worked its way into
the home, into the social life, into the
very social fabric of the nation.
Killing people on the highways is
terrible form of murder; it is injus-
tice in one of it's worst forms, for
those who drive and those who walk
should be at least guaranteed that
reasonable safety that comes of driv-
ing with sober mind.
Killing the morals of the people,
killing their decency, killing their re-
spect for law-making drunkards is
real curse inflicted upon the Ameri-
can people by self-willed fanatics
who are not even ready to admit
their crimes, who are not even cog
infant of the crimes that have been
committed in the name of Prohibition
Hudson Dispatch.
OF course Commissioner Dill was
speaking before a sympathetic audi
ence, that of Jersey City, the wettest
spot in the state. Ones audience
lends encouragement to any position
right or wrong. The Dispatch
charges that those in favor of no
liquor have killed the morals of the
people, killed decency, killed respect
for law, put upon the American peo-
pie a curse, which those in favor of
no liquor are not even ready to ad-
nit. The Dispatch suggests no rem
edy-simply declares these things to
be so, very interesting if true. Most
of us have simply to look about us
for verification; and if record is
desired of a district of foreign and
liberal thought on the question, New
York City; we have this record from
the N. Y. Times. The number ar
rested and convicted of drunkenness
in 1924 were 1874; with a population
of a million less in 1914 there were
16,462 convicted. With the increase
in population of New York City dur
ing a ten year period under free
liquor if the law of proportion held
good there would have been %, 1872
convicted of drunkenness. The ex-
cess over the convictions of 1924 es-
timated would be Haas and over the
record 5,719 this last not allowing for
any drunkenness among the addition
al millions of population. The point
is that New Jersey with far larger
native American population would
show more favorably for no liquor.
The records quoted here are from
Chief Magistrate McAdoo's office.
AS we have pointed out from time
to time you can not have the auto
mobile and free liquor. They cannot
live in the same state. The thing
that is troubling Jersey City is they
are beginning to come to their senses,
the first stage is to secure wet news
papers to tell them how no liquor ad-
vocates are killing the people, NOR
ally, physically and in other ways
What the Dispatch is really saying
if you make whisky legal and less in
price few will get drunk. In other
merchandising low price and con-
venient distribution increases sales.
In liquor according to the Dispatch
this invariable law enforced by the
people themselves would suspend.
In Canada they sell good liquor for
$1.50 a quart under government SUI
pervision. In a territory larger than
the United States there are only 12,-
100000 people. There are 12,000,0 900
in New York City and it's immediate
neighborhood. There is an automo-
bile to every sixth person in the
United States. We call them drivers,
they are engineers and just as you
find locomotive engineers total alb
stainers so you will come to demand
sober chauffeurs. If there were but
one automobile to 10000 there would
be no necessity for a law against
drunken chauffeurs, the damage from
them would be infinitesimal-but
when we accumulate them en-masse
as we have they have to be regulated.
Commissioner Dill may talk as he did
in Jersey City before wet audience
but there are many people who will
look into his remarks for a true
statement; if he has missed in case
so important as this he loses the con-
fidence of people who know and gains
the approval of those who don't know,
who amount to little-until they do
know.
Canada is slow country-they
move slow, the snow slows them up
as it does here. We have a week or
two of snow, while they have four
to five months. There are good roads
here, every one an encouragement
for speeding. There they drive large
ly in the mud. Drunk or sober a
chauffeur can't do much damage in
the mud.
Jersey City is working hard to
make it's escape from an increasing
condition of automobile accidents due
to drunken chauffeurs due to the ease
of getting drunk, Jersey City and
Hoboken will try stricter laws to save
her citizenry from accidents. That
particular phase will be gone through
1rrffh nd 90;