The Kusko times., 1925-07-18
"A Nation of Hyp-
 Ocrites and Habit
 ual Lawbreakers'
Detroit Free Press.

mental law of the land was largely based on belief that prohibition was practical measure which would protect national health, morals and prosperity. Its justification was to be a generally happy effect on the country
 What is the; result after five yearss What seems to be the prospect for the future9
 Here is what seems to us significant:
 The price of 'intoxicants today is seY- erai times greater than it was in 1920 Bus anybody who has the price, and cares to risk insanity or death, can get all.tEe liQ uor he wants. Enforcement has utterly fallen down.
 Millions of people in the United States. including 8 large proportion Of the ''besb eitizens'' and many officials of high station and large responsibili- ties, are often and persistent aouters of the dry laws. Judges ascend the bench after drinking bouts to trYrother men for doing what they themselves have just been doing. There is scarcely a pretense at eOncealment, and it is highly significant that drinkers suffer little or no. loss of caste even among abstainers. Though many people still believe in the efficacy of prohibition by law, the nation as 8 whole has reppdi- ated 1t.
 Since the dry amendment went into sseffeet," proportional criminal class, numbering tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands, has sprung up and has spread throughout the coun-. sry. Its most characteristic members arc cold. .blooded outlaws. thugs and rnurderers. " ho'are doing their best to make the doctrine of the sanctity of life and property travestv. But they live and increase; they are encouraged, coddled and enriched by the most re- spectable portions of society, because they meet ths. demand for whisky.
 A really powerful argument by those who first urged national prohibition vas a contention that it would protect the youth of the.country. There was 8 general admission that many of the s.old soaks'' were past redemption and might bapse trouble for time; but the dry advocates contended that when the receding generation disappeared, 6 new generation which knew not the taste of inboxicants would appear. The picture was attractive, It was big factor in creating prohibition sentiment. It was difficult for conscientious person. to fight project that might protect the young.
 But it is a sad, depressing and dis appointing fact that the eighteenth amend ment has brought no blessing to the youth of America. It is fair con eention that, on the contrary, it has brought d curse.
 The fearful increase of drinking, and the consequent deterioration of morals and standards. to say nothing of health among boys and girls of high school age and even of more tender years, since the reign of the bootlegger com menced, is as deplorable an evil as ever has fallen on the country.
 The saloon was bad; it should remain outlaw forever. But the evil the regu-. lated saloon did the young was trivial in comparison with the devastation caused by what has succeeded it.
 In the beginning. packers of the eighteenth amendment said: Give us time and we will show results" There was reason in the plea. And even to- day, if there were any indication thas the dry workers were facing prospect,