Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-26

interfere with the right to distill H.
uuor or brew beer for shipment out
side the province. The result is the
existence of many breweries and dis
tilleries, which are working full time
within province which prohibits the
sale of their wares.
The act passed In 1915 described hq-
ours Aas any drink or combination of
drinks which are intoxicating, and laid
down legislative definition that any
liquor containing more than 21a per
cent proof spirits shall be conclusively
deemed to be intoxicating. The act
did not go so far as to prohibit the i'm.
portation of liquor into the province.
as the government felt that such mat
tiers as manufacture, expectation and
importation should be left to the Do
minion. The law allowed the sale Of
native wine, permitted home brewing
and the use of stocks In domestic eel
lars on the ground that a mans home
is his castle and what he does there
is his own affair. In the same year.
however, the Dominion government
passed a law prohibiting the importa-
ton of liquor into Ontario in contra
vention of the 0. 4. A.. That is, 1t
prohibited the importation of liquor
for sale, but there was nothing to pre-.
vent a man from importing all he
wanted for his own use.
Wartime Law Abolished.
In 1919 the temperance forces set
up howl for more and better regu-
importation of liquor into Ontario
for any and every purpose. The
Canadian Parliament decided to let
each province settle the matter and
arranged to hold a plebiscite in 1921
to determine whether the importation
of liquor for beverage purposes or for
sale should be PROHIBITED in provinces
which prohibited it's sale. In the same
year-1919-the government of On.
tario decided to find out how the peo-
pie liked their temperance act, so they
put it to a popular vote. The vote
carried in favor of it's continuance by
majority Of 100000. The drys were
sitting pretty.
Dominion governments plebiscite on
the importing question was held, the
majority had dwindled to 10000.
This decrease was proclaimed by the
vets as indicating that the people
were getting alarmed over further
regulation. When g. man could go
down In his cellar and get out
bottle, and when he could send to
Montreal for more If he wanted 1t, he
was immensely in favor of prohibition.
He preached 1t on the street corners
and from the soap boxes, then went
home to his castle and drank Scotch
highball to prohibition. But when he
found he could no longer import his
whisky legally when the stock in his
cellar became depleted he began to
have his doubts about the efficacy of
prohibition after ALL His majority
decreased from 1000 to 1877 900.
Bigger Slump Follows.
Nevertheless, the law against i'm
porting became effective and in 1928
there was an election. The Conser-
vative party came into power in
Ontario and made a pledge that there
would be another plebiscite on this
liquor business. It was held and the
majority in favor of the temperance
act was $4,000. First, the majority of
400, 900 had gone down to 167 900 when
the question of importing liquor was
put up to vote. Then this majority
of 10000 decreased to $4,000 two
years later, when the people were
asked how they liked it.
The vets were beginning to rejoice.
The walls of the dryS filled the air.
The vets were clamoring for more
modification; the drys were downright
alarmed lest there would be any modi-
fication. The Conservative party set
about trying to please both sides and
execute the will of the people. 1t
found, according to the partys spokes.
man, that difficulties of enforcing the
law were intensifying. The people of
the cities were bowling about their
personals rights. The rural population
was satisfied and wanted no more
voiced that the temperance people had
ceased preaching temperance and gone
to legislating about it..
The situation regarding the dispen-
saries where medicinal liquor could
be obtained on a doctors prescription
had become quite a problem. Indica-
tions were that the people were stead
lily returning to the use of hard liquors.
At first the doctors had been allowed
100 prescriptions a month. Subse-
quently the number was reduced, but
still there was a strange wave of sick
ness sweeping the province In 1919
$2,026,000 worth of liquor had been
sold through these dispensaries on
doctors prescriptions. In 1924 $5,028,-
600 worth was issued to a sick and
suffering populace. In 1920-21 there
were $4,000 prescriptions; in 1923-24
there were $4,000. A lot of sickness
AS illustrating the scope of the cpl
demic around Christmas time in 1924,
on December 10 of that year $22 900
worth of liquor was sold on doctors
prescriptions: on December IS, ST..
900; on December 20, $34 1000; on De-
eember %. $4,000, and on December
"a, Christmas eve, $4,000 worth.
Christmas day the dispensaries were
closed and the day after Christmas the
epidemic had broken. Only $11 900
worth OF liquor was sold.
Doctors Hit Bar.Tending.
The doctors were demanding that
the burden of bartenders for the
province be lifted from their sagging
shoulders. The complaint was going
out that prohibition applied only to
the poor--that the rich could get their
Mouor through the dispensarieS.
SO the government in the latter
part of the last year decided to modify
and at the same time put more teeth
in the regulations by legalizing the
sale OF the famous ~ beer and by