Evening star., 1926-04-20
CARNEGIE INSTITUTE HEAD
ASSAILED BY DRY DIRECTOR

the difficulties of the enforcement o.
the law constitute a sufficient reasoT
for the restoration of an evil like the
hQuor business, which has steadily
disobeyed all laws passed for its re
strIction. Many hard words have
been said here and elsewhere against
the eighteenth amendment, against
the Volstead act and against prohibi
ton. No one has yet said a good
word for the old days. for the unre
strained or legalized liquor traffic, for
the drunkenness that existed under
the old order, or for the countless
evils of the old order.
Says Anarchy May Follow.
1--WE firmly believe that liberty car
only be secured under law, and thai
anarchy and the utter destruction Of
lawful government would follow tht
! adoption of the principle that when
ever laws are found difficult to enforcc
they should be amended 80 as to per
nit milder forms of evil. 1t Is oul
Judgment that even under the circum
stances that have existed the
eighteenth amendment has been en-
forced as fully in the United States as
the laws against theft and murder
and ether crimes. For these reasons
we oppose any amendment to tho
existing laws, except such amend
mentS as will make them more effec
tive in expressing and enforcing t1e
will. Of the law-abiding citizens OF the
United States.
1--WE do not trust the distillers, the
brewers, the saloonkeepers or those
who are hired by them to do their
work They have done nothing In al
their long history from the. whisky
rebellion in our early days as a Nation
until this hour of their violation Of the
Constitution and laws of the land
that any man or woman should trust
them. Our recollections verify our
convictions and stiffen our determine
ton that the privately owned liquor
traffic, conducted for profit, shall
never be !egalized again. Our expert
ence with compromises is not forgot
ten. Therefore we are against the
whole business in any form OF 1t and
in every degree Of It."
DIR. Clarence True Wilson, general
secretary of the Board Of Temperance
Prohibition and Public Morals of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, with a
membership of 5,1S1,218 people and
more than that number Of Sunday
school pupils and teachers, declared
that the "wets" in their testimony had
slandered America when they said
that the country was terrorized by
criminals and that American girls
and women are drunken and de
bauched because of conditions arising
from the prohibition law.
MethOdists are United.
1.-THE attitude of the Methodist
Church on prohibition Is historic and
official" said DIR. Wilson. THAT Atti-
tude represents today the consensus
of opinion of our ministers and people,
beyond the shadow of a doubt. Meth
odists everywhere are practically, If
not quite, unanimous in their deter
mined support of this law as q 'salu-
tary' law Our ministers find in their
visitations to the homes of the people
that it has produced infinite benefits
in the improved moral tone of young
people. We deny emphatically that
the young people of this decade un-
der prohibition are consuming liquors
in quantities or that they are being
morally depraved by the operation of
the prohibition law. The young people
of our church are certainly not drink
ing. So rare is any consumption of
liquors by young Methodists that 1t
constitutes, when it does occur, a
scandal and a shock to the home, the
church and the community, spec
tacular disgrace by no means typical
of general behavior. There is drink
ing among young people, OF course,
but it is very much less frequent than
when open saloons beckoned an invi-
tation from every corner.
I'VE find these better conditions
not only in the homes where fathers
who once drank are now worthily
doing their duty, but in homes which
have felt the stimulation directly
traceable to increased production and
consumption. General business con-
ditions have benefited by the addition
Of billions of capital and the expendi-
lures formerly lost in the till of the
saloon, and this improvement in pros
perity has raised the general level
of the standard Of living of all the
people.
"Our ministers are unanimous in
reporting that the American home is
a better equipped home than ever be-
fore.
Our ministers tell US that they OBJ
serve far less drinking among the
people as whole. in the homes, on
the streets and in places of public
resort The passing of the saloon and
of the brewery stimulation of trade
in liquor has been nothing less than
a redemption of the average Ameri-
can community.
Spent S2,43S, ,OOO, 900 for Liquor.
"When the prohibition law went
into effect the American people were
spending 100000 annually for
intoxicating liquors. The addition of
this expenditure to the channels Of
legitimate trade inevitably meant
greater production and consumption
of the necessities and true luxuries
Of life. The money that was not
spent for beer was Immediately spent
for meat, vegetables, fruit, clothing
and a thousand other useful things,
or was accumulated in banks as capi-
tai to erect more factories, employ
more men, use more raw material
and produce more goods, which were
added to the wealth Of the country
and contributed to the happiness and
welfare Of the people.
Senator Bruce, in his address to
the committee, presented certain
figures in regard to drunkenness In
American cities which show clearly
how easily one may fail to grasp the
significance of statistics. He present
ed figures Of the five prohibition.years,
1920 to 1924, inclusive, showing that
the arrests for drunkenness in 1924
were 275,469 in these cities, as COM
pared with 115,062 in 1920, the first
dry year. The totals from 1914 to 1924
We're: 1914, 26S,434; 1915, 271,526;
1916, 299,47s; 1917, 295,6S1; 1918, 229,-
965; 1919, 167,4S7; 1920, 115,062; 1921.
163, III; 1922, 229,816; 1923, 270,3S6;
1924, 275.469.
I'VE omit from Senator Bruce's
table Newark and Knoxville, for
which we do not have figures, and
Chicago, which makes no arrests for
drunkenness when not associated with
disorderly conduct.
Population Increased.
'It will be noticed from this table
that there was a sudden decline under
wartime prohibition in 1919 and ma
tional prohibition in 1920, and that the
increase has been gradual since that
time. Senator Bruce has failed to
notice the fact that the population of
fhaco r;tfoc ho cod froy,, :