Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-04


barehanded know the evils of drink
and the improvements that have fol-
lowed the demise of the saloon?
I'VE still have our problems, and
always shall have them. But they are
different. We have no longer the
fearful harvest of wreckage from the
corner rum shop. Beauty-starVed
toilers. doorstep babies. hayward
girls and neglected old folk abound.
But so also do clean homes with
radios and automobiles and better
clothes and food
'1aw Should Stand"
"Oh. there is no doubt that the law
should absolutely stand. The whole
world is watching. and only the Latin
countries are bewildered and tend to
ridicule. The people, even in Norway
and Sweden. wanted to keep their dry
law. 1t was the commercial interests
that returned those countries to liquor
that exports of fish might be eX-
changed for imports of wine.
Miss Adams says she sees the flne
hand of the liquor interests in the wet
propa ganda. She has few stories OF
her own to tell to offset it.
This is a Latin neighborhood," she
EXPLAINS. inhabited by foreign born
who never knew what it was to do
without wine before prohibition. They
were puzzled and many were dis
tressed. One man told me he could no
longer eat his meals-things tasted
wrong without his accustomed WINE.
/ sympathized, but he quickly added
that it was all right, for his digestion
had greatly improved! He thought he
could get used in time to the worse
food and better digestion.
Then there was the bootlegger's
boy. He was a little chap, and could
drive without being suspected OF do
ing other than helping his father de-
liver provisions. He was well paid,
and when he had saved enough he
abandoned his job and went to col
lege, becoming greatly shocked at the
drinking bouts there. It never occurred
to him that it was wrong to drive the
rum truck, but he sWore to me that
having learned the results Of drink
he was through with it forever"
Says Real America Backs Law.
Despite bookleggery. despite the
new element of cocktail devotees and
amateur gin-makers, despite the in
door and outdoor sport of carrying
TASKS, Miss Adams says that those
prairies. farms and unpretentious
homes that make up the real America
are all on the side of the dry law.
Here around Hull House." she
goes on, 1--WE used to watch whisky
and beer being left at saloons by the
dray-load.
"The poverty and suffering from
drink were appalling. There is such a
difference now that it seems ike
another world. Our poor are moving
away into better places. The whole
standard of life is rising for them.
Drinking has decreased by at least 40
per cent, and SO has our work OF re-
facilitating families wrecked through
intemperance. We have hardly any
more sQualid homes and neglected
families to deal with.
1.-THE stuff folks get now makes
them uglier, but its evils are onset
by the difficulty of getting 1t. 1
would not see the old system return
for anything! Amending the law Will
only hurt conditions. Prohibition
hasn't had a chance. 1t took three
generations to abolish slavery in the
South Nobody there ever dreamed
it would be wiped out. But it was,
and so will liquor be-"
Opposes Wines and Beer.
We limited that nobody wanted the
saloon back, but Miss Adams shook
her head dismissingly.
'Oh, 1t would amount to the same
thing If they brought back wines ana
beer. You can't go around with a
measuring stick to find out the
amount consumed or it's alcoholic
content. Besides, it is the convivi-
atty that does the harm-the habit OF
sitting about in a public place and
treating. 1t was the treating that ate
up a mans money"
Miss Adams says prohibition can
be enforced, and is being enforced.
81 do think, however" she con.
cedes, that it could be more cleverly
done. It is stupid to use violence, to
smash and to shoot. 1t should be
managed with ability, by fines newt
ably and sufficiently imposed and
with relentless steadiness.
Parents should take more part In
enforcement. They don't keep their
young folk in sight enough. They are
often too eager for their own movies
and automobile rides, leaving the
children alone.
But girls are growing afraid OF
the fellow with the flask. A few ex-
periences with such chaps teach q
girl a lot, and she turns away from
the danger.
II want to see the dry law tried
thoroughly. If we amend it, we shall
never know what fine things might
have come from ii. 1t Is a noble ex-
pertinent and blessing"