Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-02

thing inevitable; no use kicking about
it,"
Mrs. Atherton shook her head, with
it's mass of hair whose blondness
fingers to frame becomingly face of
classic line.
There will always be some who
submit to any command of authority.
But meekness is scarcely an American
characteristic, and the general result
of an order regulating personal con-
duct is rebellion"
Other Ways to Curb 1t.
doctors and social workers." we
said, having in mind DR.. Muncie, Jane
Adams, Judge Bartheime and others,
"say they see improvement in the
homes of working people as result
of prohibition"
Every one of us wants to see such
improvement" said Mrs. Atherton,
but decrease Of drinking among
the working classes, and the resultant
happiness, could have been obtained
by closing the saloons and putting
high tax on spirits.
IF there is improvement among the
remember there are many other con-
tributions to their prosperity. We are
a prosperous Nation, with more work,
higher pay and better living condi-
tons than anywhere else in the world.
IF there is more Sobriety among
the masses, we must certainly weigh
against it the fact that there Is also
an immense new crop of drunkardS
due 70 the combination of perversenesS
aind bad whisky. One cannot escape
seeing this if one looks about. To
those who do not look about, figures
and facts are available from persons
who have made a careful, unbiased
and authoritative study of the
matter"
Drinking Among the Young.
Mrs. Atherton has recently come
back to her home in San Francisco
from a long motor trip through her
native State and it's neighboring ones.
What, we ask, did she especially
see as she looked on life here and
there, not only among the generation
that has known tthe transition from
life that was cheered by the juice Of
the grape and the soul Of the corn to
a social order that gets what it gets,
If it gets it., by stealth?
''I know this" answers Mrs. Ather-
ton, that before prohibition drinking
among young men and girls was
negligible. To the honest observer
there can be no doubt that 1t Is not
negligible today. In smart circles
drinking is the widely accepted thing.
rs it not to be expected that in
telligent people resent the implication
that they do not know how to conduct
themselves in ways of drinking, eat
ing and ordering their private lives?
Is Withholding all liquor from all peoS
pie sensible way to impose morality
upon them?
IF so, how shall we account for
the shocking increase in penitentiary
commitments, which, according to the
office of the United States Attorney
General at Washington, show an in
crease of 81 per cent in 1925 over 1919.
1--WE See What We See."
"But why quote figures! We know
what we know and see what we see
if we only look and are not misled by
what we wish to see."
1t was said by the president of the
National Women'S Christian Temper
ance Union that an unfavorable i'm
preston was created because Clar-
ence Chamberlin and Charles Levine
asked for beer upon their memorable
landing by plane in Germany. To
criticize the flyers under such circum-
stances, we cannot help gathering
from Mrs. Atherton's tone. comes
close to the severity of fanaticism.
But so it goes" she says" sim
ply wrong psychology on the part
Of overzealous reformers. We go on
wasting effort and wasting millions to
change a human nature that will not
change. We cannot sweep back the
ocean with a broom, although some
drops can be stayed. Likewise, under
prohibition we can prevent some peo-
pie from drinking, but thousands will
be tempted to drink the more, thus
adding to the hypocrisy and weakness
that should be cured by education"