Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-07-01

| them! 1t takes too
many to guard Miss Helen Keller.
the coasts and
| borders, and they would all have to
have no desire for quick money
making.
Our people have grown so accus-
toned to quick money-making that
| they will make it in any way they
can A prohibition agent gets from
So, 900 to s. 500 year. A man with
a wife and child cannot live on a
prohibition agents pay in New York.
Yet it has been admitted by former
District Attorney Buckner Of New
York that men clamor for the jobs.
Isn't that rather Significant"
What other reasons. we asked Miss
Keller, had she for thinking the
eighteenth amendment bad one?
Says Psychology Opposes.
1.-THE best Of all reasons" she
answered. quick as flash. Common
sense psychology! You can't take
people by the scruff Of the neck and
bump them into ways of goodness.
You can make them good only by
planting high ideals in the young.
Nothing can be done with those who
have reached maturity"
The famous blind lecturer and
Anne Sullivan Macy. her teacher and
inseparable companion, have been
four times across the States since
the adoption of prohibition.
And" says Miss Keller. demurely,
II find prohibition nowhere. Wherev
er two or three are gathered together
there are mysterious looks and whis-
pers. The subject and the practice
nf
young people know more about drink
today than ever they did before. The
pity Of it, They are interested be-
cause it is forbidden, something in
dulged in on the sly. They cannot
be blamed: it Is human nature. Can
we change human nature?"
We told her that Miss Fannie
Hurst scored human nature for sue
cumbing to the temptation Of alcohol
instead Of resisting it and upholding
the law for the sake of the younger
generation If not for its own. \
Facing Facts, Not Ideals.
"That is idealizing human nature"
said Miss Keller. "Unhappily, we
have to face facts. not ideals. To
blame human nature for being human
is hardly fair
Miss Keller says liquor should be
controlled by the Government. but no
attempt made to prohibit its She
points to the laws of Sweden and of
Canada as practicable.
1T is harder she insists. ito ge.
drinks in Canada than anywhere in
the United States. The liquor laws in
Canada are dignified. respected and
enforced. So strongly d. l believ, in
temperance that l would like to see
our present dry law repealed, or at
least altered. 1t does not encourage
temperance and self-control, but the
most harmful excuses"
Miss Keller lines up firmly with
those who think wine or even a little
of a stronger stimulant harms no one
of mature years and that it often has
magic value.
Mark Twain once told me-" she re-
lated, that he could never have lived
so long if it hadn't been for his little
toddy which he kept beside his bed
and took at 3 in the morning, the
hour when human vitality is at lowest
ebb. And Oliver Wendell Holmes used
to say that the rosy cup inspired
much of our art, poetry and philoso
ply. Now. shall we kill off our phi
losophers and poets" she added naive
~. with poisoned beverages? We need
all the beauty We can get in this
world"
Increase i'm Savings.
We jumped from beauty TO finance
arr told Miss Keller of the very real
increase in savings bank depositots
since prohibition. She pondered a
and then tapped furiously
into the palm of Mrs. Macs ever
present hand:
II wonder how many of those new
depositors are rum-runners and pro
prietors of 'speakeasies.' Bookkeeping
she went on pensively, is like the
piracy of olden days. 1t affords new
thrill It presents dangers and re-
wards. 1t is a bad, sad business, but
TO those who know something of psy-
chology it is inevitable under present
conditions.
Liquor has broken many homes.
1t continues in a new way II break
them. I had a letter the other day
from a woman who begged advice how
to regain her husbands companion
shin. She explained that his was "A
dishonorable calling but its excite
ment fascinated him. He was out at
all hours"
Miss Keller had one last word to
say about her opinion of prohibitions
effect on the generation of tomorrow.
len years dBO, she SdlNs IT, was
only in a few families that drink was
talked of or existed to a vicious ex-
tent. Whatever conviviality there was
took place outside the home. Now 1t
is done in the home and secretly and
excessively.
"Let us have temperance through
education, regulation and self-control,
and not the dangers we are making
for ourselves and the future gener-
alton by this attempt to make our
selves good by coercion!'