The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1928-11-01
Vancouver, British Columbia,
September 10, 1923.

vancouver, BRUSH Columbia
September 10, 1928.
THE CANADIAN LIQUOR STTUATTHT
Canada is being rapidly alcoholized."
This is the finding of the temperate and
well-documented report presented by its
Social Service Board to the General
Council of the United Church Of Canada
The postwar landslide from prohibition,
in seven out of the nine provinces Of the
Dominion, was followed by the institue
ton of one form or another CT Govern
ment Liquor Control. The Government
Sale Provinces are Quebes. New Bruins
wick Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan,
Alberta and Brit: sh Columbia and in these
wide areas the practice of liquor drinking
Is being re-estahlished in an alarming de-
gree. An old and evil order Of things is
t1ourisling again. Nova Scotia and Prince
Edward Island, on the other hand, re.
main under Prohibition"
will show directly that neither PRO
hibition" nor Government Liquor Con-
troll has the meaning in Canada that we
should naturally associate w tn those
terms in Britain; but the first and fuf1das
mental fact confronting the social stu
dent as he surveys the Canadian Liquor
situation is that, contrary to British exc
perience, liquor consumption and the
misch.efs which it induces are on the ine
crease in the Dominion.
CANADA's GROWING LIQUOR
PROBLEM
The following representative figures are
from official Government returns:
1928 1926
Gallons Gallons
ufactured in Canada 3s.7o7,9o2 46,35o.113
1924 1927
Gallons Gallons
Imports Of Brandy,
Gin and Whisky. f,060205 1,884576
In other words, the quantity of beer,
ale, etc, brewed in Canada increased Oy
81 per cent In the three years 1924-1926;
whilst the imports of brandy, gin and
whisky increased II per cent in the past
three years, notwithstandin SubStane
tial increase in the volume of spirituous
liquors distilled in Canada. The official
Reports of the Provincial Government
Liquor Boards all show large increases in
luuor sales When allowance is made for
liquor smuggled across the frontier into
the United States-an operation which
becomes more difficult-and for liquor
consumed by thirsty Amer can tourists in
Canada, the testimony of social workers
all too surely sustains what these figures
indicate Convict Ons for drunkenness
mount up Road accidents associated
with drinking by motorists alarm the pub
lie by their frequency The work; ng pas
tor finds that drink cases" figure more
prominently In his day-by-day activities,
Man after man told me of his anxiety
concerning the new tolerance towards the
use of alcoholic beverages by young men
and women. It is clear that the overturn
of prohibition, and the institution OF
Government Sale has not solved Cam
ada's liquor problem.
1t is needful before proceeding further
to define these terms in their relation to
Canadian experience; for, as have all
ready said, they do not connote what an
Fnglishman at first assumes.
WHY CANADIAN PROHIBITION DID
NOT PROHIBIT
We naturally think of prohibition as
carrying the same legal meaning in Cam
ada as it does in the United States. Not
SO. The Eighteenth Amendment to the
Constitution Of the United States pro-
hibits the manufacture and transporta-
ton, as well as the sale and export, OF
all Intoxicating liquors for beverage pur@
poses. Apart from a brief period to-
wards the close of the war, Prohibition in
Canadian Province applied only to what
we should describe as retail sale. Ii
closed the saloon, but left the brewery
and distillery in operation; and moreover
tow Of 1iCy1go