The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1932-02-10

cent in expressing their ideas than are
those of the opposite view. the err
roneous impression Is sometimes
created that the latter are In the ma
jority. This is far from being the
case and when communication SO
full of inconsistency and error as
that of Napoleon on Prohibition" is
published, it calls for q bit of correc-
ton and refutation.
In the first place I wish to verify
the statement of the North Dakota
woman. There Is not fraction of
the drinking now that there was prior
to the 18th amendment. I remember
distinctly the little town in Minnesota
in which spent my boyhood; a town
of about 300 people in which there
were four saloons. Not day passed
but there were from one to a dozen
or more DRINKS staggering around the
streets or lying in the cutters wal
lowing in their own vonit. Nor was
the drinking confined to adults. I
recall seeing boys and girls seven or
eight years of age too drunk to stand.
Since prohibition I have been in
towns of all sizes but have never seen
anything approaching this condition.
AS to the young people carrying
TASKS nowadays, does this informant
mean to insinuate that that custom
was not practiced formerly? Not only
did they carry TASKS but they could
and did go into the saloons any time
they wanted to and get booze in any
quantity desired. For, although there
was law against selling booze to
minors the saloonkeeper never lived
who had the least regard for law.
Booze is essentially an outlaw and
the nature of the business cannot be
changed by disgusting it in the cloak
of legal responsibility.
We are brilliantly informed that if
we reopened the saloon the unem-
ployment situation would be relieved,
yet ninety per cent Of the people are
engaged in moonshining, so We are
told. I don't see how the saloons
could improve much on that. Nor Is
it made clear how the price of rye and
barley would be enhanced by a re-
turn to the saloon if more booze is
being made and drunk now than was
the case when we had the saloons.
The writer laments the fact that
a young man of his acquaintance died
from drinking poisoned brew. Is he
not aware of the fact that alcohol of
any kind is poison and that anyone
who INDUCES in 1t is killing himself
just as surely as II he took gun and
blew his brains out? Personally I
can work up no sympathy for the
young man referred to. AS far as he
himself is concerned he is better off
dead, and he certainly is no loss to
society
Prohibition is the greatest national
issue that has confronted the Ameri-
can people since the days Of slavery,
and this nation can no more continue
to exist half dry and half wet than
it could half slave and half free. The
solution is not to be found in turn
ing the country over to the liquor in
terests but in a stricter enforcement
of the 18th amendment, together with
a national campaign of education.
AS see 1t there are just two class
es Of people who advocate the return
Of the saloon: The distillers, brew
ers, and saloonkeepers on one hand,
and on the other the morons who in
sist on polluting themselves with
booze.
Repeal Of the 18th amendment
would be serious backward step in
social progress. The law must be not
only retained but strengthened.
EDGAR WICK.