Evening star., 1933-08-20
What Plan to Control Liquor

| we prescribe for Americans. we should
| try to find out exactly what they want.
what they will support.
More than 20 States already have
told us, In part, what they want. Per-
haps the same tools by which they
have expressed their wishes may pro-
vide them with voice as to the means
of regulation. And the common citi-
zen, in each State, may finally go to
the polls and register his preference
as to arrangements In his own terri
tory.
But when these systems are at last
determined, We, whose duty 1t Is to
administer the laws the people want,
enough for the busy policeman to in
terpret easily, for the average citizen,
the average merchant and dealer and
buyer to understand.
1--WE hope the old saloon will never
come back Anything but the old sa-
LOOM" We all have heard that hope
expressed in these last years of agita-
ton. And yet I do not echo that
wish with the fervor that 1t "a uttered
by some undoubtedly sincere and we'll
meaning people. Against the old sa-
loon many grave charges were urged.
Some Of these were undoubtedly true,
and If they could not be corrected they
would provide good reason to ban the
saloon. The old saloon, in my opinion,
had its bad points and It's good points.
It's secrecy, its curtained doors, Its
back rooms where crimes were plotted
and vice f1ourished-these were the bad
features, and these should be elimi-
mated But its function IS q poor
mans club was good, I believe. and
this function might well be encour-
aged The directions our board gives
to licenses expressly forbid certain
of the old evils already mentioned.
mo screen or blind, or any curtain or
article or thing, covering any part OF
any window on any licensed premises
will be permitted. where the same pre-
vents a clear view into the interior Of
said licensed premises from the street.
Diligence to Curb Saloon.
And we believe that diligence Of the
State board and the many county
boards to see that persons Of low char
acter are not licensed will do away with
other Objectionable features Of the old
saloon.
There are many advocates Of what
are called >"refreshment places"-where
milk and soda water and soft drinks
would be sold along with beer and wine,
where music and other entertainment
would be furnished. where women and
children as we'll as men could enjoy So
ciability and companionship-to take
the place Of the saloon.
This idea Of licensed places where
the emphasis IS not placed exclusively
on any sort Of refreshment, and where
no child could suffer any hurt to man
ners or morals, Is worthy. Yet mems
clubs have been incorporated from the
beginning, in which the members could
find the exclusive companionship OF
their own sex, and therefore the fam
lily aspect Of these proposed "refresh-
ment places" might not satisfy all the
advocates of the saloon as "the poor
mans club"
As a matter of fact the beer gardens
of today partly fit the description OF
the proposed "refreshment places" And
beer gardens and legal beer are helping
to undo some Of the great harm which
the years of prohibition have done to
the cause Of temperance.
Abuses Cause Protests.
I have said that prohibition. in my
opinion. set back the cause Of tenn
perance so years. In support OF that
belief, let me review a few facts about
liquor. The student of history may well
shake his head at the prevalence of
intoxication in England and in Ameri-
ca during the late 1700s and the first
three quarters Of the 1800s. The "one-
bottle man." according to the histo.
rians of those times, was considered
a weakling; the "two-bottle man" was
the hero.
So great became the abuse Of drink
that wave after wave Of protest and re-
form found expression, and IN the early
18OOs the first temperance societies
were formed in the United States.
President Madison sent q commission
abroad to inquire into European sys-
TENS of control. The commission re-
ported that 1t found conditions best IN
Germany. where the wide consumption
of beer seemed to keep the people from
drinking stronger liquor.
President Madison thereupon invited
certain German brewers to build brew
cries over here, and Congress presented
them with free land and voted them tax
exemption for the first 10 years. They
came and from this practical start q
new movement toward sobriety was
launched. That was well under way,
increasing with each year, as the twen-
tieth century pushed toward the end
of its second decade. But then, per
haps due to the emotions called forth
by the war, perhaps due to reformers
who wished to reform too much, too
speedily, prohibition became law. And
temperance suffered.
Educate, Not Legislate.
Tell the American people they can't
do a certain thing and they say, "Oh,
can't we? Well show you'll" Prohibit
the average American from drinking
more than four daily glasses Of water
and he will get waterlogged each day.
It is easier to educate than to legis-
the campaign of education was largely
abandoned by the reformers after they
gave us prohibition.
Crime prevention is surely more SCI
entific and less wasteful than crime
cure or crime suppression. And, ike
wise, it Is surely more efficient, more
sensible and more productive OF results
to bring up our young people so that
they will themselves control thet1
drinking habits. than 1t Is to devise
laws and punishments.
Convince a man or boy In his heart
Of the worth of possessing any decent
habit and he will try to possess It. If
he is a normal individual. Moral sua-
sion, particularly with young people
whose characters are forming, Is far
ahead Of the big stick. And so, going
back to those control systems which
work so we'll in other countries, we find
that in all of these countries a large
part of control rests upon q continued
system of education for temperance. I
believe in education Of all kinds. I
particularly believe in scientific, fact
presenting. Unconditional system Of tenn
perance education for our younger gen.
GRAFTON. Much of the old temperance
education, in America at any rate, was
not always truthful, was often too par
tisan and, at times, even hysterical.
Temperance Lesson Effective.
We are living in the most scientific
age the world has known. Our colleges
and our Government furnish our citi-
zens with precise facts as to agricul-