NBWTA Report 1903-054
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102 103 He can gather round him men who are standing perplexed, to- ship. He can put us on the right day, outside the Temperance movement. road so that our victories to-day will mean the eventual triumph of our children by-and-by. But if we each one have our little scheme, our own idea, if each one thinks that we should get all we stand for imme- diately, then probably the Temperance party must fail, and that failure God grant us will mean that our enemies’ triumph will be complete. wisdom, and open our eyes to see that the truest faithfulness to our cause at this hour will be loyalty to the one who leads. satisfy in some measure the social instincts of the people in healthful and helpful ways. vane And then I cannot too strongly emphasize my feeling as to the insistence upon a national time notice as the only satisfactory form of compensation, accompanied, of course, by a commutation scheme based upon a tax on the remaining licences, in cases where the time notice is anticipated by the action of communities. I do not suppose that these sentiments will commend them- selves to all, but may we not take some warning by the past? We Must Take THE LINE OF LEAST RESISTANCE. WuHat I have tried in a very superficial way in this address to show the serious aspects of the problem of intemperance in connection with the physical, industrial and moral efficiency of our people. I have endeavoured to set out the growing power of the liquor traffic, not only over the lives of the people themselves, but the great political power which they unquestionably now wield, It was Lord Rosebery who said that “unless the country controlled the liquor traffic, the liquor traffic ‘would control the country,” and the only alteration that I would ven- ture to make in that speech is that I would say, ‘‘ The liquor traffic ‘‘ does control the country.” For the first time, as we have seen, the Magistrates have endeavoured to do something towards curbing this power, but up and down the country I believe the Justices are now re-considering their attitude to an extent that will practically put a stop to the reductions that have been recently effected, and, indeed, we may be certain that any repetition of the action of this year would precipitate the crisis that we fear, and the end would be a fortified and endowed liquor traffic. We have, therefore, frankly to recognize the limitations and defects of the present system of licensing, but while we recognize them we have also to remember that we have not got the game in our own hands, that we shall be obliged now to take the line of least resistance, and in order to win anything we must gain the sympathies of those who, for the present, are standing irresolute and aloof in the Temperance party, but who are aware that reform is needed. Now, if I am to be frank, I must say that, after long years of thought, and after studying the views of those who have brought expert knowledge to the question, I have come to the conclusion that there are only two methods by which we can meet the situation as we find it in England. First, by giving full powers of public control, such public control to include both the veto and the public management of the liquor traffic under explicit safeguards, for only as we destroy and utterly crush out the elements of private gain are we ever going to deal with this slave traffic in England. Then we want frankly to recognize that in the lives of the masses and the conditions under which they are living, there is an absolute necessity, if we would combat the evils of in- temperance, to provide counter-attractions to the public-house, and OTHER Nations Have Dons. An almost unprecedentedly sweeping Temperance reform has been carried in Russia since 1895, when the Russian Government took over the whole trade in spirits, making it simply a Government monopoly. * The experiment was at first tried in four provinces, and afterwards, in 1896, became common law. ‘There are, therefore, now in Russia only shops held by the Government, and the private restaurants which sell on commission for the Government. In St. Petersburg, out of 937 wine and spirit shops, only 178 are now permitted to sell Government spirits. The Government and private spirit shops now amount to 325. No compensation has been given to keepers of spirit shops whose licences have been taken away. The semi-official publication runs thus :— “In Russia there can be no question of giving compensation to the evicted retailers of spirit. The licence they were granted, by which they were permitted to carry on their deplorable busi- ness, has always been considered by the legislator, the administra- tion, the public, and by themselves, as a permission liable to be withdrawn without explanation or comment.” Miss Edith Sellers, in an article of great interest which appeared in the Contemporary Review for December, 1902, and from which, by per- mission, we extract the following, referred to the introduction of the Russian Spirit Monopoly in Moscow, and tells us that on June rst, rgor, the only public-houses to which large bodies of the working men could resort were practically drink-shops, and these were doomed, as July 1st was the date fixed for the Monopoly to come into force in Moscow. Miss Sellers writes :— __.. The Moscow Committee began its work in June, rgoz, and within a year it had already opened twelve huge Narodny Doms, or People’s Houses. It hopes to open eight more before many months are passed. A Narodny Dom, as the term is understood in Moscow, is a working men’s restaurant, club, library, and much besides, all com- bined in one. The restaurants are fine, large rooms, well lighted, well ventilated, and beautifully clean; and in most of them * “ National Efficiency and the Drink Traffic.” at the entrance |