12 OCTOBER 1945, Page 13

DRINK AND THE STATE

Snt,—The article in your issue dated September 28th by a Licensing Magistrate seems to me to conclude on an illogical note. In the early part of the article the writer categorically states that the Government in recent years has been deliberately encouraging the consumption of alcoholic drink, and I think there can be little doubt that the policy of the Treasury has been responsible for this encouragement. In view bf the amoral attitude which the Treasury has adopted to the drink trade, there seems little substance in the argument that the elimina- tion of private profit could provide a solution to the drink problem. The substitution of the public profit motive for that of private profit-making might, in practice, prove more disastrous than the present system. Every- one who has studied the drink problem dispassionately naturally resents the making of any profit at all by the exploitation of the weakness of human nature, and it is certainly worth while exploring the possibility of legislation designed to limit or eliminate this profit. Already the State has found it necessary, in the case of certain public utility undertakings, to limit the amount of profit which may be paid to the shareholders, lest the possession of monopolistic power by these undertakings should result in an excessive charge being made for the services rendered. If the State has decided on such a policy in regard to public utilities, there is a much more powerful case for some interference with the profits of those trades which render a definite dis-service to the public. The liquor trade is quite obviously an outstanding example of such a trade, and a decision by Parliament to limit the dividend on drink shares to, say, 2 per cent. per annum would immediately stay the flow of capital to this trade, and would, in.the not-too-distant future, curb its financial power and influence. Reformers who are anxious to proceed on the lines of eliminating the profit motive might do well to explore this suggestion, particularly in these times when unorthodox financial theories are providing the bases of experiments throughout the world.—Yours faithfully, 12 Caxton Street, London, S.W. r.