30 JUNE 1917, Page 13

MR. HOOVER AND THE USE OF GRAIN FOR LIQUOR. [To

THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR.") Sta,—Perhaps you may think it worth while to print the follow- ing extract from an article in Land and Water, June 7th, by Mr. Hoover, the Food Controller in the United States:—

" It seems fairly certain that the Council of National Defence will completely prohibit the manufacture and sale of alcoholic liquor throughout the United States, and this will at once free an enormous quantity of grain for England, France, and Italy. I do not think that the grain when imported into the United Kingdom should be used for alcoholic liquor. It is not my inten- tion to tell the people of Great Britain what they ought to do, but sacrifice on one side deserves some sacrifice on the other."

If through American self-denial it should be made possible to send a considerable quantity of grain to England, surely even the most convinced anti-Prohibitionist would see the depth of shabbiness involved in either applying any of it directly to the manufacture of alcoholic liquor, or indirectly as a substitute for other grain or malt so applied. If there is one thing an Englishman baba more than another, it is shabbiness.—I am, Sir, &c., Rubane House, Kircubbin, Co. Down. H. S. VERSCHOTI.E.