THE DRINK TRADE.
(To Ms EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.")
SIR,—With all that you so convincingly say about the Prime Minister's non sequitur I entirely agree. But aro not you and some of your correspondents open to the same charge from another point of view P If all that you and the Strength of Britain advocates tell us of the selfish and unpatriotic history of " the Trade " is true, why should we ask for its Prohibition only for the period of the war and for demobilization? Is it not most unrighteous folly to suggest that after the war the traffic in intoxicants, with all its appalling horrors, is to be renewed with the intensified eagerness of a guilty reaction? We might just as consistently renew our intercourse with defeated but unrepentant Germany, for " the Trade" is not repentant, nor is it crer likely to be. Its abominable policy is bread and butter, first, last, and all the time.-1 am, Sir, &c.,
[Our correspondent appears not to have noticed that we have again and again declared that the Spectator policy is Prohibi- tion during the war and State Purchase after it. It is not safe to leave in private hands the tremendously lucrative and patent monopoly which has been created, and necessarily created, by the legal restrictions on the sale of intoxicants. Only the State can be trusted to resist the temptation to exploit the craving for liquor in excess which possesses so many men and women.— En. Spectator.]
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