IS PROHIBITION A FAILURE-?
[To the Editor of the. SPECTATOR.] SIR,—In reply to your correspondent, Mr. Charles H. Craik, and his complaint of my omission to give the name of the town to which I referred in my article, I may say. that I had not expected it would be of particular interest to your readers. The name of the town is Memphis, Tennessee, which serves as a clearing house for three of the surrounding States, principally in cotton and lumber.
The United States' drink bill for 1917 was generally estimated conservatively at $2,000,000,000..... If the quantity of liquor consumed to-day. only equalled the 1917 figures the total cost would be well .over, $10,000,000,000, whereas your correspondent states that twice this amount is now consumed which ,would equal about $190 per year to each inhabitant of the 110,000,000 who reside in this country. That only requires to be stated to show its absurdity: One has only to exercise his powers of observation to see the splendid results of Prohibition. I was talking recently to the editor of the leading daily paper here, which has the largest circulation in the Southern States, namely, the Commercial Appeal. lie was not originally in favour of Prohibition, but from the results obtained he is whole-heartedly con- vinced of the enormous good it has produced..-The company of which I am an official, employing over 500 employees, white and coloured, has not during the last eight years had to dis- charge one of these employees for drunkenness or slackness caused by drink. This experience is general. The more a fair-minded person compares the conditions in this country with conditions in Britain, making the necessary allowances, the more amazing it appears that the British people do not take up this question seriously instead of assuming it to be a
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