[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] have read with great
interest the observations of Americans " on the effect of Prohibition upon the under- ;,rraduates of American colleges and universities. It seems to
me to be a gross libel upon the students of the United States. I know it is in the case of the students of the University of Nebraska, and believe it to be so in the States nearer the border, where it is admittedly easier to secure liquor smuggled mainly from countries and boats under the British flag.
My indignation arises when your correspondent quotes an unnamed physician as saying that in the Middle-Western town in which he resides fifty girls in a High School of 1,500 students have been delivered of children during the past year. This sort of talk about High School students has been going on for years. Your correspondent has only picked up some old gossip which can be easily refuted. A few years ago an editor in the city of Lincoln, Nebraska, carelessly published a general charge of immorality against the students of the High School. The Board of Education appointed a commission, which took exhaustive testimony and found that all of the charges had been based on a single highly advertised dereliction.
" Americans " must be as gullible as the reporter, who got
his chief into so much hot water that he found it advisable to seek another place of residence. There is more ground for the charge of drinking among the young people, perhaps, but the readers of the Spectator ought not to be asked to consider seriously any testimony from an anonymous writer who believes that one girl out of every fifteen or twenty in a single High School gave birth to an illegitimate child last year. If the writer of the communication knew how much commotion a single case of this kind causes in an American town he would hasten to recant.
It is true that our thinkers are greatly concerned over the increase in frivolity among our young people. There is no doubt that organized religion is losing its hold upon the rising generation. It is customary to charge the decline in earnestness to the motion pictures and to the now almost universal use of the automobile. Instead of adding to the danger, Prohibition is a factor of safety and one great source of encouragement. Without it our moralists must all turn into hopeless Jeremialts.
I hope the editor will excuse me for dragging in the smuggling
of liquor from British territory and British boats. These two countries must work together. Your people ought to know what a nuisance the British flag can become when it is used as a cloak by smugglers, in boats lying three miles from our shores, and how much the cordiality of our entente must be strained if something is not done to stop this grave affront to our national dignity. We only ask the British Press to confine itself to the unquestioned facts. On our side of the dis- cussion it is our duty to refrain from commenting too freely upon some of the unpleasant sights we see while visitors here, and to agree that as we do not know all of the conditions, we are not competent to pass judgment. Each nation has its own problem, and each must handle it in its own way. If in the end you show us something better than Prohibition it will not be the first time the motherland has placed us under obligations. Just now you are heading straight toward Prohibition by the local option and hours restriction route. If you are to show us something " better " it is time you began sheering off from your present course.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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