We publish elsewhere several letters, one from Mr. Edward Price
Bell, one of the ablest living publicists of America, supporting " Americanus " in his grave view of the failure of Prohibition among the undergraduates, whether girls or boys, and some violently assailing the evidence on which our correspondent relies. We have never dealt with Prohibition in America from the cynic's point of view or from that of the man who treats the question as a joke. We hold, instead, that America did nobly in destroying the saloon and in attempting to cope with evils caused by the ill-regulated sale of intoxicants. We fear, however, that, as it has turned out, she has been doing the right thing in the wrong way. Had she been content to base her liquor laws on the principle that no individual person or corporation should be allowed to make a profit, direct or indirect, by the sale or manufacture of intoxicants—that is, should be in a position to profit by making one's fellow-men drunk— there would have been far less drunkenness than now, and also—and that is a matter of capital importance— far less law-breaking. However, that is not our business. Our business—the business of all newspapers—is publicity. The duty of the Press is to turn up the lights and disclose the facts whenever that disclosure is needful. That it was needful in the case of the growing demoralization of America's most precious possession, the moral integrity of her youth of both sexes, is beyond question. Therefore, we feel no doubt that we have played a legitimate part in publishing " Americanus's " article—an honest and intelligent American opinion on an American problem. If his alleged facts are not facts they will die of them- selves. If they are true we shall have done some service to a country we love as we love our own.
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