" DOWN GLASSES ! "
[To THY EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR."'
Pan,—On March29th a by-election is to take place in the Hyde Division of Cheshire, the two candidates being Mr. T. Owen Jacobsen, J.P. (Liberal), and Mr. David P, Davies (Independent). Mr. Jacobsen stands as a supporter of the Coalition Government. Mr. Davies in his election address gives as one of his principal reasons for opposing the Government his objection to the methods of the Central Control Board. Apparently the issue of this election is therefore to be fought on the " brewer's dray." The liquor control regulations made under the Defence of the Realm Act, which have been eulogized all over the country by Licensing Justices and large employers of labour, do not of course go to the full length of the course which you have been advo- cating in the Spectator, but it is alarming to record that the opposition which has now taken concrete form wishes the control to be relin- quished instead of extended. Whether the methods already adopted by the Government are the most perfect which can be instituted need not engage attention at the present critical moment. The point which all lovers of England must concentrate upon is—have the methods so far tried been successful in promoting the efficiency of labour ? The evidence that this result has been achieved in those areas under the Liquor Control Board is most convincing. The strong reasons which have been put with such forceful eloquence in the Spectator for some months past for grappling with the drink problem are so powerful that the writer hopes that many of your correspondents who have contributed to your columns will rally to the support of ?4r. Jacobsen in the forthcoming struggle in the Hyde Division. The Independent candidate in his electioneering address makes an attempt to win favour with the electorate of Hyde by reference to the liquor control regulations in the following terms : " I object to the methods of the Central Control Board in certifying that the output of munitions of Hyde is retarded through drunkenness, alcoholism, and excess. The people in Hyde are not drunkards," &c. The people of Hyde are not immune from the temptations of drink, with all its attendant vice and inefficiency, and surely it is the duty of all patriotic Englishmen to !Meek plainly at the present time by telling them and the whole country that all interests, even the interests of the Trade, with its flattering glibness and smooth-tongued assurance, must haul down their flag to that of national interest.—I am, Sir, &c.,
Previous page
