LETTERS TO THE EDITOR. • [Letters of the length of
one of our leading paragraphs are often more read, and therefore more effective, than those which fill treble the space.] --- NATIONALIZATION AND TICE LIQUOR TRADE. CTo THE EDITOR Or THE " SPECTATOR."3 SIR,—The Spectator is to be congratulated on its firm stand on the question of the nationalization of the Liquor Trade. It is clear that we are on the eve of great developments, as the present situation with regard to the Drink Trade cannot pos- sibly eontinue, and the enlightened public will demand a drastic treatment of this important social problem. Reversion to pre- war arrangements is unthinkable. Two alternative proposals hold the field—Prohibition and Public Ownership. Now, what- ever may be said for Prohibition, it can only become a prac- ticable policy when it has won over a majority of the electorate. The Secretary of the National Prohibition Party will probably concede the impossibility of realizing Prohibition without the support of public opinion. Can such a concession be expected within a reasonable time? The experience of America is no safe guide for prophecy in this country. The United Kingdom Alliance and the more thoroughgoing National Prohibition Panty have not as yet made an appreciable impression on public opinion, and there is no reason to believe that their efforts will be suddenly and rapidly successful in the immediate future.
Are we therefore to leave the Drink Trade in private hands, with all the evils attendant upon a State-created private mono- poly, until some distant time, forgoing the opportunity which now lies to our hands of bringing the Liquor Trade under full control and revolutionizing its organization and methods? Surely all reasonable people will agree that a policy of national- ization is as sound as it is immediately practicable.
The Labour Movement has fully accepted the public owner- ship and control of the Drink Trade, and the Labour Campaign which is being conducted by an ad hoc Committee of Labour people will during the coming months devote itself to consoli- dating Labour opinion. I trust that other sections of the com- munity will endeavour to gain support for our policy.—I am, Chairman, Executive Committee of the Labour Campaign for the Public Ownership and Control of the Liquor Trade.
45 Mecklenburgh Square, W.C. 1.
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