The chief obstacle to prohibition, as we point out elsewhere,
is not the temporary interference with individual liberty. It is the difficulty of how to deal with the great trade and industry which will be rendered partially or temporarily derelict by prohibition. But here "boldness, boldness, and again baldness" is the only possible solution. We must begin by accepting fully and unreservedly the need for prohibition. That once established, we can proceed to deal as generously 88 may be with the commercial and financial problems involved. Here, again, courage will be our best aid. We must never forget that the cutting off of expenditure upon liquor will very soon greatly increase our financial resources, not merely from indirect saving, but from the greater all- round efficiency which will come from an undrugged nation. No doubt it may be difficult to find means of tapping that increased wealth from the point of view of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but it will be there and rapidly fructifying. If we adopt total prohibition during the war, we should not be surprised if in eight or nine months' time the Chancellor of the Exchequer were to be found telling us that while speeding up the manufacture of shells he discovered a gold mine.
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