further to emphasize the monstrosity of the Prohibition that has been
imposed upon our country. Of these perhaps the most important one is
the way in which the law operates so as to be effective against the
poor, and comparatively impotent against the rich. But this and other
points have been so abundantly brought before the public in connection
with the news of the day that it seemed hardly necessary to dwell upon
them. My object has been rather to direct attention to a few broad
considerations, less generally thought of. The objection that applies
to sumptuary laws in general has tenfold force in the case of National
Prohibition riveted down by the Constitution, and imposed upon the
whole nation by particular sections and by particular elements of the
population. A question of profound interest in connection with this
aspect of Prohibition demands a few words of discussion. It has been
asserted with great confidence, and denied with equal positiveness,
that Prohibition has had the effect of very greatly increasing the
addiction to narcotic drugs. I confess my inability to decide, from
any data that have come to my attention, which of these contradictory
assertions is true. But it is not denied by anybody, I believe, that,
whether Prohibition has anything to do with the case or not, the use
of narcotic drugs in this country is several times greater per capita
than it is in any of the countries of Europe--six or seven times as
great as in most. Why this should be so, it is perhaps not easy to
determine. The causes may be many. But I submit that it is at least
highly probable that one very great cause of this extraordinary and
deplorable state of things is the atmosphere of reprobation which in
America has so long surrounded the practice of moderate drinking. Any
resort whatever to alcoholic drinks being held by so large a
proportion of the persons who are most influential in religious and
educational circles to be sinful and incompatible with the best
character, it is almost inevitable that, in thousands of cases,