200 DOLLAR PRIZE ON PROHIBITION

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3360, 28 October 1911, Page 2

200 DOLLAR PRIZE ON PROHIBITION

WON BY A.BUFFALO LADY

(From the “Cosmopolitan Magazine.”)

“I am the mother of five boys, all grown, all temperate, and in every way a comfort and a reward to their father and their mother.

“I believe that the questions of Temperance and Prohibition are interesting to the mothers of men, especially, and that the mother of five temperate, honost, earnest young men may properly express an opinion in a matter so important to the world. “The main thought that I have had in mind in the bringing up of my boys is expressed more than once in your brief article:

“ ‘Shall men rely on their strength of character, or shall they put upon themselves a straight-jacket to make up for their lack of character, and for ever dispense with the exercise of will ?’

“And again: ’’The aim of civilisation is to make men better and stronger by the exercise of will power, not by imposing arbitrary rules upon them. Temperance is civilisation and intelligence. Prohibition is tyranny.’ ‘‘l share with all mothers a horror of intemperance, a hatred and loathing for the drunkenness that has ruined so many homes and destroyed so many hoys. I believe that you are right, and that the salvation of men is to be found in the strengthening of their will, and that you cannot substitute for willpower on the individual coercion from without.

“I have brought up my boys remembering constantly that I must leave them, and that any exercise of willpower could only lie temporary. I have had in mind, as 1 believe all mothers and all makers of laws should have in mind,a the fact that success and good living must come from within. Outside influences may encourage and develop temperance and strength of will; they cannot force those qualities upon mankind or unon the individual.

“I do not suppose that any American mother ever failed to impress upon her sons the danger of strong drink; and I believe that over and over again the greatest mistake has been made in trying to keep children in ignorance, thus exposing them to sudden outside temptation “Boys must grow up in the world as it is. They must meet the world s temptations. Ignorance of life or a childish promise made to a mother is a poor weapon when that mother is gone. “Knowledge, temperance, self-control, based upon good example and thorough understanding of the world —those tilings produce the strong, balanced man. Hysterical exaggeration, coercion in place of argument, mysterious dread that arouses curiosity—such are the beginnings of many a drunkard’s career. “’Temperance and not Prohibition would solve the drink question in America. Drunkenness has diminished where Prohibition has not been known, and drunkenness has increased where Prohibition has vainly sought to make it imnossible. “T ‘ believe that Government should deal with the citizens as a wise father deals with his children, teaching them, warning them, making the indulgence of normal, temperate appetites easy, coercing never : struggling to build up inside of the individual a will-power that shall save him. “No paternal severity will keep a boy temperate when his father is dead, and no strait-jacket legislation will keep the individual temperate against the individual's will. In temperance the law works with the individual. In Prohibition the individual' will works against the law. 33ie law is made contemptible, and drunkenness is increased, not diminished.***