f the truth.

I

In the United States of America and in Canada there are one hundred and
twenty millions who speak our language, whose religion is also ours,
who are the most intelligent and hard-headed people on the face of the
earth, yet if one were to believe what the Press of this country says,
one would be driven to the conclusion that they are poor foolish
idealists who have said farewell to their senses. And that because the
Press serves the public with doctored news. One day we are told how a
hundred thousand New Yorkers are to march in procession through the
streets demanding the return of their alcoholic drinks. The columns
are full of the preparations for the greatest uprising of the oppressed
and parched citizens. The great day comes and the procession is a
fiasco. But the syndicated Press omit to record that only a miserable
handful paraded the streets, the offscourings of the city's purlieus,
amid the derision of the onlookers. We are later informed under great
headlines that the American Medical Association or some such society
has called for the annulling of the Prohibition Law. We feel that the
climate is bound to become wet again, for the doctors demand it. But
we soon learn that this particular association of doctors is a mere
fragment of a noble profession--a fragment separate from the American
Association which corresponds to the British Medical Association. But
the syndicated Press does not record that fact. The Press that
distorts events after that manner can only flourish among a generation
that desires not the truth.

II

There is nothing more to be desired than that the people of Great
Britain should acquaint themselves with the facts regarding the
greatest social advance ever made by humanity in a generation. Can it
be the case that the millions of America committed an act of social
folly when they outlawed the liquor traffic and closed the saloons, and
that, awakening from their dream, they are to restore the traffic in
alcohol and the saloon once more? That is the impression that a
spoon-fed Press seeks to create. Can it be true?

To answer that question we must ascertain first whether the prohibition
of the sale and manufacture of alcohol in the States was an act of
panic legislation, the result of a snap vote, the effect of a passing
enthusiasm or a fanaticism that was triumphant for a moment? If it be
of that order, then it may be expected to be cast aside by a wea