England has the same struggle that we have. The government conspiring
against the people. This article from the pen of Lady Carlisle
tells of the same vile plot the Prime Minister of England sustains, the
brewer against the people, just as Roosevelt and his crowd here:
THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE AGAINST THE LIQUOR TRADE.
(Spirited appeal by Lady Carlisle.)
Throughout the past year we have been face to face with a grave
crisis in the history of our temperance movement, but the present Session
of Parliament is the moment of our most imminent peril.
In March, 1903, the Prime Minister, surrendering to the threats
of the liquor trade, recklessly attacked the Magistrates because in the
public interest they had here and there reduced the number of licensed
houses, and he declared to the Brewer's Deputation that in so doing the
Magistrates had been guilty of "gross injustice," and that "to such
unjust confiscation of property the Government could not remain
indifferent." In April the Government supported Mr. Butcher's
Compensation Bill, and in August Mr. Balfour gave a pledge in the House
of Commons that the Government would introduce legislation "at the
earliest possible moment in the following Session," which would put an
end to the present "wide-spread feeling of insecurity on the part of
English license-holders."
Since the Prime Minister made these pronouncements, our forces
have everywhere set themselves in array to fight the impending legislation,
by which the `Trade' is to be endowed at the expense of the nation's
welfare, and is to have its privileges and its powers greatly increased.
The government, having yielded to the dictation of the Publican interest,
indicated that either the Magistrates must be hindered from exercising
their ancient power of not renewing annual licenses when in their
discretion they deem such renewal to be against the public good; or else
that some measure of compensation must be enacted, whereby this wealthy
liquor monopoly should have its huge financial profits made permanently
secure by the grant from Parliament of a vested interest in their
licenses. If after the passing of such a measure the Magistrates should,
for the protection of the people, refuse the renewal of a license, the holder
of that speculative public-house investment would be by law guaranteed
against loss. He would thus no longer need to insure himself against
the risk of non-renewal, for the State would have turned this annual
license into a freehold property. Then for the first time this dangerous
`Trade' would have obtained that fixity of tenure which it has so long
coveted, but which Parliament in its wisdom has always vigorously refused
to grant; and the nation, which has already too long suffered under the
oppression of the Liquor Traffic with its terrible licensed temptations,
would then be permanently crushed under one of the most perilous of
all the political tyrannies that ever sapped the strength and the freedom
of a great people. For these Liquor Traffickers have proclaimed cynically
their anti-social aloofness, from the ideals of good citizenship; "they
know no interest but their own," and their defiant boast is heard at all
elections, "Our Trade our Politics."
Today the people and the `Trade' have come to close quarters in
their conflict; and all Temperance workers must join with dedicated
fervour in unremitting and widespread agitation, till the danger is past.
Deep and living must be the zeal and the faith that inspire our work.
The campaign of protest and of "active resistance" has started vigorously,
and it must never slacken till victory is won. Day by day the pressure
of public opinion must increase, till the impression made on Parliament
by resolutions and petitions shall be overwhelming. The struggle against
the `Trade' and its Government backers is hard, but we must fight straight
on, for the issue is of vital importance and we should be ready to make
a determined and triumphant resistance to the Prime Minister's sinister
and unashamed attempt to sell our immemorial rights to England's
most dangerous foe, that gigantic Drink Trade, which lives and thrives
on the sorrow and degradation of our people.
The worth of our temperance party as a fighting force is once more
being tested, and I trust that we shall not be found unworthy servants
of the great cause which is in our keeping. It rests with the Temperance
stalwarts, leading the conscience of the nation, to win the day. They
fought and they won the same battle in 1888, and again in 1890, and the
achievement of those years can assuredly be repeated today, if we rightly
grip the principles that underlie our old Temperance beliefs, holding fast
to them without wavering or losing heart, and if we work ever zealously,
glowing with the cheerful faith which belongs to those who know that
Right will win in the long run, if only reformers are patiently steadfast
in their task, even when the ultimate goal is not yet in sight. We must
spend ourselves, still marching with our faces set.
ROSALIND CARLISLE,
President North of England Temperance League.
President British Women's Temperance Association.
