Books: Drink

Not drunk is he who from the floor Can rise again and stitt drink more, But drunk is he who prostrate lies Without the power to drink or rise.

PROHIBITION AT ITS WORST— Irving Fisher—Macmillan ($1.75). With the zeal of a trumpeting reformer and the statistical finality of an economics professor, Irving Fisher of Yale has produced a monograph to show that Prohibition at its worst is good. There is everything in the book from little sermons on the evils of alcohol to a concise history of Prohibition in the U. S. Professor Fisher is a veritable Gene Tunney to the wet. First, he twists the ear of the doubting reader with such statements as "The use of liquor is no more natural than the use of opium," and then he lays the doubter flat with 38 impressive charts charting the wonders the 18th Amendment has wrought. All evils—new recruits for the army of drunkards, per capita consumption of alcohol, juvenile delinquency, crimes against chastity, arrests in disorderly houses, profanity, deaths and insanity due to alcoholism—have decreased since Jan. 17, 1920, one of them as much as 97%.

Professor Fisher dismisses Wet statisticians, saying that they need training. Then he proceeds to his main argument: Prohibition is working, cannot be thrown aside, can be made to work better. Important points: 1) "A great net good is being realized, including over six billion dollars a year in cold cash values." (Half due to increased earning-power due to sobriety, half due to savings not dissipated in drink.)

2) "Real personal liberty, the liberty to live and enjoy the full use of pur faculties, is increased by Prohibition."

3) "Light wines and beer cannot be legalized without another Constitutional Amendment."

4) No such Amendment can be passed, because only 13 states would be needed to block it, and there are many more than 13 Dry states.

5) "All that the Wets can possibly accomplish is laxity of enforcement or nullification. . . ."

6) The solution lies in fuller enforcement. This can be accomplished by deporting all alien bootleggers who are caught, and by educating the public.