Aug. 13.
The palliative for unemploy; ment in the United States which has been put forward by thei American Federation of Labour just at the time the President] vas seriously contemplating a revision of his economic philosephy, which has consistently been opposed to unemployment insurance and has favoured private terprise for the relief of public distress, assumes two premises! which are, to say the least doubtful. 'The palliative, as outlined in a despateh published on Monday, was, briefly, the revision of the prohibition' amendment, which revision, it was contended in the abbreviated report receiv-fed over the cables, would provide} the national exchequer with suff cient funds to mitigate if not completely cure the present pri vations under which a large section of the population of thei United States is labouring. ite at were simply a case of figures, there would be something to. be raid on behalf of the suggestion. For it has been conservatively! estimated that bootleggers and others concerned in the manu facture and distribution—of! liquor, in violation of the probition laws, derive an annual revenue of between two and three thousand million dollars. Even if the total of the unemployed in the United States should reach] the figure of seven million, which it is sincerely to be hoped it will rot do, the. sum of between two} and three thousand million dollars would go a. long way abolishing distress. The division of this sum among the jobless, many of whom are now dependent upon charity for the very bread which preserves their life, would mean an income of between $285 and $430 per annum for each man, without taking into! consideration the saving to the ations. exchequer of the vast amounts spent "pon prohibition enforcement end preventive! services, which eve at present a burden upon the tax payer and upon: revenue producing industry. On the face of it, there fore, the provosai appears to be eminently sound, But the problem is not so simple as that. Ignoring the fact that prohibition has never Jain far beneath the surface of American polities and its effects upon the presidential nominations of next year, the revision of the 18th Amendment or the abolition of the Volstead Act would create a fresh set of' problems) almost a8 grave as those of prohibition itself. Tt should te remembered that the social system of the United States has been adapting itself to the facts of; prohibition: The most visible. part of this adaptation has been seen in the. growth of lawlessness and a contempt for the spirit of the law which has had its ex: treme manifestations in the gangs, of the larger cities and. the cor-
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.