KLETTERS IN wEsrf-t

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N CANADA

_ Phosphor

MAYORS or TOWNS ,

halve. their Opinion as to the Success of Government Control when Compared with the Prohibition I it ’ a _ Law Previously in .F‘orce

I , The following letters have recently been

received b C ntrol. » h, ment 0

Of course. U19 Dmposals for Government Control which Premier Stewart has submitted for the a ol Acts adopted in Canada were l

[ion in any of the Western Provinces. The earlier Government Com-m by the experience of the other Provinces which have had it in operation for some time.

Very soon after the announcement was made that a Government Control Law, wrote a personal letter to the mayors of a considerable number of smaller towns, lar

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"In Ihix [Wuriurr ]'l't'/l(lf'(lli0ll_\‘ urn Iwiuy nun/e for on r/rr/iuu (amplify/u iu ‘IU/Lfph 1]“. p,,',,,-,'p,,1,',~_,-m- i; [flay/y m Iir (iorvrunlrril Cunlrol of ilielsulc of liquor.

"l would r/rr_vgrrri!l_va/iprvrialirrcrcizfing your u/vinivu as In 1hr .l'H(.'l'(‘.\‘.\' of (izwrrruurnl Control in your Ion-In uml Iflwniiinn‘ us rmu/ulrra’ will! Hm Praliibiiiun Lap! flh":riuu_rli' in form:

' "Yours fuilhfirlli’, (Sgd.) "I\’()BIZR'I‘ 1.. COTTON."

If there is any one man in a town or city who should be able to give an authoritative opinion in respect to the conditions in that town it surely is the Mayor—tlie man whom a majority of the citi- zens by their votes have chosen to be the head of their municipal government.

Mr. Cotton received a large number of replies to his letters.

And the unanimity with which the Mayors of these Western Towns and Cities—big and llttle— expressed their opinion as to the improvement which has resulted since the adoption of even those experimental forms of Government Control which have been adopted by the Western Provinces, is surprising. ‘ ‘

Mr. Cotton had letters from the Mayors of the great cities of the West-Winnipeg and Vancouver 490th of whpm favor Government Control and both of whom in their letters give their ideas as to improvements which might be made in the Control Acts of their Provinces, from which still better re- sults might be expected. In concluding his letter Mayor Taylor, of Vancouver, ‘says: “I know our Prohibition friends strenuously object to anything but straight prohibition legislation, but from my

observations in the West conditions are much worse when under Prohibition than under Government Control.” ' '

But we here, are not so much interested in the opinions of the Mayors of the great cities — the

. populations of" which are far greater than that of the whole of the Province of Prince Edward Island.

The opinions of the Mayors of the smaller cities and towns-—the marketing centres of the Western

iarming communities where conditions are quite similar to our own——interest us much more and it iiaome of these that Mr. Cotton readover the radio and which are published herewith.

There of course will be some who will question the authenticity of the letters-stud who will say

" "that they have been “doctored.” Mr. Cotton will be v/ery glad to show the original letters to any who ‘ would like to see them.

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~ l-Iigli River, Alberta, May 4th,’1927. Robert L. Cotton, Esq., . .

Charlottetown, P. E. Island. Dear Sir: , » .

_ In answer to your letter in regard to the working of Government Control of the liquor system of Alberta, would say: First, I am not a drinking man. Second, I do not know of any good that can be said of the liquorfbusiness. But we find our present system working much more satisfactorily than our so-called Prohibition did. There is less drunlcenness to be seen and the consumption of hard liquor has decreased. We have driven the bootlegger out of business and created a greater respect for the law. Ihave lived hereunder the old liquor law, under Prohibition, and under our present

system, and have no hesitation in saying that the present Alberta law is the best of the three sys- tems we have seen her . '

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Yours truly, (Sgd.) W. GEO. YOUNG, Mayor of High River.

Klndersley, Sask., May 3rd, 1927. Robert L. Cotton, Esq., Charlottetown, P. E. Island. Dear Sir: ‘

I received your letter of the 26th ‘ult.

My opinion, and that of many others who are not prejudiced, is that Government Control of Liquor in this Province and the different towns, is far more successful and gives greater satisfaction l° the public than the Prohibition Law previously in force. _

Ifind in my capacity as a Justice of the Peace that we have under the Liquor Act less than half the cases we had under Prohibition. Under Proh ibition we had secret drinking by people that in the ordinary way wgrg cgnsldered respectable, also more young people were drinking ‘because they seemed to think 11-, smart to do so. Under our re sent Act we have practically eliminated the boot- lesser. This alone should,'in my mind, be su cient to recommend Government Control.

/ Yours truly, ~ ' ~ (Sgd.) G. R. B. FRERE, Mayor.

R b i Kamsack, Safiko ME? 4th. 1927 0 ert L. Cotto , Ills ., _ ‘ .~ .- - D cnsonotteeelén}. m. reuse. . , , . . , ear irz, . . ‘f, v, »_-. -" ' , Replying to our letter of April 26th inst, re‘ Government Control of the sale of liquor. Whflg my Liquor Ac; may not be 100 per cent. perfect. yet I believe it is the most lid

guccessftilholltrbl- "o: that we have had yet. It has practically put a stop to the making of home rew. - T. A -- s ' A

, v ,. Y it'll, ~ " l‘ " E _ ' “ our? my (Sgd.) W. M. JACKETT, Mayor.

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R b L , Red Deer, Alberta. Mail 2nd. 1937- ' . o 9ft '0 0013011,. Hllqz, ' . .

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y Mr. Robert Cotton from the Mayors of vari ous towns and cities in Western Canada where they have had experience of both Prohibition and Gov-

argely experimental and the Provinces more lately adopting Government Control are able to benefit '1

We in Prince Edward Island should get a better Government Control Act than has been enacted in ‘any of the other Province

as opposed to, theso-called Prohibition Law would be the outstandin ger- towns and cities of the four Western Provinces as follows :—

Government Control has been a first clas move in our Province.

pproval of the people of Prince Edward Island are much more strict than the Control Acts in opera--

s, and we should also get better results from the enforcement of the Act. g issue in our Provincial Election, Mr. Cotton

II lt, S k., M h, . Robert L. Cotton, Esq., umbo as ay 4t 1927

Charlottetown, P. E. Island. Dear Sir:

Yours of the 26th ult. to hand and note contents. In our case Government Control has done wood ers for us here. We used to be pestered to death with bootleggers peddling home-brew. The Royal Mounted Police used to have several convictions per month re the inland revenue. Let alone the fellows that got away with it. fiince Government Control this all has disappeared as if by magic. For a fact we have had only one person charged with making home-brew in the last eighteen months.

Another phase is this. Formerly we used to have many drunken people to deal with. The brew- ers would take a jug to town and would dispose of same in the different livery stables, garages, and our police were kept quite busy gathering them in. Now people who feel inclined to buy anything, go to the Government Store, get their package and go home, and that is the last of it. In my opinion

Yours truly, (Sgd.) A. J. KRUSE, Mayor.

jp , Rosthern, Sask, May 3rd, 1927. Robert L. Cotton, Esq.,

Charlottetown, P. E. Island. Dear Sir: _ - q I am in receipt of your letter of April 26th, with reference to the success of the Gcveruineru Liquor Control in this Province as compared with. the Prohibition Law previously in force. I" am pleased to state that under Government Control there is neither the drunkenness or the breaking of the laws which existed under Prohibition. ' _ , Our community is made up largely of settlers from the European countries, and under Prohibi- tion the manufacture ofhome-brew was carried on very extensively, and while this has no 1g}. been stamped out, I think I am "safe in saylngthat there is not one still iii-use to every five whic "operate: iiiliproliibitiorrdays, and I believe that this number will gradually be decreased. . While I am strongly in favor of Prohibition personally, I have seen enough to satisfy myself that“ it is impossible, and I believe that the next best remedy is Government Control of the Liquor Traflic. Yours truly, i (Sgd.) GEO. BROWN, Mayor.

Indian Head, Sask., May 3rd, 1927. A i Robert L. Cotton, Esq., '

. Charlottetown, P. E. Island. Dear Sir: . ’ Re yours of the 26th, to our Mayor. A His Worship has instructed me to write you saying that in his opinion the system new in vosu namely, Government Control, is much better in every Way when 001111181811 with the PPOIIHIMOII Law, which we had had previously. * Yours truly, _ (Sgd.) JOHN LAW, Town Clerk.‘

' Coleman, Alberta, May 3rd,1927. - Robert L. Cotton, Esq., -

. Charlottetown, P. E. Island. _ Dear Sir: _ . Your letter of April 26th, was handed over to me by the Mayor. who asked me to reply. In my opinion the Government Liquor Control Act 0i.’ Alberta has proved a success beyond any doubt. and I think I am in a position to know, as I have been Chief of Police in Coleman for thepast eight years. and went all through the Prohibition days. There is not half the drunkenness with the Government _ Control, and if a person wants a bottle of liquor he can go to the Government Vendors and get tho . ' real stuff for half the price he paid for the bootleg whiskey. Prohibition was a complete failure in Alberta just as it is in the States.

It is a thing impossible to enforce. _ '

Yours truly, a (Sgd.) J. HOUGHTON, Chief 0f P011000

Watrous, Sask., May 4th, 1927'. Robert L. Cotton, Esq.,

Charlottetown, P. E. Island. , Dear Sir: - In my opinion the Government Control of the sale of liquor in the Province of Saskatchewan is better than the Prohibition Law. previously in force. - In Saskatchewan the Province is divided into districts and the people in each district have th right by vote to say whether or not a liquor store may be located in that district. - In this town there is no liquor store, so I can not 91W‘ 11111611 about that 811d 0! it- ‘ Yours truly, » ' " _ . ' ‘ A - (Sgd.) C. V. MACKIE; Town Clerk.

* Hanna, Alberta, May 4th, 1927. Robert L. Cotton, Es ., . . _ C Charlottetown, . Ftjlsland. Dear Sir: _ ~ _ ~ W . " Yours of thellmi inst, re the working of the Alberta liquor Law, to hand and noted. 1\l'_\" opur . .1 ion 1511131; it lg the best L; um- Law in the 130mm ion. Home~hrew bootlegging is absolutely cut out. Und the former so-calledqProhibltion Law there was not a week but we would hear _of three or four boo, , mars in town ped Since our" present law I‘ have not heard off}. boo, ‘gger-bellig in our town. few glasses of beer seems to satisfy the liquor thirst of most iléqfilsmll when they can get that openly they do not buy bottle o! hard stuff and get drunk on it; ‘ oath"; a clipping which appedsgl in today's Calgary eraldiwhich showsyou what-incline people think of it; 0f course, profs C no! prohlbltlonlsts find fault with it, but lt-isthe consensus-of opinion of most people in Album. that it ls working well. \ ~ ~~ -' ; ._ :_ r ~Yourstmly, V = . .1, h ______________,_l G. R. Mil-fin}

their wares.

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