sing a song of montreal,

a barrel full of rye;

four-and-twenty yankees

feeling rather dry;

when the barrel was opened

they all began to sing,

“oh, to hell with mr. volstead—

and god save the king!”

the dominion of canada has solved its liquor problem, for the most part. it is interesting to note that in those provinces which are technically dry, a wretched state of things exists, as in the united states; and those provinces which have government control are well ordered. for instance, nova scotia has absolute prohibition. i went there in may and june, 1922, and, as in the states, i never lacked for a drink when i desired one. practically every chemist is a bootlegger.

to show you how badly the system works, let me tell of a personal experience. i found myself one week-end in a little village which shall be nameless. i inquired of the inn-keeper if it would be possible to obtain a bottle of whiskey. “certainly,” he said. “simply go to the drug-store, tell him you are a151 guest of mine, and i think you will have no difficulty in getting a good brand.”

i was surprised, to say the least. it chanced to be a sunday morning. the church bells were ringing, and as i got to the door of the shop, the druggist was just leaving it—he lived above it, i believe—for morning service. i told him my errand; and immediately, without the slightest hesitation, he opened the door, took me in, and sold me what i wished. he hadn’t the slightest idea who i was; yet perhaps it was evident that i was an american traveler. no questions were asked, and openly i carried my bottle through the streets back to the inn.

in new brunswick i obtained ale openly in a hotel; and the waitress told me that almost on every other corner of the city in which i was stopping, a bootlegger could be found; and if i made my wishes known there would be no difficulty in purchasing anything i wanted. as it happened, i wished nothing there; but it was good to know that it could have been bought any time of the day or evening.

but in the province of quebec and in british columbia quite another state of affairs will be found. the government controls the liquor trade, and guarantees the quality of the alcohol sold. neat little government liquor stores, as they are called, are in every city and town, and a vendor has charge of each one—a regular government employee who is “responsible for the carrying-out of the government liquor act and the regulations so far as they152 relate to the conduct of the store and the sale of liquor thereat.”

everything is done in a most orderly and systematic way. if one wishes to purchase whiskey, he merely applies to the vendor in his neighborhood. a small fee is charged; and it is a gratification to know that this fee goes directly to one’s government, and not into the pockets of bootleggers. supplies are delivered in sealed packages, duly inscribed; and again it is a gratification to know that one is in no danger of drinking poison, with the added fear of death or blindness.

there are restrictions—a great many, indeed; but they are wise and for the best interests of the province. for instance, it is against the law to drink in the government stores; but one may, of course, in an inn have a supply of liquor in one’s room, or drink light wines and beer in the public dining-room. drunkenness is taboo, and one sees very little of it. the people are prosperous, and everyone is as happy as one can be in this troubled world. canada had enormous war debts. i was told that british columbia had paid her quota, and in addition had made many improvements of public highways—all through the revenue derived from the government’s sale of liquor.

in british columbia, great care is exercised that no spurious permits are received at the stores. the law provides that “no permit shall be delivered to the applicant until he has, in the presence of the153 vendor or official to whom the application is made, written his signature thereon in the manner prescribed, for purposes of his identification as the holder thereof, and the signature has been attested by the vendor or official under his hand.”

permits are not issued to corporations, associations, societies or partnerships. therefore the opportunities for fraud are diminished. and on polling days all the stores are closed. in pre-volstead times in the united states the law distinctly said that our saloons should remain closed on election day in many of the big cities; yet was this regulation—a very wise one—ever enforced? that is one reason why we have prohibition today—we simply would not obey even those moderate and salutary laws enacted for the welfare of the community. the saloon-keeper paid not the slightest heed to them; in fact, he scoffed at them; and that is why he has no sympathy from the rest of us, now that his foul places are gone forever.

one would not be so foolish as to assert that a state of perfection has been reached in the government-controlled provinces. bootlegging goes on—but principally because this country is dry. if the states were also under government control in the matter of the liquor traffic, there would be no temptation to transport stuff illicitly over the border. i imagine that the canadians are quite as guilty as the americans when it comes to these secret transactions; for if it takes two to make a quarrel, it is154 equally true that it takes two to consummate a sale of any kind. there would be a cleaner slate if we had the common sense to do as, say, quebec has done. there are no swinging-door saloons; but there are tidy shops where one is not ashamed to go. no one is drinking on the sly, pretending to be consuming coffee out of a cup which really contains a high-ball. “in vino demi-tasse” is not the motto of canada, as it is that of the united states.

it is significant to note that in british columbia, when that province was completely dry—even without beer—141,057 prescriptions for liquor were issued; yet in the fiscal year which ended march 31, 1922, only 6,568 prescriptions were issued.

and while our own government continues to ask for mighty appropriations for the enforcement of prohibition, the reports from the province of quebec state that for the fiscal year ending in june, 1922, a profit of $4,000,000 was realized, and that the regulations have proved quite as successful morally as financially.

can we say that, in the matter of morals, the volstead act has worked advantageously? it has undermined the whole country; and under fanaticism, we have shown ourselves to be a total failure. the new york world says:

“the quebec law is a good law because it has city and country solidly behind it and it can be enforced. it provides for local option, it restricts the purchase of spirits, it allows the sale of wine and beer in cafés and it creates no155 enforcement problem. it affects every legitimate reform advocated by the professional prohibitionists of the united states, but quietly, sensibly, profitably and without friction.”

if we could but come to the sanity of canada, in her government-controlled provinces!