The licensed trade : an independent survey / by Edwin A. Pratt.

  • Pratt, Edwin A., 1854-1922.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The licensed trade : an independent survey / by Edwin A. Pratt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    and sober. But I hold that freedom and justice are greater far than even temperance and sobriety. Our forefathers were heavy drinkers, but they were sturdy fighters for freedom. They bequeathed us, not only bodies that are none the worse, physically, because they themselves loved strong ale, but a freedom which we shall either curtail or abuse if we say that, because a small proportion of the community suffer from the effects of an undue consumption of alcoholic drinks, therefore the rest of the nation shall be compelled to abstain therefrom. No less sturdily did our forefathers fight for justice. They fought against the despotism of Kings, and they struggled valiantly against the oppres- sion of Governments; but they did not fight and struggle in order that the powers of despotism and oppression should pass into the hands of groups of citizens known as ‘the majority,’ who, under the shadow of so-called licensing reforms, were to make use of their own liberty to inflict a great injustice on their neighbours. Can it be that we have escaped the tyranny of rulers only to become subject to the tyranny of the ruled ? The whole matter, therefore, must be looked at from a broader point of view than is taken by the average writer or speaker from the ordinary ‘temperance’—that is, teetotal—standpoint. Is total suppression prac- ticable ? Is not a body of traders, carrying on their business under the express sanction of the law, and contributing more largely than any other body to the finances of the country, entitled to a greater degree of consideration than teetotal extremists are willing to extend to them ? Is further interference with the licensing laws really called for ? Would renewed attacks on the liberty of the subject be justifiable ? Questions of this kind seem to me to remove the