He suggested that the Government ought to consult the organized
Labour of the country, and ask working men to decide for them- selves by a plebiscite whether the present consumption of beer was necessary. The situation as to brea.dstuffs was much too perilous to admit of a policy of continually postponing a decision. The Government, he added, before making their appeal to Labour, should give tokens of their good faith by stopping horse-racing and by -promising that the further reduction or the prohibition of beer —as the case might be—should be met by a similar treatment of other intoxicating drink. Mr. Clynes, we are sorry to say, in his answer for the Government, openly adopted the policy that we have- had continually to attribute to Labour leaders without ever before, having been quite so sure of our facts. He said that in his opinion the suppression of vodka in Russia had failed to strengthen. the country either militarily or morally. Indeed,. " the suppression had accounted in some measure for the discontent which produced revolution." He- read letters to show that working-class opinion in the North of England was strongly opposed to prohibition. He added, however, that if the point were reached when we must choose between_bread and beer, he could no longer cling to his argument.
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