PROHIBITION AND CRIME
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sia,—No cause receives permanent benefit by exaggerated statements, and the cause of Prohibition will not be advanced by such letters as that which appeared in your issue of August 8th from the pen of the Rev. J. T. Rhys. This gen- tleman, referring to Prohibition in America, sets out what he considers the most noteworthy of the immense advantages which he alleges have followed the abolition of the legalized sale of drink. One of these, he says, is the closing of nearly " 2,000 prisons." This on the face sounds splendid, but does it mean a diminution in crime and a reduction in the number of prisoners ? The Anti-Saloon in its Year-Book for 1925 gives some interesting figures showing arrests for all offences during the years 1913 to 1923 in 300 cities of the U.S.A. The grand totals read as follows :—
1913 .. 1,639,637 1918 1,793,731 1914 .. 1,706,781
1919 ..
.. 1,661,795 1915 .. 1,746,731 1920 1,668,988 1916 .. 1,806,824 1921 1,942,118 1917 .. 1,888,403
1922
. 2,142,876
1923 .. 2,407,756
Prohibition, I would remind your readers, came into effect early in 1920, and since that time arrests for all causes have increased. Probably a large proportion of this increase may be attributed to arrests for non-serious crime, but even allowing for this, it looks as though Mr. Rhys has been mis-
informed.—I am. Sir, &c., A. W. SIMONS. 27 Meads Road, Wood Green, N. 22.
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