MORE BEER.
[To run EDITOR or TILE " SPECTATOR.") Sin,—In your article under the above heading iu the Spectator of October 13th you say .—
" They [the Government) urge us upon every platform, through every newspaper, and in innumerable publications to exercise economy, and to save every ounce of food we can do without, if we want to make sure of beating the Germane, but the word 'beer' or ' alcohol' is never mentioned. We are told to economiz, in meat, in milk, in cheese, in butter, in bacon, in sausages, in dog-biscuit, in petrol, and in hundreds of other things, bat one word is always missing. About beer or alcohol there is a complete and most successful conspiracy of silence."
If it is true that "actions speak louder than words," then the Government, far from engaging in a " conspiracy of silence," have urged us in the loudest and most effective way to exercise economy in the consumption of beer and alcohol. They have so reduced the quantity of beer allowed to be brewed that frequently it cannot be obtained, and the price is almost prohibitive; and they have reduced the deliveries of wines and spirits from bond for home consumption to fifty per cent. of the quantities delivered in the year 1916. Total prohibition during the war may or may sot he feasible. I have imposed it on myself mainly because, thanks to the Government, I can't afford alcohol now. You have been my "guide, philosopher, and friend " for about thirty years. I spend nearly every Saturday evening with you, and I have to Omsk you for many happy hours, and I don't like to see you departing from your usual high standard of fairness in argument.—I am, Sir, de,
T. N. S.
[We freely admit the great value of the restrictions. But the Government tell us that we cannot afford to waste any food. and it cannot be disputed that the brewing of beer waste, both barley and sugar. The food valises that remain in beer aso found in a highly reduced form. "Bread versos Beer" is a summarized statement of the issue before the nation. Why should not the man who drinks beer be requested to ration him- self to a corresponding further degree in his consumption of bread P If he consumes food in both forms without protest he is surely being accorded a position of privilege.—En. Spectator.]
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