--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Tanner, E. Pingree collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 19 number: 12 published: 1916-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'E. Pingree Tanner, "Prohibition in Canada," *Improvement Era* 19, no. 12 (October 1916): 1100.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1912unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1912unse start_page: 1100 end_page: 1100 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1916-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1912unse publication_year: 1916 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1916, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Prohibition in Canada Prohibition in Canada I'.V E. PINGREE TANNER July 1, 1916, marked the beginning of a new era in the history of Alberta, from a moral standpoint, at least the night pre- ; vious, at ten o'clock, every bar in the Province was closed permanently, and the right to traffic in the liquor trade, passed from the individual to the Government, which operates only two dispensaries, located at Calgary and Edmondton. This splendid condition was brought about through the energetic efforts of the Alberta Temperance and Moral Reform League, after spending thousands of dollars in getting the required number of signatures attached to a petition, to the Provincial Government. The legislators at Edmondton immediately passed what is known as the Liquor Act, which was referred to the people for their approval or rejection. A heated contest at the polls followed, and all the liquor interests made a frantic endeavor to sustain their ill-begotten business an overwhelming de- ; feat was meted out to them, the majority of the people realizing that through the proper exercise of their suffrage a deadly blowcould be delivered to the monstrous demon. The Liquor Act, while not entirely prohibitory, has such powers for the curtailment of rum, that it is impossible to obtain intoxicants unless shipped in from outside the Province. During the month of July, the first month that the Act went into effect, not a single arrest for drunkenness was recorded in the city of Lethbridge, with its 12,000 population although previous to this each day brought its usual quota of drunks before the police magistrate. Business men, especially owners of clothing stores, testify of greatly increased sales, one instance is recorded of where a man, not being able to purchase intoxicants with his pay check, went to a clothing store with his family and outfitted them entirely with needed clothing. The Latter-day Saints in Alberta are watching with keen interest the great awakening that is taking place in regard to prohibition in LTtah, and believe that the pledging of the prospective law makers, to sustain the people's wants will be the means of striking at the root of the tree, and that our Mother State, will be relieved of being the dumping ground of criminals, through no longer countenancing the saloon with its attendant evil elements. MAGRATH, CANADA