It is really part of the movement instituted by the
Government at the beginning of the war to curtail liquor consumption.
One phase is devoted to Anti-Treating, which makes it impossible to buy
any one a drink in England. This was followed by a drastic restriction
of drinking hours in all public places where alcohol is served. Liquors
may only be obtained now between the hours of 12 noon and 2:30 in the
afternoon and from 6 to 9:30 at night. As a matter of fact, the only
tipple that you can get at supper after the play, even in the smartest
London hotels, is a fruit cup, which is a highly sterilised concoction.
The War Savings Committee has borne down hard on the drinking evil and
England's enormous yearly outlay for liquor--nearly a billion
dollars--is used as a telling argument for thrift. A poster and a
pamphlet that you see on all sides is headed, "THE NATION'S DRINK BILL,"
and reads:
"The National War Savings Committee calls attention to the fact that the
sum now being spent by the Nation on alcoholic liquors is estimated at
L182,000,000 a year.
"And appeals earnestly for an immediate and substantial reduction of
this expenditure in view of the urgent and increasing need for economy
in all departments of the Nation's life.
"Obviously, in the present national emergency a daily expenditure of
practically L500,000 on spirits, wine and beer cannot be justified on
the ground of necessity.
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