PROHIBITION 



6352 



PROKOP 



retain and use. The enormous 

 stocks in the hands of the distillers 

 and others which were taken over 

 by the government and retained 

 for medicinal or mechanical use 

 have largely been illegally distri- 

 buted, often with the connivance of 

 the officers in charge of them. A 

 considerable amount of smuggling 

 of spirits over the Canadian border 

 is carried on, and crude distillation 

 by private stills is on the increase. 

 The enforcement of the law is at 

 its worst in great eastern cities like 

 New York. Over very large parts 

 of the country, particularly in the 

 Middle West, however, prohibition 

 is as well enforced as any other law 

 of its kind, and it has the active 

 support of the Churches, and of a 

 considerable majority of the people. 

 Introduction in Canada 



Nearly the whole of the Domin- 

 ion of Canada has adopted prohi- 

 bition. The movement here was 

 mainly in the beginning a cam- 

 paign against the open saloon. The 

 province of Prince Edward's Island 

 abolished the liquor traffic in 

 1907, and Saskatchewan and 

 Alberta in 1915. They were fol- 

 lowed in 1916 by British Columbia, 

 Manitoba, and Nova Scotia. By 

 1917 the whole of the Dominion, 

 except the province of Quebec, had 

 abolished the open liquor traffic, 

 and in Quebec almost the whole of 

 the province, outside the city of 

 Montreal, was under prohibition 

 by local option. The provincial 

 laws, while they forbid the general 

 sale of drink, could not prevent im- 

 portation from one province to the 

 other, or manufacture for the pur- 

 pose of exportation beyond the 

 province. So the individual con- 

 sumer was able to import his 

 private stocks from other parts, 

 while the open sale in clubs, saloons, 

 or hotels was illegal. The Dominion 

 government made the law more 

 severe by enacting a war measure, 

 prohibiting for the period of the 

 war, and for twelve months after- 

 wards, the importation, manu- 

 facture, and sale, or the inter-pro- 

 vincial shipments of liquor for 

 beverage purposes into territories 

 under prohibition. 



The enforcement of the law in 

 Canada varied greatly according 

 to the districts. In most places it 

 was possible to obtain supplies of 

 spirits at high prices by permits 

 from doctors, even when the war 

 legislation was most rigid. Many 

 doctors did a large business in 

 signing these permits, usually at a 

 charge of two dollars each, and the 

 different provinces made special 

 provision for supplies required for 

 medical purposes. The law was 

 most satisfactorily enforced in 

 Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Ontario, 



and the rural parts of Alberta. In 

 British Columbia, where there was 

 strong opposition, it was enforced 

 in some districts and almost ig- 

 nored in others. Generally speak- 

 ing, public opinion, even among 

 those who themselves drank, was 

 strongly in its favour. Its most 

 active opponents declared that 

 they would never have the open 

 saloon back again ; all they asked 

 was the right of the private in- 

 dividual to secure private supplies, 

 and the legalisation of the traffic 

 in beer and light wines. The issue 

 was again submitted to the electors 

 in many cA the provinces in 1920. 

 The law was repealed in British 

 Columbia ; everywhere else it was 

 re-enacted by very large majori- 

 ties. Newfoundland carried pro- 

 hibition as a war measure in 1917, 

 but there was great opposition, and 

 in 1920 the government formulated 

 a plan for modification. 



Attempts to carry general pro- 

 hibition in Australia have not been 

 successful. Votes on national pro- 

 hibition have been repeatedly 

 taken in New Zealand since 1911, 

 but without success. In the elec- 

 tion of April, 1919, a small major- 

 ity was secured in favour, but the 

 votes of the soldiers in Europe, 

 which were subsequently counted, 

 turned the scale. 



Russian Legislation 



In Russia, the tsar at the out- 

 break of the Great War ordered that 

 all wine shops, beer saloons, and 

 government vodka shops should 

 be closed during mobilisation. In 

 September, 1914, the sale of vodka 

 and all other spirits was absolutely 

 prohibited until the end of the war, 

 and shortly afterwards the prohibi- 

 tion of the sale of vodka was made 

 permanent throughout the Russian 

 Empire. The Russian revolutionary 

 government, under Kerensky, and 

 also the Bolshevist government con- 

 tinued this policy of prohibition. 



Prohibition has made but little 

 headway in Great Britain, where, 

 however, it is the chief policy in the 

 programme of certain temperance 

 societies. Its main advocacy has 

 been from America, whose Anti- 

 Saloon League has, from time to 

 time, sent speakers to conduct a 

 campaign, as in 1919-20 (see John- 

 son, W. E.). The movement has 

 been warmly taken up in Scotland, 

 where, under the Temperance Act 

 of 1919, a poll may be taken of the 

 inhabitants of a district as to 

 whether licences be refused. This 

 measure was regarded as an instal- 

 ment of prohibition, but the polls 

 taken in 1920 showed a heavy de- 

 feat of the prohibition party. 



Prohibition. Writ by the com- 

 mon law of England, used also in 

 America and all parts of the British 



Dominions where English common 

 law prevails. By it one of the su- 

 perior courts (exchequer, common 

 pleas, and king's bench) forbade an 

 inferior court to take cognizance of 

 a case. In England the writ is 

 now, in practice, confined to cases 

 where a county court, or the 

 mayor's court, London, is assum- 

 ing jurisdiction over a cause which 

 it has no jurisdiction to try. The 

 defendant applies to the' king's 

 bench division for a writ of pro- 

 hibition, and the writ, on a prima 

 facie case being made out, grants a 

 rule nisi calling on the plaintiff to 

 show cause why the writ should not 

 issue. The case then comes on for 

 argument ; and unless the plaintiff 

 can show that the inferior court 

 has jurisdiction, the rule is made 

 absolute, and the writ is issued, 

 prohibiting the inferior court from 

 going any further -vitb the matter. 

 Projectile (Lat. pro, forth ; ja- 

 cere, to throw). Body which can 

 be projected through air or space, 

 and so can be used as a missile. The 

 term is specially applied to missiles 

 which are adapted to be discharged 

 from guns, rifles, cannon, and simi- 

 lar weapons. See Ammunition; 

 Bullet ; Grape Shot ; Incendiary 

 Bullet ; Incendiary Shell ; Shell. 



Projection. Term applied to 

 the graticules or frameworks of 

 lines of latitude and longitude upon 

 which maps are drawn, and now 

 used for any map network and not 

 restricted to those which are true 

 geometrical projections, e.g. Mer- 

 cator's and simple conic projec- 

 tions. See Map. 



Projector. In optics, any appar- 

 atus used for directing rays of 

 light, e.g. a searchlight. A magic 

 lantern is sometimes known as a 

 projector. See Searchlight. 



Prokop, ANDREW (1380-1434). 

 Bohemian monk and Hussite 

 leader. Born in Bohemia, he 

 studied in Prague, and travelled 

 extensively in Europe before be- 

 coming a monk. He joined the 

 army of Jan Ziska on the out- 

 break of the Hussite war, and after 

 Ziska's death in 1424 became 

 general of the Taborites, who under 

 his guidance won a series of vic- 

 tories over the Saxons, Germans, 

 and Austrians. In 1427 he was 

 master of Prague, and in fact of 

 Bohemia. His followers carried out 

 numerous devastating raids on 

 neighbouring states, and in 1431 

 the war was renewed, and Prokop's 

 army advanced as far as Frank- 

 fort-on-Oder. After this campaign 

 the Emperor Sigismund prepared 

 to negotiate with the Hussites. On 

 May 30, 1434, Prokop was defeated 

 at Lippau by an army raised by the 

 Bohemian aristocracy, and fell on 

 the field of battle. 



