Miss Addams was the speaker at the morning meeting of the prohibition law enforcement committee of the Chicago Woman's Club. Bishop Hughes was the main speaker at the closing session of the W.C.T.U. members from six states at the Hotel La Salle. He addressed more than 500 women who attended a luncheon meeting there yesterday afternoon.
Under the topic, "What Prohibition Has Done for Chicago," Miss Addams presented in detail the information she gathered in the Hull House district as a part of a social service survey.
Economically, the substance of her report showed, the population of her district has benefited in many ways since the adoption of the eighteenth amendment. The standard of living has gone up, and families have numerous comforts and even luxuries they would not have dreamed of possessing in the days of the saloon.
"There is always a great danger, however," she pointed out, "in attributing these radical changes to any one agency. For instance, it is hard, almost impossible, to distinguish how large a proportion of such changes did not come about through war time prosperity."
"From 1918 to 1920, people took it for granted that the law was the law, and prohibition was enforced to a much greater extent than at present. That is when we noticed the improvement in general conditions. From 1920 to 1927, however, there was a decided retrogression. It was during that period that bootlegging and hijacking developed.
"The present prohibition situation is much like that of the abolition of slavery in the south just after the civil war. Southern people did not believe slavery should be abolished and it took three generations to prove how much better off they were without it. It is quite possible it may take three generations or more to prove to this country how much better off we are without liquor."
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