136 Community

As the Village moved into the new century, there was still no provision for the sick, the disabled or the very poor except the hand of charity. It is difficult to imagine the extent of the suffering and misery in some Souris families. The early death of a parent from a disease such as tuberculosis, then very prevalent, or a disabling accident to the father sometimes meant that for years into the future the rest of the family suffered deprivation, misery and a feeling of inferiority. It would take fifty years before a fair share of responsibility for the less fortunate would be taken by the general public through taxation for social benefits and welfare.

There was another source of distress and misery ready to afflict any family, rich or poor, and that had been there for many centuries, namely alcohol. To those who had a license to sell liquor in the early days, it was just another profitable commodity in their store, tavern or hotel. It was sold by the pint, quart, gallon or by the glass from a tap on a cask. Some of the early licenses were issued to L. and A. Cambridge Tavern, New Bristol, 1825; Shattuck and McKay Company, 1836; and John Coughlan, 1835.110

In 1878, Senator R.W. Scott brought in the Canadian Temperance Act, the first measure of the Federal Government to control the sale and use of alcohol. It passed the same year and became known as the Scott Act. It provided total prohibition on liquor sales in any area of the country (except for medicinal use) on the decision of its inhabitants. In June, 1901, Prince Edward Island became the first province to adopt the Scott Act. It was the last to repeal it. That was in 1948.

The Act made little difference, according to the Examiner of September, 1888:

Brisk little Souris...assumes the appearance of a thriving country town. The Scott Act is in operation or rather was adopted...but is as dead as Julius Caesar and ten illicit liquor shops are in full blast from which foreign fishermen get full supplies and thereafter make nights hideous with their shocking profanity, fighting and general rowdyism. A letter from a Souris taxpayer in the Montague Pioneer on December 19, 1879: We have only ten taverns in the village all running business which indicates no financial depression and on full time, open six days a week, front and back and on Sundays, back only. And in the Pioneer on January 20, 1855: Man, while drunk, fell in well at Souris, Saturday night. Discovered when someone went for a buck- et of water...taken out alive, little if any the worse. Marvel- lous. Wouldn’t be safe for just anyone to try a similar feat.

It is apparent that what had been a profitable, legal business for the early merchants was now a crime for the “Moonshiners” and “Rum Runners.” At the 1917 session of the House of Commons, Liberal Member J .J . Hughes “set the prohibitionist tone of the ‘pioneer prohibitionist province’, saying that every possible device was being used to circumvent the provincial laws. Liquor was flooding into his province hidden in flour barrels, boot boxes and so on.”111

The Temperance Societies did their best. The Souris West branch was scolding Souris East in 1883 for having six rum sellers still in business: “Are they going to be allowed to defy law and order much longer? Souris West has only one rum shop. Souris East has lately opened up another...little wonder Souris has such an unsavory reputation in many parts.”112