National Affairs: Tragic Joke

Ralph D. Blumenfeld is 64 years old. He was born in the U.S., worked on Chicago and New York newspapers. Then he went to England and became editor of the London Daily Express—owned by the most potent of Canadian-born peers, Lord Beaverbrook. Editor Blumenfeld toured the U.S., this autumn, as guest of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Last week, back in London, he told of the one ineffaceable memory of his tour—Prohibition, "the greatest, most tragic joke any nation played upon itself in the history of civilization."

Editor Blumenfeld elaborated: "This deadly [U.S.] 'gin' has ruined more homes, wrecked more...