Hannibal journal. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1853-1853, 1853-09-07

umount Of good by the operation Of law, and de-
ducing the the conclusion that IL law can effect
so much in those States, why should an ordi-
nance in Hannibal be expected to increase the
amount Of liquor drinking2 Why may it not be
expected with more reason that Il will very
much diminish the amount Of drinking, and force
the little there is to hide itself from public gaze
like guilty criminalp But if it will really
increase the amount of traffic in liquors, why do
liquor dealers so vehemently oppose the ordi-
nanceP II they could sell more, and that too,
without paying any license, their own interest
should lead them to petition for the ordinance.
SOmeiiiquor sellers in Maine impoverished them
selves, and actually be came bankrupts, by their
determined efforts to oppose the law; yet oil the
time the cry was raised, or at least it is raised
here, that laws to suppress the liquor traffic
only increase the evil. The New York Her
aid, the'most scandalous, inscriptions sheet in
America, has busted itself with publishing false
reports Of the effects Of the Maine Liquor Law
and these have circulated faster than the truth.
Several towns in this State have succeeded in
surpressing the liquor traffic. believe Fulton
is among the number; am certain that New
London is. You cannot find more peaceable,
quiet town than New London. II is said that
there is now more drinking now in Palmyra
than before the attempt to suppress it. have
heard this denied but, granting that it is so, who
is prepared to assert that any efforts are made in
Palmyra to enforce the lawp Perhaps they are
| like the people of Boston, who have the law but
do not try 10 enforce it. We intend 10 have Off
GERS in this city who will perform their duty in
this matter.
But we are happily able to produce still
more conclusive testimony that prohibitory laws
do not increase the evils attendant upon the hq-
uoI traffic. In a communication Of Neal Dow,
Mayor of Portland, 10 the citizens Of that town,
dated September, 1851, he says:
! There were in our Aims -house, June 2, 1851
| (the law was approx ed on that day. one hun
bred and sixteen persons; on the first Monday
of August there were eighty-iive, and OH the LIST
Monday Of September, twenty one.
The Maine Law was passed June lst, 1851.
From the Annual Report of the Mayor Of Port
land, March %, 1852, we take the following:
"At the commencement OF the year, ! express
sed the opinion that the construction of a new
Alns-house establishment, 10 cost at least $50,
600, would be indispensable. If the pres
ent course of policy shall be steadily persevered
in, our ams-hOuse will probably afford abundant
and comfortable accommodation for all its in
mates, until the city shall be three or four times
as populous as it now is. At the commence.
ment OF the year the number Of open rumshops
Of all grades, in full operation, was supposed to
from 300 10 400; three hundred was IFS lowest
estimate; at present there is not one. The re-
ceipts of these places per day, at the lowest fig
ures, may be reckoned TO average three dollars;
this for 300 days, would give two hundred and
seventy thousand dollars per year. This
amount will purchase $4,000 barrels of -four at
So each, or about five barrels Of flour and five
cords of wood to every family in the city, esti-
mating the number of families at 1000 %* A
great many families destitute year since, are
now comfortable and happy.
The following is tlken from report made at a
meeting of the citizens of Bangor, in the City
Hall, Nov. IA, 1851, on the operation of the
Maine Temperance Law;
1--WE have obtained from the proper sources
the following statistics, which will illustrate
the matter in detail:
| Commitment to the county jail, quarter ending;
Sept. 80, l950-Drunkennes l2-Assault, z
June, 80, 1851 do. ii do 3
Sept. 20, 1851 do. 3 do s
Showing difference in favor of this quarter
Of 6, as compared with the one previous, and
| of II, as compared with the corresponding one