Hannibal journal. (Hannibal, Mo.) 1852-1853, 1853-09-08


purpose Of upholdng the Maine Liquor Law.
but TO show that il is possible to effect vast
amount good by the operation OF law, and de-
ducing the the conclusion that il law can effect
SC much in those States, Shy should an ordf
nance in Hannibal be expected 10 increase the
amount Of liquor drinking? 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 pubic esza
bike guilty crirninal2 But if it will really
increase the amount Of traffic in liquors, why do
Liquor dealers SO yehemently oppose the ordi.
n4.se2 If they could sell more, and that too
without paying any license, their own interest
should lead them to petition for the ordinance
Somelliquor sellers in Maine Impoverished them
selves, and actually be came bankrupts BY their
determined efforts to oppose the law; yet all 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, unscrupulous 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
suppressing the liquor traffic believe Fulton
is among the number; l 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. l 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 law? Perhaps they are
like the people of Boston, who have the law but
do not try to enforce it. We intend to have Off
GERS in this city who will perform their duty il
| this matter.
But we are happily able to produce still
more conclusive testimony that prohibitory law:
do not increase the evils attendant upon the liq
uol traffic. In communication Of Neal Dow
Mayor of Portland, to the citizens Of that town
dated September, 1851, he says:
There were in our Alms-house, June 2, 1851
! (thc law was approx ed on that day. one hun
dred and sixteen persons; on the first Monday
of August there were eghty-fye, and on the Is
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, l expires
sed the opinion that the construction of new
Aims house establishment, 10 cost at least $50
600, would be indispensable. If the pres
ent course Of policy shall be steadily perseveret
in, our alms-honse will probably afford abundan
and comfortable accommodation for all its in
mates, until the city shall be three or four time
as populous as IT now is. At the commence
ment OF the year the number Of open rumshop
If all grades, in .uO operation, was supposed t,
from 800 TO 400, lirce hundred was its loves
estimate; at present there is not one. The re
ceipts of these pieces per day, at the lowest fig
urCs, may I've reckoned to average three dollars
this for 800 days, would give two hundred AM
seventy thousand dollars per year. Thi,
amount will purchase 10000 barrels Of flour a
: ) each, or about five barrels of flour and fv
cords OF wood to every family in the city, esti
mating the number Of families at 1000.
great many families destitute year since, ar
now comfortable and happy.
The following is ken from a report made at
meeting of the citizens of Bangor, in the Cit
Hall, Nov. IA, 1851, on the operation Of til
Maine Temperance Law:
, eve have obtained from the proper source
the following statistics, which will illustrat
, the matter in detail:
Commitment to The county jail quarter ending:
Sept. 3d. 85O-Drunkenness l2-Assault,
June, 80, 1881 do. ii do
, Sept. 20, 1851 do. 3 do
! Showing a difference in favor of this quartz
of | / as compared with the corresponding or
last year.
> Commitments to the city watch-hOuse quartz
ending:
= June 80. 1851 l54 Cost 1858
> Sept. 80 1851 81 375
this quarter 1c loa 1888 G
Number of places where liquor is sold:
4, Last spring LOG AT present
: Showing a diminution of some 80 per cent
while the quantity sold is estimated to be r.
duced 70 per cent. Most of these are ri:
dtCelIings of the lower class-which cannot
searched without express proof of Sale-whe
! liquor is kept in very small quantities.
1t Quantity of liquor seized and condemne
about 1000 gallons, and still larger amou
: reshipPed to Boston.
:, The state of the streets and city, according
i the City Marshars statement, is 4" improve
. rs per cent" as compared with the previo
h quarter.
a As concerns pauperism, an overseer of I
y, ~ poor says: The applications for aid, for 4
- last three months, have not been half so mum
- rous as the three preceding months. We u
-, derstand that the extra help during haying
~ the City Farm is all hired. 1t has heretofo
y. been performed by persons committed TO t
~ House of Correction for drunkenness, Of whC
% there has never been deficiency. The Hol
IL Of Coyyecf0n is nolp e5lDtyn