The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-01-25
TWENTY YEARS OF PROMPT.
TION.
fBy Horace Greeley !

Maine, if mistake not first prohibited
she sale Of Intoxicating drinks in 1851 !;
she soon returned to license for Il year
only ST. that i,rubfbiticn has been her
rule for nearly ar quite twenty years,as II,
bids tar 10 be for the next hundred. Our
great civil war, with is fsrce excite
nsents and lis .sSany hardships, doub' less
inktiSt.d many intO htktt~ oil dri,Eki ing
who would have abstained for wAf is
the .r&ti nal adversary III all moral re
fcgnl~. Illicit greg shops were multiplied,
especially in the vicinity of recruiting
stations and camps IF instruction still
Maine held fast 4ler often violated law. :.
Birce peace returned it is more generality
obeyed, while the hope Of S, eing it we
peaked has gro" fainter gear by yeag.
Her date Governor dCnSlnberla,n) was
deelned either great antagonist or d
lnkeW2rm supporter Of prohibition his
successor, now in office ;(PerhamI is
known to all NJ an eariy ard sttadfnst lso
holder OF the Maine law get his vote
WAS larger ins was his maj ority )than that
OF Chamberlain.
All hvs New England sisters follow
Maine in enactiDg prohibition /; ali but
Rhode Island still abide. Several West.
ern states have entered apon that course,
but soon recoiled from it, The state
which FIRST entered upon this path still
leads the van and that section of our
country wherein schools aye talo~t mum
crous, intelligence most generally DIFF
fused, and the dictates of mnEaaity most
generally respected and okeyed, has
proved most cOngenial tn prehi@Iiion.
twenty years ut prohibition What has
Maine gained CT lost there W
/. the use Of Intoxicating beverages
has not entirely CEASED. Tle liquor traffic
is still prosecuted III nearly all OF the
cities and most Of the considerable villages
OF Maine. Those who love liqnov still
obtain 1t, if able and willing to give time
sud money to prI ure it Perhaps no
person IN hat State has long thlrsted be
cause liquor was not 20 be had on any
teams Prohibition haS not exterminattd
tie liquor Traffic.
IL. It has, however, greatly restricted
il. Liquor is sold openly in not few
places, and is not sold at all in one four*il
SO many AS when the traffic was legal and
unobetructed. Just as gambling f1ourislles
and l@tteiy tickets are sold IN this city.
though our laws forbid. so strong drink
is still retailed in Portland and the other
cities OF Maine, as it ciandestinely is in
some OF the townships. Even prohibition
has not get usher"d IN the Millennium.
III. But it has done more than to re
duce the aumber Of greg sheps. A, with
gambling in our state, liquor, since 1t has
been Outlawed i'll Name, has lost caste,
aAd "r0osts lower" than it dad. Drunken
NESS is less common and more shameful
than it generally was. Thousands are
growing up unintoxrcated and attempted
by strong drink When came TO New
York, in August, 1881, lottery placards
clothed walls and filled newspapers far,
nose than theatricals did. Now they
are rarely seen. Liquor, in Maine, is
advertised and dispensed furtiveIy, if at
all, as lottery tickets are here. And, as
not one cket is sold here now where ten
would bc if lotteries were still tolerate ed
by Laws, so it is with liquor in Maine. 1t
may be safely assumed that throughout
more than half the area Of that state
liquor is purchasable only W til difficulty
aud by traversing u considerable distance.
Thus thousands of the youth of Maine
are reared in blissful ignorance of strong
drink.
". Prohibition operates as public
testimony to the peril and wrong of tip
ping. Whoever Is melted or tempted to
drink has the testimony and the vet" OF
the state staring him In The face. Like
the rattle.snakes warning. the law says
to him, beware All will not heed this,
but some will and no one can fairly
plead. II learned to love liquor before !
was ever told or ever suspected that l
ought not to drink it.'' fu
V. That Maine has fewer paupers,
criminals, vagabOpds han she formerly
had. and that her people are steadily IN.
creasing In thrift and wealth, are
inevitable. Very rarely do We hear OF "a
great crime or outrage perpetrated on
her soil. Very rarely does the telegraph
report one of those brawls among her
people whereby dozens are involved in O
deadly strife, and three or four of them
killed or manned incurably Their main
Indictment is lacking in some localities.
aud di>pensed SO cautiously and steathily
in others that "wars aud fghtings" have
fed In awe of the silent majesty of her
legal interdict.
VI These truths ought to impress
themselves on the minds of the legislator
OF tins and other states. Law in genera.
seeks such ends as the Maine law as we'll
enforced hera az the laws apalnst Oauh