The Portland daily press., 1873-01-09
The Maine Law.

'ne business of the city, whether the selling
anu drinking of ihtoxicants do not promote
nc prosperity of the community. The oues-
~. was not stated in those precise terms,
~. uu' snat is exactly the plain English of It.
me- hhss recently contained synopsis Of
'iie ueoate' and adds that the prevailing sen.
Iilient seemed to be against the law and in
'"'or vi grog shops. Those were not tbe
WORDS employed, but that was their import
preci ely.
uoes not seem to me difficult thing to
determine whether grog shops are good or
bad for the community. The gu stion is not
whether some individual or a few persons
may not make money out of the rum trade.
but whether upon the whole, it is oood or
bad for the city or the State. A skilltnl oam.
bier may make money, few of the =. even
may doso; but such men would scarcely aruue
that gaming-houses are good for the prosneri-
ty of any community.
All wealth, all business prosperity, are
based on laEor; anything that encourages and
stimulates industry and multiplies is pro-
ducts, is 60 for the material prosperity of
any town, and will by just so much, increase
population and enhance the value of real es-
tate. On the other hand, anything that
diminshes labor or i'm ,edes it in any way, is
injurious to the prosperity of the community
and reduces the vaue of houses and lands.
We have been talking great deal about
introducing manufactures into Port and.
'Suppos, we could succeed in that, so that
every vacant chamber in town should be oc-
cupied by small manufactures. Some of
them making suspenders, some of them NAL.
ing sha Vi straps. some making travelling
trunks, some making harnesses, some making
clothing in all its various kinds, some making
plated ware-and so all these shops and
chambers should be filled with busy people.
printing papers and books, binding books in
all their variety, making shoes and boots in
all their variety, machinery of every sort,
furniture of every sort, etc., etc., and that
the products of this varied industry were 60
ing of into distant markets in answer to nu-
merous orders. That woull be a proy yperous
community. think we all agree OIL that.
Amongst all this talk about manufactures
and trade, there has never been word said
until now-by the Mercantile Library Asso-
ciation-about introducing the rum trade.
Very well, let us see how that would af-
feet the general prosperity. Let us suppose
that Instead OF the sevei al branches OF indus
try, these vacant chambers and vacant shops,
and all others were occupied by the rum
trade. l remember the time when eveIy
grocers shop in tow and country was grog
shop; suppose we mad it so now, is there any
man who will say it would be good for the
business Of the town and for the general
prosperity? Let us have the rum shops Ill
ov r town as they used to be, with no law
and no public opinion against them; would
th 1t be good for the business of the town?
Every body knows it would not.
All bu iness prosperity is the result of
work, OF the savings OF labor in any commu-
nifty over and above expenses. Ii ia Port
land, we spend every year as much as we
| earn, the city Is growing no richer. 1t is
| with community. precisely as with an in
dividual wealth is tue result OF labor, saved
from month to mo lth and year to year; there
is no other source OF wealth. fnere a:e
many necessary expenses, which take away
mans earnings; food, cloth ne, shelter tuel
and education are amJn5 these He cannot
| work W thout the M to advantage, and so he
must spend part his earnings IN that way;
| but his saving at the years end, are diminish
ed by so much, but he cannot hel that, he
must eat, be warmed aud b sheltered.
Everything that he spends for what is not
necessary, is waste OF 50 much; and any
trade which ministers to such waste is in
furious to society, because it produces moth
| ing, adds nothing to the general stock. This
applies to the rum trade more Ii an any 9TH
er, because it not only adds nothing to the
| general stock, but acts directly and powerful
| ly in paralysng the industries OF the COM
munity, and largely reducing the products of
| WORK. 1t is computed that in E., gland, the
industrial products of the country are dimin-
ished one third by the liquor traffic and the
drunkenness OF the people. This has never
been disputed by any body; it is conceded,
| that it is so.
In England trade HIS been depressed, and
vast numbers OF the pc pie hav suffered ex-
| tremely for want OF the commonest necessa-
ries of life. And so for long time, it was
thought that the general trade of the country
bad declined. But it was found by inquiry,
that the foreign trade had largely incrt ased,
| while the domestic trade had diminisheu.
The question came up at once, e,-What can be
the cause of this? The answer was found in
the fact that the working classes in that coun-
try spend annually one hundred millions
(S50O, 1000, ,000) for drink. The rum shops
swarm IN ey ry part OF the country and are
crowded into every village aid hamlet in the
land. This vast sum of mon y-fve hun
dred millions of dollars annually, would be
spent WITH the butchers, bakers, hatters, tai
lors, shoemakers-with every tradesman and
manufacturer in the country v ere it not for
the liquor tratfic-thus stimulating the indus .
try OF the country-and promoting the gen.
eral interest OF the community to an extent,
that cannot easily be comprehended.
rem mber in the olden time, when some
Of oui best citizens sold rum, wholesale and
retail, on very large scale. Nobody, in
/ those old days tho ught any harm OF it. But
the Rev. DIR. Edwards came here preaching
! upon ''The Essential immortality of the
| Liquor Traffic. remember it well. Many
| OF our citizens imm diStely abandoned the
trade; they had never before consider the
character of that business. A large and
most respectable firm in the city, doing
very large business, gave up the rum part of
it at once. No member of this firm is now
living, but many times l have had talks with
them upon the subject, and they assured me,
that afterward, year by year, as they took an
account of stock, they found they had not
lost dollar in the way of profit, in giving up
the rum trade, though at the time, th, sup
| posed it would be great pecuniary sacrifice
In answer to my question, they said that up.
on examination they found that their losses
! in former years had co ne mostly thr ugh
that branch of their trade; by cutting that
off they had also cut off the chief cause of
their bad debts.
am sure that no intelligent man will de-
ny that the rum trade is dreadful cure to
any communit where it exists. 1t leads to
poverty in individuals, an. consequently To
society. 1t produces pauperism and crime,
and fering in many ways. more dreadful
than any other evil. States have their laws
OF health and life and as individuals; and a
vioati N OF them will urely lead to social de-
cay and dissolution. History is full f illus
trations. l am sure that the run trade can
not he in accordat ce with Gods will; it
must be in violation of divine law, AMI c,,.-
sequently, no community can exist in the
highest state of prosperity and happiness
WI ere it is permitted. N ID.
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