Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-11-20
The Good Templars and the Farce OF
COnstabulary Law.

road men.
The Good Templars and tho Farce OF a
COnstabulary Law.
We are indebted to VIM. F. Morrill,, G.. w. S. of
the Grand Lodge of Good Templars in Maine, for
the printed proceedings of the 18th semi-annual
session Of the order, held at Dover, in October
last
The burden of the reports Of the Chief Templar,
Joshua Nye and his several subordinatcs, is this
1--WE must have a constabuary law" Moral
efforts have utterly failed, reform clubs are hum
bugs the present liquor law is Of no account, the
shertfs and municipal officers are all rascals, not
to be trusted, and under the dominion of the rum
power; and the only salvation of the State, and
good government, lies in return to the constabu-
larry That is the doleful burden of the report,
and it has been echoed and re-echoed by every
county lodge that has met this autumn this is the
cry all along the line. Voices have been raised
against it, but the voices have been stihed. A
| handful of men have got together and under the
mistaken notion that they represent the salt of the
earth, in the temperance movement, have under
taken to dictate terms to the legislature and the
people of Maine.
And SO it has come to this, that organizations
instituted for great and noble work, have frtter
ed away their strength and prostitued their pow
ers. until now they are comparatively without any
| influence in shaping public policy. Take the
| lodge ofGood Templars in this city-where are its
workers, where do see the exhibition of its saw
ing power in the community, how many Of its
members complain of rumsellers to the proper Off
| GERS Occasional meetings of this lodge held
in the paror of one of its members, just to keep
the sckly thing alive, where two or three winners
get together to rant and cry over the absence of
State police bill. And this in the very town where
| the grand Mogul has his abiding place. Where is
| the Augusta Cold Water Temple, the membership
| of which Mr.. Nye reports at 1902 Are fifty child
rem found at any of its meetings. The reform
| club-where is it Nye its President, and the
| thing a corpse Find the cause of this state Of
things in the extreme, bitter, intenpperdte and in
| consistant measures Of prcfessed temperance men
They have driven outside of these organization
men of influence, standing and characteristics the
persons whose interest must be enlisted to carry
forward successfully any great undertaking
No wonder that the Rev. Mr.. Penney of this
city, in thoughtful sermon last Sunday, said tha
| some temperance men attempted to carry their
!! points by the most Incorporate means. 1t is
fact that in the ranks of protested temperance mer
are found, Willingly or unwittingly, the real enc
| mics of temperance; for certainly after deplora
BILE failure of nine months in this State, he who
would again impose on the people of Maine the
calamity of State police bill, is no friend to tenn
perance. While it existed the law was laughing
stock inefficient and the very boys the street.
would laugh at the fat and well paid constables, a.
| they appeared upon the scenes after the casks Of
liquor had been rolled to their hiding places il
some back yard. An officer with the best inten
tons, unacquainted with the peculiar characters
tics of each locality, was comparatively powcrless
| when the local police, who could do the most eff
fective work, were driven from the field in disgust
The system was so open to rascality and bribery
! and fraud of every kind, so fraught with wrong
from beginning to end that the representatives Of
the people of Maine gave it a death blow from
which it will never recover.
But if these so-called temperance men will learn
nothing from the logic Of events at home, let them
cast their eyes abroad to other states, where the
constabulary has been tried, and the people have
spewed it out oftheir mouths. Butlerism and the
constabulary placed the republican party of Mas
sachusetts in minority land the two combined are
enough to kill any party. How much have the
temperance men gained by their extreme measure:
there The legislature meets off from the stat
ute books goes constabulary, and with it to the flu
neral pile follows the prohibitory law. Lool
again; what comes instead License or as the
word means in Maine, free rum, with its clover
foot and glazing eye-balls, and with one wave of il
magic wand the demon opens wide the avenues o.
hell Who are responsible for all this The pro
fessed temperance men of Massachusetts,. The
people of Maine believe in the principle Of prohi
bition-they have twice endorsed it at the polls
but even this principle Is In danger by the unwse
counsel and acts of those who ride temperance a.
a hobby and are seeking personal glory rather
than real, substantial good to the cause.
| Supreme Judicial Court.-AppletOn G. J.
| presiding.
| THURSDAY, Nov 10Th.
In the action Gardiner Nat. Bank VS.. Sarah Hs
gar, the plfs having got out their evidence thu
judge ordered a nonsuit. The plfs. will file ex
! ceptions and carry the case to the law court.
No. l9l. Mary 7. Meader vs.. True w. Town
send, Libbey and Clay for plf; Baker and Bake
for def. The plf sues for money paid, laid on
and expended according to an account annexed
amounting with interest to 1881 so, and she al
leges in specification of her claim that the mon
ey was paid upon two mortgages given by Henri,
Mesder, her husband, one to John Plaisted an
the other to Robert Thompson. The pf. will en-