The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1874-05-01
TIE MAINE LAW.
Result of Twenty Three Years Expe
rience of Prohibition.


In response to inquiries from th
editor of the Chicago AdUance, SCI
Ieral prominent citizens of Main
have recently given their opinions c
the efficacy of the present ProhibitC
ry Liquor Law in Maine, formed fror
their personal observations of it
workings.
We quote a few of their respon
ses:
! Governor DINGHY writes: Il haY
TO say that these laws have accom-
lplished great good, and have proved
far more effective in suppressine
dram shops and restraining the evil.
Of intemperance, than any other sys
TEN Of legislative restraint ever tried
in this State. We have had % years
experience of the policy of prohibi-
ton, and the results have been, on
the whole, so far, greater than those
secured by other system of legal re-
straint that the prohibltory policy
| is accepted as settled TACT in this
State, and no considerable body OF
men favor its repeal. In mora than
three-fOurths Of the State particular
ly in the rural sections, open dram
shops are almost unknown, and Sc
eret sales comparatively rare. In
some of the cities and larger villa
ges, where public sentiment on the
temperance question is not so well
sustained as in the rural districts,
the law is not so effectively enforced
as to prevent open sales to some ex-
tent, although, even in such places,
prohibition is not without some in
fuence for good"
United States Senator Hamlin
says:
II have not a doubt upon my mind
that the law has been highly bene-
fetal in its effects. In my Judgment,
less than one-half the liquor has
been consumed that would have been
consumed had there been no law.
That is my opinion. The law has
been, l feel certain, of great use in
the suppression of pauperism and
crime. Nor can 1 have a doubt that
a large majority of the people of
Maine sustain the law"
Congressman William P. Frye
says:
st is effective in the largest cities,
but cannot entirely stop illegal sales,
any more than the laws against mur-
der, theft, gambling. &c, can entire
ly prevent those crimes, or punish
all such criminals. What has been
the general result? twenty-five
years ago, the most of our grocery
stores, all druggists, all hotels, both
in city and country, sold liquors, and
in my opinion the majority of grown
men used them as beverage. Pow
erty, crime, suffering, and ignorance
prevailed; our jails were full, our
farm-yards empty; the landlord rich,
his neighbors for miles around poor;
his house well painted, glazed, and
blinded, and full of comfort; theirs
unpainted, the windows stuffed with
rags, the rooms full of nothing but
sorrow. How is it to-day? The
sale of liquor has fallen off more
than two-thirds; more than one half
of the State is absolutely free from
it; the corner groceries and taverns
have gone forever; so, too, have all
the evidences of poverty and suffer
ing, The jails in the three counties
adjoining, Franklin, Oxford, and
Somerset, have been tenantless more
than year, and 1 presume the same
is true Of several other counties. In
my own city, Lewiston, of $4,000 in
habitants, and in Auburn, Just across
the river, of 10000 more, not ho-
tel keeper, or druggist, or grocer
sells q drop of liquor.
OF course with our large foreign
population, liquor is sold IN shanties
and dens, but it is q precariOus bus
mess, for our warfare against the
seller is constant and vigorous.
When the law was enacted 1 have no
doubt two-thirds of the people at
heart were opposed to it; now they
could not be induced to repeal it.
know that all good citizens will join
me in the assertion that the law has
been a wonderful Success.
Ex-Governor Perham says:
81 am satisfied that the general
principle of our law is the best for
Maine, and for all other States in
which public sentiment exists, or
can be created strong enough to sus-
tain it. If l were in a State where
public sentiment would not sustain
law like ours, I would favor the
strongest and most effective law that
could be enforced and sustained"
United States Senator Lot M
Morrill, says:
Gas a measure Of Legislation, J
think it has been efficient and salu
tary-eficient in that it has sup
pressed the open sale of intoxicat
ing drinks, with its attendant allure.
ments, branded the traffic Illicit, and
enforced privacy alike embarrass-
ing to the dealer and distasteful to
the customer; salutary as attested
in the statistics of pauperism and
crime. The number of persons sup
ported at the public charge in 1870
was 4,617, as against 1868 in 1860
The statistics Of crime, it is believ.
ed, would show about the same re
duction."
Mr.. Higgins informs US that about
the time he had arrived at his thir-
teenth year, his father was addicted
to little habit of private drinking.
His mother who wore the inexpress-
ibles in a rather rigid and tyrannieal
manner had positively forbidden the
introduction of any spirits into the
house, and his father, standing in
extreme awe Of her, had led her to
believe that he had dropped the hab-
it. Under cover of her faith in this,
he managed to conceal sundry bot
ties in various localities convenient
of access. One day at the dinner
table his mother quietly produced q
bottle from her pocket and holding