The Portland daily press., 1877-10-01
The Maine Law In Maine,

N~NsNSf
Sir,-Within a few weeks some of the lead.
ing newspapers of New York and Boston have
had anonymous letters purporting to come
from Portland and Bangor, in which were set
forth elabor ately the mischief of the Maine
Law to the material interests as well as to the
good morals of the state These communica-
tlons have been extensiVel, copied linto the
press OF the Western States, of Canada and
the Provinces.
letter.in the Boston Post,said that the pop
ulation of Bangor in 1852 was 24,746, and that
as the result of the prohibition of drinking
houses and tippling shops it had been run down
in 1877 to 1880. And all the rest of the
statements of the article were as unfounded as
this. The population of Bangor in 1900 was
277; 1810 $50; 1920, 1921; 1880, 1868; 1910,
1854; 1850, 14,4a2; 1860, 16i4OS; 1870, 1929;
and now it may be and probably is 10 $50. The
same writer says that in consequence of pro.
hlbitlon to the grog shops the debt of Bangor
has run up from $12S, 900 twenty-seven wears
ago to $S0O,000 with railroad liability of S.
100000. Now this debt has not the remotest
connection with prohibition, but has risen from
the Indebtedness for the water works and city
aid to railroads, the interest on which is paid
by the railroads, as understand,
A letter in the Sun of New York, purportinc
to come from Portland, says: Besides depriv.
ing the state of large proportion of its reve-
nue., the law has driven away vast amount Of
business, never to return. There is not a word
OF this true, Mess the drunkard making trade
may be called business" and it is true that
The law has driven away vast amount of that,
but no useful and legitimate business has been
hindered or harmed, but on the contrary all
such occupations, of whatever sort, have been
greatly benefited, and the state never at apy-
time derived penny of revenue from the rum
trade, but on the contrary. has suffered infinite
harm ard damage and loss from it in many
ways.
The millions of dollars which, but for the
law, would be spent in Maine in the liquor
trade, are now spent among butchers bakers,
hatters, tailors shoemakers, builders-in short
with every useful occupation and goes to sup.~
port the legitimate business of the state, stim-
ulating trade in every branch of it, except that
branch which makes poverty, pauperism aud
crime and fills warehouses and prisons The
Maine law contributes to the wealth and nate
rial prosperity OF the state, not only to the full
extent of the money saved by "squelchipe"
the liquor trade, but to an amount equal 10
| that which has always been estimated at dollar
for dollar for every penny spent in it. And in
| fact the business of Portland now. in MANY
| branches OF trade, is better than it ever
| has been at any former period of its history as
| am assured by many of our most prominent
business men who have the best opportunities
for forming a reliable opinion upon the SUBJ
| ject.
| Although the fact is so, there are men even
now, here in Portland, who say the city is go
| ing to the dogs because the grog shops are shut
up. Not long ago my friend John T. Walton
collected at Barnum's famous show; he wished
| to see If there was as much drunkenness as
| there used to be on such occasions in the old
times. He saw but one man under the infiu-
ence OF drink, and he was-pery drunk, holding
fast to post. Mr. Walton went up to him and
said, my friend you seem not to be well, what
is the matter" Damn the man that made
the Maine Law; he's ruined Portland, damn
| him."
Now there are many people who, for one
reason or another, are of the same opinion;
| some of them for this mans reason some Dos
sibly for some other reason; sbut there is not
| shadow OF fact to justify the opinion
| that the suppression of the liquor traffic has
injured or can possibly injure the business of
the state, or any moral or material interest of
| it, while the reasons are numerous and obvious
that justify the opinion that the Maine Law
does and must promote TO vast extent every
| Ihe writer in The Sun said that the Pr0hibi-
tion party is so strong in Maine that the "Demo-
| cratic State Convention dare not put license
| plank into the platform of the party" The
writer libels the Democratic party by assigning
such reason for Its action. The Convention
voted down by an overwhelming majority, and
with enthusiastic cheers. resolution favoring
licensed grog shops, because it was right to do
so, and not because they were constrained to it
by fear, happen to know that many eminent
citizens, leading members of the Democratic
party, resolved long ago that their sons were as
dear to them as the Republicans sons were to
I them, and that they would instantly withdraw
| from the party if license plank were put into
its platform.
So now we have the entire political organiza.
tions of the state fully committed to the policy
| of prohibition to the grog shops, of whatever
| name or grade; to the great endeavor to put
| away the poverty, paupersm, suffering, insan-
| ity, crime. and premature and shameful death
| which come directly and Inevitably from the
| liquor traffic Here, in Maine, we are endeavor-
| ing to work out this great problem, of infinite
importance to the well being of every home
and the happiness of every family in the
| state.
like to believe DO believe, in a supern-
tending Providence, and God has so ordered it,
that the public opinion of our state is fully up
| to the work we have in hand, which is to follow
out our design to extinguish utterly every
l vestige of the liquor trade, which still fingers
| among US, to see what will come OF IL Ii
| good, then all the world will follow our ex-
/ ample; if bad, then we can easily retrace our
| steps and go back to the policy of the old
time-rum, wretchedness and ruin.
N. d.