Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-04-06
WHOLE NO. 2,282.


NEAL LOW III dIlSWtI 10 u ACttC
from Mr.. Slower, Of st. Louis. It
to the point;
PORTLAND, February ~, 1873.
Il. Slower, EsQ.-Dedr Sir -
have just received your letter Il
: Mr.. Stearns, New York, forwarded
by him to me, inclosing slip from
the Daily Globe of your city which
gives the opinion of the writer as
to the best mode of carrying ON the
! temperance reform, and contains
statements as to the operation of the
Maine Law in Maine, and generally
as to the effect Of laws prohibiting
the liquor traffic. ah4s
1t is not a little annoying to us
Temperance men in Maine that re-
spectacle and influential news
papers like the Globe will seize
upon any anonymous article which
decries the policy of prohibition,
and give wide circulation to its
false statements, while articles
written in reply, under the most
respectable and influential names
are utterly ignored by them. qe "a
The editorial in the Globe which
you sent me was produced anony-
mOusly in Bangor in this State, and
printed in the Post of Boston, and
thence has gone the rounds of all
the anti-temperance press in this
country, in the British Provinces,
and in England. i have received
slips containing it from many
| quarters, and have as often replied
to it. My letters are published i'm
some one local paper, but there they
stop, while the original faIsehood
keeps ON its way triumphantly all.
the same. All the main statements
in the Post article are either untrue
or distorted, and every one of them
is so absolutely false in its scope and
desingn-to wit, to show that the
effect of the Maine Law has been
injurious to the interests of the
State.
There has never been one fact in
the history of the law from its be-
ginning to justify the assertion so
often made, that it is a failure; on
the contrary, it has been trium-
phant success. The law was passed
in 1851 by vote Of SO to 40 In the
House and Is to 10 in the Senate.
Since that time there have
been acts additional, all in the
direction of greater stringency, and
in 1877 one was passed of greater
stringency than any other, without
dissenting vote in either House,
and to the general acceptance of our
people.
i Now, if it be admitted that the
people of Maine have the ordinary
share of common sense, this would
be impossible if the operation of law
had not been most beneficient in
the Judgment of the people. If
there has been any respectable
doubt on that point it would have !
found expression in the Legislature
on the passage of the act of 1877.
Both our political parties have
put themselves clearly upon the
prohibition platfOl and no fact |
can more clearly mark the popular
opinion here of the value OF the
Maine Law to the interests of our
State and people. hes
1t is quite safe to say that, be-
fore the Maine Law, no people in
the country consumed more intox-
icating liquors in proportion to their
numbers, than ours. That proper
tion would be now about thirteen |
millions of dollars annually, and /
have never heard the bitterest |
enemy of Temperance and pro-
hibition pretend that the quantity !
is now more than half a million,
and that figure makes liberal |
allowance for all the liquors SNUG |
gled into the State in violation 0f3
the law. The balance of that large !
sum we have in our business and in |
our pockets, and the effects of this
change are seen everywhere in the |
wonderfully improved condition Of 4
the State and the people I'm all their |
interests. No one denies that this
is SO. ..
In 1866 Portland, where / reside,
was visited by a tremendous con-
fiagration. Ten thousand people
were turned out into the street, and
ten millions of dollars went up in
smoke in day. But, notwithstand-
ing that, the valuation of the city
was never so large as now, and the
last year its valuation was increased
by the sum of $3.50, 900, while Boston
with free rum ran down SO, ,000, 900,
and that city and New York have
run down their valuation in the last
five years many hundreds of
millions of dollars. They have
been wasting the products of their
In the purchase Of alco-
holic liquors, while we have been
saving as well as earning, by putting
the LIQUOR traffic under the ban OF
the law, and crushing out the grog-
shops and the beer-shOps-thOse
horrid instrumentalities for pauper-
izing, brutalizing and crimaliZing
all who come under their malign
influence. J1.l.s u.alsit t1fft |
The drink-bill of the United
States, according to the official
is 100000, 900, annually.
That of the United Kingdom, with
a population smaller than ours by
six millions, is e153, 1000, 900, equal
to 10000, 200, annually, with an
annual compound interest at six \
per cent. for twenty years, will
amount to more than twenty-five
thousand millions of dollars, while
the entire valuation of the nation,
real and persOnal-everything-is
less than thirty Thousand millions.
So that the people will absolutely
in strong drink In every h
period of twenty years, nearly the
entire property of the nation. But
Maine does not consume one
twentieth part Of its proportion !
And it is the fixed purpose of our
people to provide such penalties and
processes of law as shall speedily
and effectually extripate every ves-
Eige of liquor traffic from our terri
tory.
/ am confident that Maine. will
take no backward step in its great .
endeavor to redeem her people from
the tremendous evils coming inev-
itably from that h0rrid trade in the
health, happiness'andl lives of man
kind. Very respectfully yours,
4hHfH i.a NEAL Dow.
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Gunn ~ EHnHu