The Portland daily press., 1880-08-31
Maine Past and Present.

The Democratic press of New Eng
land has become, in profession, intensely
moral of late. Here in Maine it has devel-
oped sudden and suspicious zeal for the
enforcement of the prohibitory liquor law
and very recently it has taken up the de-
fense of the Protestant religion with equal
fervor. A circular, printed and distributed
by Democrats, and twice published in the
Eastern Argus, stgmatizes Rum, Rebellion,
and I4A.. G. a 4.li,Ail..--.ess
that menaces the existence of our free in
stitutions. For these evils the suggested
remedy is a Democratic restoration. Now
comes the Boston Post, repeating the tale
with the ingenious variations and embel-
lishments which its quick wit and lively
fancy suggest. In this plea for Plaisted and
the Protestant succession the Post fairly
out-does the Argus. 1t has discovered that
the Republican party in Maine is destroying
not only the Protestant but all true religion,
demoralizing the pulpit and perverting the
priests, and it appeals for verifcation to
those who lived in the golden age of Demo
cratic Governors-and goes on through a
7COiuulu VI ilhC lOOIloullCSS. 1uOSc WHO
do remember the Democratic regime, and
how under it even in this liberty-loving
State friends of free soil were denied a
hearing and their meetings broken up; how
secret societies bound by oath to achieve
the disfranchisement of foreigners and
Catholics fourished; how peaceful estab-
lishments of Catholic instructors were men
aced; how men were branded as enemies to
the country because they urged the freedom
Of the black slave;-those who remember
these things will, unless they are still in
sympathy with the deeds done then, work
their best against a Democratic restoration
Candid men have but to compare the
Maine of years ago with the State since the
time when what the Post calls ''the Blaine
disease" struck it, to give the preference to
the latter-day rule. The great progress made
in education, the wide spread of education
al and charitable institutions, the better SER
vice done for the relief OF suffering, the
substantial increase in wealth and popula-
ton and comfort of living, all attest the
benefits Of Republican rule, and the wise
and economical management of State af
fairs by Republican administrations.
The Post can do service to morality and
| good government by turning from profitless
contemplation of a golden age that has no
existence save in its own Imagination to
condemnation of the evil and ill-repute
brought upon Maine by one year of that
Fusion rule which it perfunctorily recon-
mends as the hone of the State. Let it dis
| course upon the service done by th0se emil
| nent apostles of revealed religion and social
purity. Leo Miller and Moses Hull. Let 1t
| explain the doctrine of civil government
| that Col Blood and George Francis IRAN
are commencing to the voters OF this state
Let it enlarge upon the aid given to an hon
like 9l5hz%b 81 arptf5snp frptipspt rrn Democratic leaders
it demonstrate the aid lent to the progress
of education and the promotion of industry
| by its party here. In undertaking this task
it will find scope for an article even more
humorous than the one it has just publish
| ed under the caption "the Blaine Disease.