West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1881-03-09
The Amendment In the Senate.
SPEECH of Hon. ID. McGREGOR,
SENATOR FROM RITCHIE.)

Mr.. President: / would be recreant
to the trust imposed in me by my
constituency, were to sit here in
my place and not raise my voice,
feeble as it may be, in behalf of the
measure now under consideration
before this Honorable Body, believ-
ing as | do, that there is no 9TH
er subject Of so great importance to
the people Of this State as this Res
olution.
The alcoholic traffic is a powerful
one. 1t lies cntrenched behind the
strong arm Of the law: This pow
er PARALLELS legislation, puts its UNI
holy hands on the press and on the
Courts of Justice. This is the power
that sits behind corrupt ballot-box-
es; gives strength to the arm of the
assassin and the murderer. There
is but one question now before the
Legislature, and that is this: Shall
an Amendment to the Constitution
prohibiting the manufacture and
sale of liquors, except for mechani-
cal, scientific and medical purposes,
be submitted to a vote of the peo-
pie? The people have right to
vote on this question if they desire
to do 50, and they have certainly
expressed desire to do So Here
are the petitions Of 10000 respecta-
bic citizens Of the State asking this
Honorable Senate to allow them
this privilege, and how Legisla-
turc can refuse 50 reasonable a re-
quest cannot see. But Senators
on this floor have said that these
petitioners are fanatics and do not
know what they want. This is
bold language. Thus you say to
your constituency: We are your
masters, not your servants; we
know what you want and we will
give it to you. In all seriousness, [
ask Senators who intend to disre-
gard the expressed will of 10000
petitioners, to stop and seriously
consider what you are doing,
The Honorable Senator from
Berkeley on yesterday said that the
Maine Liquor Law was failure
in that State, and read numerous
extracts from newspapers and the
opinions Of some people to prove
the failure of prohibition in Maine;
and the Senator seemed to be much
pleased with himself, turning to
the large number of lady visitors
present, giving emphasis to his ex
pressions. Imagine he looked like
Goiiah of Gath defying the armies
of the living God Mr.. President,
/ say his whole argument on the
Maine question was a tissue of false
representations, except what he said
in reference to the great Ohio Sen
ator (Thurman. am very sorry
that he should bring the name of
that great man to support SO bad
cause. He proved one thing, and
that was that the great Senator
loved the ardent, and that was all he
did prove But we will now turn
our attention to Maine.
Oh, how the whisky men would
like to blot out little Maine, if they
could! But she will not down!
Mr.. President, / ask the indul-
gence of the Senate to allow me to
read some proofs as to the liquor
traffic in Maine The following let
ters with reference to this subject
in Maine, were written in 1878,
in response to an inquiry made by
the Chairman of the Committee on
Temperance of the House of Lords
of England, and ought to be regard
ed as impartial authority. The
first is from Governor Conner:
Dear Sir: | am in receipt of a
note requesting of me some state
ment of the standing and results Of
prohibition in Maine, to be for
warded to the friends of Temperance
in England. That policy was adop-
ted here in 1851, and now there is
no organized opposition to it in the
State After an experience of the
results during more than a
quarter of a century, it is acqui-
esced in by both political parties as
beneficial to the people, The guam
tity of liquor struggled into the
State and sold surreptitiously is
vastly less than was consumed in
former years, and the law is execu-