The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1881-03-18

Letter From Neal Dow tn Citizen
of 81. Louis.

| OI ST, LOUIS.
PORTLAND, March I, 1851.
Robert A, Lowry, Esq:
DEAR SIR-Your note Of the 1st is Just
received, with u slip from the 81, Louis
Republican of February %, headed The
Msine Law" 1t il written evidently by
some one unfriendly to prohibition, and
after giving at some length details of the
shifts, stratsgems ard "dodges" the liquor
sellers are driven to adopt in order to carry
on upon the sly very small and precsrous
trade, he ends by saying; "Thea the law,
after trial of twenty eight years, is con-
lessed failure" Ga the contrary, the law is
and has been, from the day of its enactment,
great success.
The Republic can says: "Mr. Dow, speaking
of the state in general, tells this curious
story:
whisky in Maine is carried in small bot
ties in ,ae pockets of the liquor sellers and
! GesIt on. upon the sly; it is pul into toa pots,
| placed upon tina kitchen shelf; it is built into
/ u
rubber pipe by which TO draw il off il is
concealed in bottles in tho bed; il is contested
| in bottles under the floor, put hero through
n trip that can be only reached by removing
| the bed: it is concealed in small ii At bottles In
the ash pit under the ovens of cooking stoves:
it is hidden in wells, attached 70 strings fast.
ened some inches below the surface of the
water; it is buried in manure heaps; it is
concealed under the floor of the pig sty; it
is hidden away upon tho fat roof of the
house, access to it being ld only BY ladder
through scuttle; it is hidden in sttics, under
the floor, and in cellars buried in the EARTH"
or course the originator and foremost
champion of the Maine iaU would present
the most favorable side of the picture, and, if
this.is it then the law--after a trial of twenty
eight yesrs-is q. confessed failure. 1t has
simply substituted secret for public drink
ing, and as people usually drink more when
compelled to drink secretly, the probsbli-
ties are that the consumption of stimuants
in Name has been increased, rather than d.
minished, by prohibitory legislation.
This, then, Is the condition Of the liquor
traffic in Portland-tho chief city of
the stste--under the law now,
what was it before the lawi
There were hundreds of rum shops,
wholesale and retail, all over the city, any
one of which sold more liquor than all the
secret rum dens now sell. There we're sixty
eight distillerie' ia the state, seven of them
in Portsnd--large ones--running night and
day; there was Yves! India rum imported by
the cargo-many cargoes. Now there is not
a disiilery, brewery or wine factory in the
sInte; they have all been Suppressed by the
lsa; nor is the!o u puncheon of rum i'm
ported.
The liquors that arc brought into the
stale are introduced on the sly, in small
PACKAGE, concealed 10 flour barrels or pack
cd in small boxes, marked "glsss," "crock-
cry" "eggs," as have sometimes seen them.
The liquor traffic hos been reduced fully
nineteen twenlieths OF its volume. and Am
confident that half million. dollars will cover
the cost OF all the liquor struggled into tho
state, and sold in violation of the law, while
our share of the national drink bill would
be about Sl3 100000 1t seems to me, tlen,
that we are fully justified in declaring tie
law to be great success.
But why does the traffic linger at all in
Maine, even in small proportions? Why do
robbery, housoburning, murder continue in
spite of the law! The Maine law is no
more failure than our other criminal laws
are. Two years ago some "clubs" were es-
tablished in Portland in such way as TO
evade tho laws, but the last sgslsture passed
IN act additional" which suppressed them
We made m unsuccessful attempt at the
same lime TO procure some additional legisla-
lion that would have suppressed these secret
rum.dens also. But We shall do il by and by.
In 1871 was Mt meeting of the Church
Of England temperance society, in London,
held in the library of Lambeth place, and
beard the bishop Of Litchfald make a
speech. He said: "a great many people
are annually killed in India by wild beasts
and by poisonous serpents. Now suppose we
have law against them, and ss result Of it
these noxiOus beasts are driven into tho
Ijunges and hiding places Of the forest, would
You call the law failure? | have been in
Msine and made dilgent inquiry there, and
learned that the liquor traffic has been greatly
diminished, ind tho fraction OF it remaining
has been driven iao hidi z places Can the
law DO called failure? We have consump.
ton, common and fatal disease; no one
who Is attacked by II RECEIVERS But at
last remedy IL discovered by which
niueteen-tsontjelhs Of comsumptive pa
tients sre cured. VIII you call that remedy
afsiluro because five patterns in hun red
fail to he cured ?" That is precisely the 70.
la,ion oil the Maine law Of tho liquor traffic
in Maine-95 per cent Of it has been sup
pressed.
Tna liquor trsilic in the United States Is n
An enotmou'sc and immensely remunera-
tive; more profitable than any other bust.
ness ltis threatened with extinction bv
rapidly risirg public opioion against it, and
IL il ntukirr dpsnpratp oil aria In spll-dDlensp