The Republican journal., 1882-02-23
Results of Prohibitory Legislation.

| Gen. Neal Dow contributes to the March mum
Der of the North American Review short pa
| per captiOned as above, in which are set fOrtl
the history of prohibition in Maine, and the
good work accomplished through prohibitory
| legislation. With the facts and arguments EN-
| bodied in this article our people are generally
| familiar; but in the South and West, where
the friends Of temperance are Just now active il
will be read with great interest. and is likely to
do much good. The picture Gen Dow presents
| of Maine up to 1857, when the manufacture and
sale of liquor was first put under the ban of the
| law, is graphically drawn
| The people of Maine consumed their full
| share of Intoxicating liquors, and more, ac-
cording to their numbers. They spent in strong
| drink the entire valuation of all their property
of every kind in every term of less than twenty
| years. Maine was the poorest State i'll the Union
| IFS great industry was the lumber trade-con-
| verting its vast forests of pine into lumber
| Transporting if to the West Indies, and receiv-
ing in return for it West India rum and moas-
Scs to be converted by its distilleries into New
England rum, all of which went down the
Threats of the people. Literally our boundes>
forests of invaluable pine went down the threats
of our people in the form of rum. The wages
of the people We're spent i'll that way, except Il
small part devoted to a miserable support OF
their families Evidences of poverty were
everywhere seen in dilapidated houses, barns
farms, school-houses. town-houscs, and meet
ing-houseS Old hats and rags We're in the win
doWs to stop the broken panes; the roofs Were
leaking; doors were hanging by the hinge, and
often there was no hinge at all. The miserable
cattle, shaggy and hidrbound with neglect and
famine, We're shiyering under the lee Of shabby
barns, while their equally miserable owners
were spending their days and nights around the
store of the country grocery, the larger part OF
whose sales was rum consumed by these people
Maine was never a dollar the richer, but rather
the poorer for all this vast industry. The masses
of her people We're in the forest in winter, fell
ing trees and drawing them to the wafer
courses, living in camps, with the inevitable
rum as large part of the supplies. At tho
breaking up of the streams in the spring, The
men drove" the logs down to the mills. In
these mills the mighty trees We're converted in
to lumber, and in hundreds of ships this was
transported to the West Indies. In camp, on
''ihc drive" at tie mills, and in the ships rum
was always in plenty-impoVcrish dcgrad-
ing, hrntifying all who drank it.
1t must be admitted that there has been a
very decided change-and not for the worse
since the prohbitory laws went into effect.
Of the good results of that policy Gen. Dow
has something to say, and he produces some
neXceptionable testimony to show that prohi-
bition does prohibit He concludcs as follows
The liquor traffic still fingers in some OF the
larger cities i'll Maine, where it is conducted
upon a comparatively small scale. and with
more or less secreSy, mostly by the same class
of men who keep gambling houses and houses
OF Ill fame, the lowest part of our foreign pop
ulation. The traffic here occupies the same
place in the public opinion that these other
crimes do. This perSistency Of the traffic in the
cities is due entirely to some defects in the law.
as it now stands, and which will be corrected
by and by, and then the last vestige Of this great
evil will be summarly swept away. We shall
then be able to demonstrate TO the world. more
thoroughly than we now can. how great are the
benefits to the State and people resulting from
the absolute suppression Of the liquor traffic,
from which the nation suffers more. year by
year. and every year. ethan from war, pc>tl-
l"nce and famine, these greatest >cour@rs Of the
human family
This is bad year for mediums. The expos
urc of one is truthfully and graphically told in
our local columns. and in Brooklyn. y. Y. re-
Gently, the tricks of Mrs Crndle Reynolds. a
Undertaking medium in whom much confidence
wa, placed. and who had been astonishing the
>pirtuali>t> Of New York and Brooklyn. were
shown up. Oh tie evening i'll question Mrs.
Reynolds Went behind curtain. which parted
in the middle. TO begin her naturalization. She
took no bundles or wraps behind the curtain
that could BE- seen. When the cabinet was cN-
anned it was found free from any paraphrr-
nilia. The lights Were all turned out. with the
exception Of one; that was turned low. 50 a to
cast dim light over the room. Presently two
materialized spirits appeared before the com
pany. They were clad in the finest illusion,
and their faces were >eraphic. The draprry
was long and flowing from one spirit, which
seemed matrrializrd about one-haf way down,
while the other seemed solid from head to foot,
and, while the unsteady spirit had wayy. will
loWy motion. the other seemed firm and stall
Wart The spirit that seemed Iegless held what
appeared to b@ an out>trrtched arm to the other.
and moved with it when it moved. like a Siamc>r
twin. suddenly Mr.. Beard. nervous and >lS-
picious believer, turned up the gas. and Mrs.
Crindle Reynolds, half di>robrd. stood with Il
mask over her face clad in illusion. holding ut
the end of her outStrctchrd bare arm another
mask From her hand draped folds Of tiimsy
lace. after the accepted style Of celestial dress
making. The women uttered screams and the
men were furious with rage. The medium then
declared that She was unconscious of what had
happened, and claimed that she WAS ignorant Of
the possession of the paraphelnaia, and that
She had been made the in>trumcntality of evil
spirits. Mr.. Brown, who was one of the com
mlttee that attended the test of the >cance, said
that this explanation was too psychological be-
cause he had seen the very masks and the same
'lraprry four or five times before. The women
said the medium carried the wardrobe in the
bosom of her dress, as they had half suspected.
\ number of speeches We're made dcnouncing
the fraud and it was declared emphatically that
the flesh and bone naturalization business had
received a severe blow. \ vote of thanks was
given to Mr. Beard for exposing the medium.
At Il conference at the Navy Department last
week i'll regard to the proposed reorganization