The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1883-08-09
Prohibition in Maine.

Prohibition in Maine.
DINGLEY, JR., Al THE TEMPERANCE MASS
MEETING AT LAKE MARANOCOOK.
The books of the Internal Revenue Of
ice for Maine show that for the present
year Sl3 persons have paid the [. $. tax
as dealers in liquors. AS the tax is only
S25, the penalties for non payment very
severe, and the e. s. detective service
very Vigilant, it is believed that this
covers every person who intends to sell
/ liquors however secretly. 1t covers also
nearly 2On of the druggists of the State, a
! large proportion of whom claim that they
never sell liquor as a beverage.
But counting all as dealers, and we
have one liquor dealer to about every 500
| inhabitants, and all secret dealers outside
OF seventeen places, who are doing very
small business under great difficulties
while fifty years ago there was in Maine
one licensed dram shop to every 225 in
habtants. The average number Of deal
ers in Northern wholly license States is
one to every 2l0 inhabitants, or nearly
four times as many as in Maine and in
not a single wholly license State in the
North is the number less than one to $50
inhabitants. In New York and New
Jersey there is one dram shop to every
$50 inhabitants. in Rhode Island one to
200 IN Delaware one to $50, and in Cali
| tornla one to %. The average for the
whole Union is one to every 300 inhab-
ltants.
Thus it will be seen that even count
| ing all persons who paid tax as dealers
(and the number Of those who sell as
beverage. is much less), and there are only
one-fourth as many liquor dealers per
thousand inhabitants in Maine that there
is on the average in license States When
it is borne in mind that dealers in Maine
are generally obliged to do Il secret bust
ness, with very small stocks, it is evident
that the sales Of two or three dealers in
this state cannot be as large as the
sales OF one licensed open dealer in a
licensed State. These facts make it evil
dent that the sales Of liquor in Maine
cannOt be one-eighth what they are in
license States. The amount brought in
from Boston by express for personal use,
IS not 50 large as many imagine, as the
packages are all small, and the aggregate
amount so introduced is not 50 much as
would be sold by very few open licensed
liquor establishments.
The fact that the t. S. Revenue Re
port shows that only cents per inhabi-
| tant was collected on the manufacture
and sale of liquors in Maine in loS2, while
Sl.40 per inhabitant We're collected in
the whole Union, affords a very striking
contrast.
1t has already been observed that pro
h1h1t1nn nrartlp111v a ahpliS Shus
well as open dram shops in therural sec
tions, and confines the traffic to the cities
and larger villages where it can hide
This is strikingly shown by the United
States Revenue returns for Maine.
In the fourteen cities OF Maine, with a
population of la ,SG}, the number of per
sons including about $50 druggists, who
paid the tax as dealers in liquors, is 1876
or one to about 300 inhabitants or omit
ting Bangor with "a dealers, where the
law is but slightly enforced, and in the
other l:} cities there is one dealer to
every }53 inhabitants Statistics of the
number Of dealers in 60 license cities (all
that have been reached) show one dealer
to every l55 inhabitants, or twice as
many as in Maine cities. The actual
number Of dealers who sell liquor as a
beverage, IS, however, much less than
these figures will indicate, as will be
hereafter shown.
But where the law is SO well enforced
throughout a whole country that hardly
a dram shop exists in the rural sections,
it is inevitable that such persons as have
the appetite for liquor fastened upon
them, will seek to crafty it in the nearest
ri Whara tho trot
example, the United States Revenue re-
turns show l3G dealers in Portland all
conducting their business more or less
secretly. But these l56 dealers supply
not only 3,o!0 population in Portland,
but also the oG,:}60 in the county, as
there are only 10 dealers in Cumberland
county outside Of Portland. Further
there are only ) dealers in the adjoining
county Of Oxford with a population of
:}2,6ls and it is probable that Portland is
the source supply for at least half that
| county, as well as parts of other counties
In other words, it is probable that Port
land is the source of supply for a popula
ton OF nearly 10000 giving one dealer
to about 700 inhabitants.
In Lewiston an Auburn, with popula-
ton OF 2S,639, there are tifty-seven per
sons who appear on the Internal Revenue
books as dealers, including such of the
druggists as have paid the tax. Yet
there is not a single open dram shop in
these cities, and a careful inquiry shows
that the number of persons who sell
liquor secretly for a beverage, and all in
small quantities under frequent prosccu-
tons, does not probably exceed thirty
| H1t thpcp only, do in, A nlr
scoggln county outside of those in Lewis
ton and Auburn to supply the 1904
population OF that county. Moreover, a
part OF the adjoining county of Oxford,
which has only five dealers and some of
Franklin which has only eight dealers,
find at Lewiston some Of the small supply
which the drinking part Of their popula
ton secures. Probably the dealers in
Androscoggin county supply for the
most part population Of over 63,OOO,
making one dealer to more than 1000 in
habtants, and every one of these dealers
does a small and secret business under
great difficulties.
The revenue returns show that in four
teen cities and fifteen large villages and
sea-shore resorts in Maine, with popula-
| tion OF about 10000, there are SOB deal
ers in liquor, including the druggists who
pay the l. S. tax, while in the 470 other
towns and plantations in the State, with
a population of about 429,0OO there are
only 22O dealers-or one to over 1000
inhabitants There are 355 towns and
plantations in Maine, comprising the bulk
Of the exclusively farming towns, in
which, according to the Z. S. returns,
there is not single open or secret dram
shop.
Circulars have recently been sent by a
Maine newspaper to some one or more
reliable citizen is every town in Maine,
asking for information as to the extent
OF open and secret dram selling, the num-
Der of arrests for drunkenness during the
past year, and other facts bearing on the
question of the practical working of pro-
libitiOn in this State Answers have