The Portland daily press., 1884-04-29

| upon the open public sale. Yet so far as my
observation extends, those who are deter
mined to have liquor cOntrive In some way 70
| get it. but Its open sale in saloons and tayerns
| is diminished in the rural districts. In the
cities think prohibition Is mainly failure.
Public opinion there does not sustain 1t, and
any dominantpoliticalpa party by attempting its
rigid enforcement would pass into the minor
ity. and has already repeatedly suffered de-
feat
Any genuine temperance reformation viii
of course diminish the sale of Intoxicating
liquors. But is prohibition the cause OF .
genuine temperance reformation, or Is it any
thing more than the product of reformation?
1 Whether prohibition Is to be a success in
Maine is still after some 30 years experience,
in my judgment a problem to be solved.
AS to the proposed constitutional amend
ment, l can see no good in adopting II, but
rather evil Prohibition in the constitution
cannot be enforced, at least not effectively,
without the requisite provisions Of penalties,
indictments, ETC., OF much detail In subse-
quent statutes. Commencing in 1851 forty
statutes have been enacted In Maine upon
4 the subject of intoxicating liquors. II at any
future time a majority of the legislature
should become convinced that prohibition
was not the most effective means to advance
the cause of temperance, they would unque5-
tionably repeal all the prohibitory statutes,
and then there would be no machinery to
regulate the traffic and rum would be free as
water. A stringent license law would then
be unconstitutional.
The argument that constitutional prchibi-
ton would eliminate the strife from politics
appears to me to be based upon a strange ig-
nOrance of human nature and Of the force Of
alcoholic appetite.
Hon. William G. Barrows of Brunswick.
/ have no hesitation in saying that in my
opinion the prohibitOry law Of Maine has been
and is of great service in regulating the tras-
/ fie in intoxicating drinks, as ordinarily car
ried on, to its proper place, as a serious Of
fence against the well-being OF society, like
the cognant crimes committed in the keeping
of gambling houses and brothels. 1t has been
of service, also, in providing suitable and ef-
ficient means for the detection Of an offence,
the commission Of which it might otherwise
be difficult to prove. So it is entitled, In
some sort, to be regarded as a success. The
difficulty has always been that the friends OF
temperance have trusted too much TO its Ell
caey. When the evils Of intemperance seemed
to be increasing, they have relied upon an
amendment of the law or an increase Of tho
penalty, instead of the performance Of the
more laborious, but absolutely essential duties
of keeping up healthy state Of public senti-
ment and bringing direct personal effort to
bear upon those who are likely to fall victims
to their own debasing appetites. The law Is
simply an aid to and not substitute for such
labor.
think the proposition Of the constitutional
amendment Is only one more illustration Of
this mistake on the part of temperance men
to which | have referred / do not believe
that it would secure either the permanency or
the efficiency of the law, or make one drunk
ard or one rumseller the less.
Judge Hobbs of North Berwick.
There can be no possible room for doubt
that the principle of prohibition is deeply
rooted in the hearts of an overwhelming ma
jority of the people of Maine, somuch so that
it has become one Of the settled policies Of
the state, and any political party that should
go before the people with an anti-prohibition
plank, distinctively So in its platform would,
in my judgment, commit political suicide from
the start. In being thus established 1t Is
success. If you mean by success, that by rea-
son OF 1t the sale of Intoxicating liquors has
been entirely suppressed through the length
and breadth Of the state. | answer, not In
the cities but almost wholly so, In the coun-
try towns, my opinion is, that on the whole
it has been a success.
As to the second proposition, if the adop-
ton of the principle of prohibition into the
constitution will have the effect to remove
the question of a change Of the law from the
domain of public debate, in other words, take
it out of politics, it would seem to be the part
of wisdom to make it part of the fundamen-
tai law OF the state. But any sumptuary law,
to be effective, and accomplish the best re-
suits, must be supplemented by an address
to the reason and intelligence of the people.
President Pepper of Colby University.
/ am perfectly sure that the prohibitory
policy in the state of Maine has been de-
cided success. This Judgment is based In
part upon personal observation of its work.
ings as compared with the working of the L.
cense policy, as it has been only too well
known by me during the IL years of my pub
lie life in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania:
in part on the statistics, widely published
and authentic, as to the extent Of crime. etc,
where the law of prohibition has been and
where it has not been enforced respectively;
in part on the general sentiment Of the best
part of the community where prohibition has
been longest, most thoroughly tried and in
part on the vehement hostility of the whole
liquor interest against prohibitory legislation,
as shown in the desperate and costly fight
made against it by that interest AS respects
the proposed amendment of the constitution
Of Maine by prohibitory clause, l will say
that have the conviction that as matters
now stand, it will be good policy to vote for
the amendment. The interests involved In
this matter of prohibition are tremendous,
and it seems to me that on the whole they will
be best secured by passing the amendment.
Hon. George #. Emery of Portland.
HAS prohibition, on the whole, been sue
cess in Maine?" Inmy opinion it has operat-
ed as successfully in the rural districts as any
restrictive legislation can. In cities and largo
towns it has not accomplished that measure OF
success that its originators contemplated. for
the reason that the laws have not been strictly
and steadily enforced, nor can these or any
other legislative restraints entirely suppress
the liquor traffic until the demand for artificial
stimulants shall cease. "As to the wisdom Of
the proposed constitutional amendment"
Its adoption will be mainly public declare
ton that the prohibitory policy is to be per-
petuated, and, not being self-operative II
must be supplemented by legislation in con-
formity with it in order to give effect thereto.
One OF the strongest arguments in favor Of
ENGRAVING the proposed amendment into the
supreme law is that its defeat will be inter
preted as step backward, more especially
since its principal advocates regard its sdop-
ton of vital Importance to Maine, and frauRht
with powerful influence in favor Of the same
policy in other states, and in the United
States.
Hon. ID. N. MOrtland of ROckland.
So far as my observation has extended am
satisfied that there has been no material dimi
mutton of the amount of intoxicating liquor
consumed in this state, and if there has been
any advance in public sentiment as to the use
of intoxicating liquors as a beverage, 1t can
not reasonably be attributed to prohibition.
Prohibition has to O great extent changed the
mode of supply, but the demand has CON
tinued undated and that demand has been
SupplcQ III SOlHc way ny bOllc ptISOQS. AS
to the proposed amendment can see no wis
dom in the proposition nor in the adoption Of
any such amendment for the reason that the
courts have uniformly held that without any
such special provision in the constitution,
prohibitOry laws may be enacted and enforced,
and without the enactment of laws of that
nature such provision in the constitution
would be utterly useless. know OF no rea-
son why such an amendment should be asked
for, except that it may be considered neces-
sary to have something in the nature OF a
patent or copyright on prohibition.
Rev. DIR. Thomas Hill of Portland.
The answer to your question whether in my
opinion, prohibition has, on the whole, been
a success in Maine, cannot be put into few
words without doing myself great injustice,
and am at present under strict medical pro
hibition against writing line more than I
am compelled to. must therefore be excused
from trying to answer. AS TO the wisdom
and propriety of adopting the proposed
amendment | can however speak briefly and
decidedly. l regard the very proposition as
decidedly mischievous, and think the adoption
would be calamity. This has been my opin-
ion from the beginning. The arguments re-
Gently reported from Judge Appleton could
be fortified by others equally conclusive
Hon. Guy c. Goss of Bath.
7 believe that prohibition has heen m, the