The Republican journal., 1884-01-10
A Case OF Locke Jaw.

the editor OF the Toledo Blade, who is better
known as petroleum V. Nasby," would visit
Maine and Vermont for the purpose of making
Il thorough investigation of the liquor traffic in
all its phases, with view to determining the
question. docs Prohibition prohibit" Mr..
Locke has visited Maine and has published in
the Blade the result of his investigations in
Portland and vicinity. While we are willing to
accept his conclusions, that the prohibitory laws
have had IA generally good effect in this State
we must protest against the picture he presents
of Maine before prohibition; while his state
mcnts as to the present enforcement of the law
in Portland are certainly open to question. Mr.
Locke says of Maine thirty years ago:
There was. probably, no Stale in the North
that was more given to drink 30 years ago
than Maine. 1t has an immense coast line, and
at that time its ports were important. The
fisheries employed great many men, and sail
ors in port are VIGOROUSLY addicted to rum. 1t
was vast numbering State, and those whose
winters are spent in camps in the forests, dear
lv love the excitement of stimulants when out
of them. 1t is Il singular fact that men who
follow the water, whether it be the inland lake,
the river, or the open sea, are addicted to the
Use Of stlmulants more than any other class.
except it may be those connected with horses
+
those three lines of business.
The farmers We're all. or very large per-
@entage of them, drinking men. West India
rum, which is the vilest of the whole family of
stlnuanS was as common as water and we'll
nigh as cheap. Farmers and mechanics had it
in their houses. every grocery store had its bar
and the trade of the average groceryman was,
50 per cent. of it. rum. 1t was everywhere,
drank by everybody and was as universal as
air and water, and the drink habit had increas-
ed TO fearful proportions.
The condition of the State was Wretched in
the extreme. With population of not much
over half Il million, Maine was consuming $l3,-
0oooo0 i'll rum, per annum. Rum absorbs the
surplus earnings of the entire State. The
farms. a rule, Were badly kept and shabby
to a degree. ln the rural districts about Port
! land. 80 years ago, one could travel miles and
not pass wcll-kept farm. The houses We're
dingy and unpainted, the glass in the windows
were stuffed with rags or old hats, the farmers
were badly dressed. and there was, all over the
State, those symptoms of poverty and sloth
that are certain and unmstakable as red noses.
Every village had its rum-shops, and those
of any preten>ions scores of them. Lawless-
ness and Order-breakng We're common.
}raw> and lighting Were invariable on election
days and all public occasions. and in short, the
state was demoraized. as IA State wholly given
over TO rum always is. 1t was the regular
thing-rum. slothfulness, poverty and lawless-
ness.
This is simply scandalous and libellouS. 1t
is untrue in general and in detail. 1t is neither
true picture of Maine thirty years ago nor of
any other time in her history. Especially is it
untrue of the farmers and farms of thirty Years
ago. 1t is not true that every village had its
rumsh0p>." There We're towns and villages
them and prior to that time. in which not a
drop of liquor could be bought. The few who
/ drank had to 90 elsewhere for their rum.
Drunk mess was considered rs disgraceful
then as now and. in short. the Maine of thirty
years ago was neither wholly demoralized nor
given up TO rum and riot, as Mr.. Locke asserts.
He Is perhaps quite as wide of the truth in
another direction. He says of the present
situation in Portland under prohibitions
How is it now: There is city of SO 200
people without an open bar. Where the rum
shops were, people are at work at reputable.
none reproducing. captaEcreating occupations.
The laborcr can't get rum, and the money that
formerly went for rum is now expended in
food and clothing and the luXurie> of life. He
Is better housed, better fed and better clothed
than ever. and those who deal in the necessar-
les and Injuries Of life are correspondingly
better Oft. for they have Il better trade and get
better pay for ii.
1t matters little whether the bar is an open
one or not, 80 long as those who want rum and
can pay for it. may get all they can drink OF
pay for; and that is the case in Portland TODAY.
Mr.. Locke could have informed himself in this
direction by a ten minutes walk or an examin-
alton of The police court records, and his nyes-
LEGATIONS would have been more valuable had
they been conducted in this way instead of
drawing upon incomes imagination for his
fttt> and cmbelli>hing them from his own too
eNhuherant fancy. We sometimes hear of
courts organized to convict. Mr.. Locke evi-
IDENTIFY had his case made up before he came TO
Maine, and was not particular what kind of
testimony he accepted to sustain his conclusion
that prohibition does prohibit. He might have
saved himself the trouble of the journey We
who live here know more about this question
than he can tell Us. He has added nothing to
the weight OF testimony IN favor of prohibition
and we are not sure but that he has harmed in
stead of helping the temperance cause. There
may be some few so carried away by their fam
atheism as to be pleased at the defamation of
our State. because this false picture of Maine
thirty years ago brings out in boder relief the
good accomplished through temperance egisll-
ton. But the great majority will regard Mr..
Locke'> letter as an insult to our people and to
common sense, and that is the light in which
we regard il.