Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1884-10-02

and civil obligation press upon them.
But not on them alone tests the re-
sponslbility OF sustaining and execu-
ting the law. All good citizens have
a common interest in the reputation OF
the State and the prosecution Of the
work which is freeing society from
one of its most blasting scourges, and
scattering the flowers and fruit OF
countless blessings in its course
MIR. BLAINE THINKS THE LAW AS PERFECT
AS FUMAN WISDOM CAN MAKE IT.
In an editorai, April 9th, Mr..
Blame said:
"The election in September next is to
be the final battlefield between TEN.
perance and Rum in Maine. A new
law has been enacted which has been
rendered efficient and perfect so far as
human wisdom and exI erience can
make it. 1t interferes with the per-
sonal rights and privileges of no man,
but simply declares without qualifica-
ton that the traffic in alcoholic liquors
shall be banished from our borders.
one of the vital questions, therefore.
presented to the people of this State
the next time they will be called upon
for their suffrages is whether law
that aims at the total suppression of
tippling shops and drinking houses
shall be sustained and rendered etfec-
tive, or whether it shall be trodden in
the dust and the liquor traffic resumed
with all it's undenied and umdeniable
evils, misery and crime"
The sophistry which generally char
acterizes Mr. Blaine's reasoning is very
apparent in the foregoing editorial
The object of the law was to shut off
all persons desiring to drink spirtuous
liquors of any kind, as a beverage,
from obtaining supply, and after ev-
cry conceivable provision to that end
had been adopted, even to deprlving
them of supplies purchased beyond
the limits of the State, by imposing
fines and imprisonment upon stage
drivers, eXpressmen, teamsters and
common carriers who might transport
them for delivery in the State, Mr..
Blaine coolly informs them that the
law "interferes with the personal rights
and privileges of no man. AS well
might he encase a mans head in o cast
of plaster of paris, and then tell him that
he was in no way interfering with his
right and privilege of breathing the
air of the atmosphere.
MORE INDoREMsENTs OF PROHIBITION.
In an editorial, May 4th, giving
statistics from the New York Tenn
perance Alliance, of intemperance and
crime in that State, Mr.. Blaine closed
in these words:
"Can any one in the face o. such
facts as these give his voice and inhu-
ence against prohibitory law of the
most stringent character?"
In an editorial of May llth, headed
"The Maine Law opposed and Sian
dered," Mr. Blaine concluded as fol
lows: The friends Of the Maine law
must be on the alert; desperate at
tack will be made bv the rum forces in
September, and unless the temperance
army is well drilled, it may suffer de
feat in some of its strongest holds"
In an editorial, July Goth, headed
"The system of Licensing" Mr. Blaine
said:
"It cannot be kept too clearly before
the minds of the people of Maine that
the present contest, so far as it relates
to the "Liquor Law is reduced to this
issue: Shall we return to the License
System or shall we maintain Prohi
bltory Statutes? Prohibltory laws
and licensing laws are at variance, and
cannot be made to harmonic. The
opposition declare themselves in favo,
of returning to the license system, and
this, by calculations based on reliable
statistics, would reopen four thousand
grog shops in our State Are the peo
pie of Maine ready to take this step!
If so, vote for Samuel Wells"
September 7th, he said: "Should
Judge Wells by any accident be elected
Governor of Maine, with a Legislature
of his political stamp, the Prohibitory
Liquor Law would be at once re-
pea!ed, free license law enacted II
our State, retailing more than millior
dollars worth of ardent spirits annual
ly. Is such a state of things desira
ble?"
PARTY ACTION ON THE SUBJECT.
Mr.. Blame has been at the head O
the Republican party in Maine for {
long period of time. Was Chairman
of its State Committee for many years
directed its managements and virtual
ly dictated the party avowals of prin
cples and controlled its action. Il
there ever was political dictator il
any State he has been in his, and dur
ing all his reign the party has been il
the habit of Incorporating in its Stat
platforms, almost without exception
declarations of fealty to the principle
, of Prohibition. Here are some of tn
resolutions adopted;
1859. "Resolved, That we emphati
cally renew our adhesion to the prln
clples of Prohibition aud vigorou
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