The Press., 1884-02-07
Issued Every Thursday Evening.
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Rum in inaine.
D. R. LOCKE, IN THE TOLEDO BLADE,

D. R. LOCKE. IN THE TOLEDO BLADE.
 Every father, every mother, every en- ployer is detective against this one de- stroyer of peace, quiet aud trust. Cases are not rare where men, cursed with th- appetite and powerless to resist it, have denounced the sellers, to save themselves from themselves. Writhing in the grasp of the monster they see but one way to free themselves, and that is to put it out of their power to get it.
 One citizen, lawyer, who had the hab- it confirmed, deliberately lodged informa- tion against every man who sold 1t to him.
 'sIt was my only hope,' he said. "Now that they all know have informed against them, not one will sell 1t to me. !"
 to sell it to him, and his poor stomach got a rest and chance to recuperate. He be- came 8 sober man.
 What kind of a business is it that has arrayed against it every father, mother, and employer? What kind of business is 1t that is hated even by its patrons Only the liquor dealer has an interest in the freedom of the traffic :; every one else stands in deadly hostility to it.
 THE IRISH.
 One class of Irish are the most bitter op- ponents of the law, and the most persever- ing and ingenious in evading its provis- ions. When an Irish man or woman wants whisky he or she will have it, and the Irish population of Portland is very large, and very difficult to control. They evade the law and give the officers much worry. An Irish woman will go to Boston on the deck of steamboat and bring back jug of whisky concealed about her person, and the men who purchase it of her would sooner go to the stake than betray her. That they get it the police registers show, for fortunately drinking is something that cannot be concealed. The effect up- on the face and upon the daily walk and conversation is just the same no matter whether the whisky is drank from snug gled jug or an open bar. The vigilance of the officers has saved many of them from themselves, and there isn't the tenth part of the whisky consumed by these peo- pie that would be were the traffic in it un- restrained.
 One Irishman remarked to me that it was with difficulty that he could get any at all. u ss-s
 'What do you do with the money that you would spend upon whisky were it pro- curable ?" @
 'sWid de money 1? The wife and chil- dren gifts it. It hez to be spint somehow, and we ate it up and put it in clothes, l 'spose." .}:as
 He evidently considered it cruel waste of money to spend it for food and clothes, but the law gave him no other way to dis pose of it. His wife and children doubt less thought otherwise. 5-.-. .t
 SOME OTHER EXPERIENCES.
 One mechanic, carpenter, had fought the law for 10 years, but for 20 has been a very ardent supporter of it.
 1T always drank more or less, or rather more, all my life, and I could not under stand why any one should deprive me ot liquor by force. But after awhile found that inasmuch as couldn't get it, as ii wasn't in my way everywhere, gradual ly came to not caring for it. Long before quit caring for it, I began to notice that had money always in my pocket, that my family were better fed and clothed, and that had money to pay my rent reg ularly, and finally came to the conclu- sion that if I did care for it I had better stop thinking about it. And after that it was no trouble. I don't pay rent now at all own my own house, and my family are as well cared for as anybody's. My wife always supported the law, and l guess pretty much every other mans wife did"
 He was entirely right about the women. There isn't a respectable wife in Portland who would have the law repealed, not one. It is upon the women that the curse ot drunkenness falls most heavily. They know the difference between drunk and sober altogether too well for them to quar rel with anything that lessens the drunk and increases the sober. .t
 Talk to wife about 'spersonal liberty, , and s'the right to do as one pleases," and all that sort of rubbish, and she simply points to her children. The Maine law has brought up thousands of children tc be good useful men who, but for it, would be in the gutter. The Maine law has given thousands of. families good clothing who would otherwise be in rags. The Maine law has transformed thousands of besotted brutes into good husbands and kind fathers. The women of Maine care nothing for fne-spun reasoning as to the abstract rights of the thing. They are very practical. They know the difference between fire on the hearth and cold. They know the difference between hunger and plenty. They know the difference between kiss and a blow. They are all the stauch- est, sturdiest, most determined supporters of the law. s alf s ro
 It is to them the difference between a cold hearth and fire in the grate. It is the difference between light aud darkness, warmth and cold, food and hunger. Rum rule gave them the. latter, the benefcent hand of the present law gives them the former.
 The woman is always at 8 disadvantage in the matter of rum. The drunken hus. band who has brought misery upon him. self and family through rum, may find surcease of sorrow in rum. He may find temporary relief in the indulgence, but the wife cannot. She has the treble duty oi caring forsher drunken husband, her chil dren and herself. She must keep sober for the sake of her children. She must suffer cold that they may be warm, she must go hungry that they may be fed, anc as the rum-seller has a first mortgage up on everything the husband earns, she must work that they may live.
 Take vote in Maine on the question o the liquor law and give the women the bal lot and there would be but one side to it.
 They best know its value. "
 IN THE COUNTRY.
 Tn the country the effect is more ob servable than in cities. It was possible te enforce the law more completely in thu villages. and 1t is more easy to keep ths