The Portland daily press., 1886-08-27
BLAINE IN OXFORD COUNTY.
He Speaks at South Paris, and Is Re-
celved with Enthusiasm.
Fo our Thousand People Listen to His
Mastery Presentation of Po-
IitlcaI Issues.
An Able, Eloquent and Logical Argu-
nent on Prohibition and
Protection.

An Able, Eloquent and Logical Argu-
ment on Prohibition and
Protection.
A Second Grand Mass Meeting Held
In the Evening.
LEWISTON, Aug. 26.-The meeting which
Mr.. Blaine and Gen. Gibson addressed at
South Paris today, was one of the best ever
held in Maine. About 1000 persons were
present. among them being many ladies, be-
sides large number of Greenbackers and
Democrats The meeting was presided over
by ex-Gov. Perham, ON account of whose
presence interest was attracted to Mr..
Blaine's remarks upon the Prohibitory Third
Party movement. This is also the congress
sional district of Mr.. Dingley, who has also
devoted his life to the promotion of temper
ance, and the mention of whose name at
once created applause. The meeting was
very enthusias tic, and the interest manifest
ed to see and hear Mr.. Blaine was proof pos
tive of his great popularity among the peo-
pie of Oxford county.
When Mr. Blaine was presented, he was
received with prolonged applause. He said.
in opening his speech, it has been demon
strated by a series of elections for the last
thirty years that the Republican party con-
tains decided majority of the people of
Maine, and that in any issue that is to be
fought out between the Republican and
Democratic parties there is no danger but
the Republican party will triumph. Hence
you will observe within the last few years
that every time the supremacy of the Re-
publican party has been in any degree men,
aced, some side issue has been introduced
by which they hope, not to increase the
Democratic vote, but to lead off some of the
Republicans. That old familiar piece of
tactics is tried this year, and in two ways
First, by having third party, with prohibi-
side issues on the labor question,a as though the
Democratic party was an instrumentality to
promote temperance Qaughter) or to promote
the interests of American labor. can un-
derstand the motive, and the .pretext, of
pretty hSva mach hsd every ba s act0n no that
pathyze or, believe with them. but | cannot
understand the third party of prohibition ;
that is the one that passes my comprehen-
sion, and will tell you why. On the 10Th of
last June, only two months ago, one OF the
temperance alliances of England wrote to
the Hon. Neal Dow, as one of the leading
temperance men of Maine, to know what
had been the influence of prohibition in this
State. He wrote back that in the first place
every distillery and brewery in Maine has
been suppressed, and we had many of them. !"
In the second place, "the volume Of the
liquor traffic has been reduced by at least
nineteen-twenteths of it's former amount,
whereby we save at least $4,000, 900 annual
ly, directly and indirectly nearly quite as
much;" and in the third place, "as the re-
suit of this direct saving in Maine" as he
puts it, from the poorest State in the Union
it has become one of the most prosperous.
Then the convention of these dissenting
gentlemen was held, and this resolution
passed:
THAT the impressions of thousands of
candid observers in every part of the State
the records of our courts, the deposits in the
savings banks. of Maine, as compared with
other States, the proportion of taxes collect
ed, by the United States authorities for the
sale of liquors in Maine, the total destruc-
ton of alcoholic liquors throughout the State
and the vast increase of sentiment in favor
OF total abstinence among generation grow
ing up undebauched by legalized saloons, all
show that Maine may proudly claim to lead
in this reform and tf18 she is quarter of a
century ahead of the States which license
the gigantic crime"
After this convention passed that resolu-
ton, and after Mr. Dow within two months
had sent word to England THAT 80 years of
prohibition had done this, he turns round
and works to beat the party that passed the
enforced for the last 80 years. say while
can comprehend why under hard times, and
under the pressure of a seductive theory
some Greenback organizations were formed
while l can understand that some uneasiness
about wages and some dissatisfaction with
labor arrangements might make them look
to third organization, it is utterly beyond
my comprehension and understanding that
temperance men, having in view the success
of the prohibitory law, would so vote as to
throw the interests of temperance into the
hands of the Democratic party OF Maine,
and therefore, do not believe many Repub-
licans are going to do it, do not believe
that you can get any large proportion of the
Republican party of Maine, which has from
its foundation made prohibition its cor ner
stone, to do it, From the winter, Mr.. Chair
man, that you were Speaker of the House,
and had the pleasure of reporting your de,
you, when Anson P. Morrill, was governor
of the State, when the very first foundation
and corner stone of successful prohibition
was lald in the State, to this houI
the Republican party has never wavered in
support of it. don't care how eminent the
here have been. have no word OF disre-
spect for them. | have no word of anything
but respect for Mr.. Dow. l am not going
back on him for the good work he has done
because he is wrong now. But l want tc
raise my voice wherever | can against his
men and have no doubt he will be very sorry
for it before six months. When man get.
a little angry and excited and forgets to bt
level-headed and cannot keep cool, he will d(
great many extreme things, but when this
summer heat has gone by and the coo
0f II /
sure that Mr.. Dow and the gentlemen asso
ciated with him will acknowledge that the,
have been wrong and that they have beer
mistaken.
In referring to the labor question, Mr.
Blaine said: Now take the other side issue
No man can shut his eyes to the fact tina
there have been labor disturbances in tn
country, and while do not pretend to sa,
| that those labor disturbance grew up be
cause the Democrats came into power Il
the country. yet there Is very. suspicion
| contemporaneousneSs about the two. Ii tn
| Democrats were tried for their lives. on
| question of time they would be convicted
| No sooner had the control OF the natl0na
| affairs passed into the hands of the Demo
| cratic party, with their known hostility to
| protective tariff, and with a consequent un
| certainty of what they might do, than ther
| was disturbance throughout the length an
| breadth of the land on this very labor ques
tion. Iwant to be careful. do not pretend
| say that before they. mad done anytnlnS Una
cause was adequate, but | do say that a
soon as it had happened the effect was vis
BILE, and / leave them to explain why it wa
not. Is there labor organization in tn
country formed because of dissatisfactio
with the wages of which l do not pretend t
know the cause, nor do l doubt the facts O
which they state it, but is there one who's
evil and whose wrong and whose oppression
will in any degree be alleviated or cured b
bringing the Democratic party into powe
in Maine? Go back fifty years and from til
organization of that party to this hour Civ
me a single law they ever passed that wa
favorable to the increase of wages to labo
ing men. They never passed a protectiy
tariff, and they never failed to repeal OF
when they had the power to do it, neve
Laughter You may. 60 back to the tari
| of 1924 and the tariff of 1928 and the tariff
1888 and the tariff of 1912 and the tariff
| 1916 and the tariff of 1857, and that of 1S
and go through the whole of them and G
every roll call under all those President
John Quincy Adams, Jackson, Van Bure
Polk, Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, Buchana
| Lincoln, every one of them without sing
exception, on the roll call the Democrat
party with almost solid vote was again
the doctrine of protection, and they are the
now. They don't make any disguise about
That is the only honest thing they have in l
gard to it. Uaughter.) They passed resol
tions against in their very last State conv
tion. Do you want to break that doy
| which now exists? considerable numb