The Portland daily press., 1886-10-08
CUMBERLAND AND AaoosTooK.
A Picture of the Old Rum Days In
Portland.
Daniel Stickney Gives his Theory of
Aroostook's Growth.
Daniel stickney in Aroostook Pionee

Aroostook's Growth.
Daniel Stickney in Aroostook Pioneer.
The citizens of Maine at no time or at any
place have ever fully, completely and univer-
sally decayed. There have always been men
everywhere who stood erect in their man
hood, far, very far, from and above moral
corruption and decay. 1t is with regard to
one vice only that will compare two sections
of our State, and show the very marked re-
suits which have come from the past. The
prosperity of country is supposed to be in
dicated by its rapidly increasing population
and wealth. 1t is the increase of population
especially which in any State or country in
dicates its prosperity. A state or district
which increases rapidly in population, always
increases rapidly in wealth. The reverse,
however, may not be true. Wealth alone is
not always measure of prosperity, because,
wealth mag accumulate and yet men decay.
The vice to which | refer is that of intemper-
ance. There are those living who can re-
member, and the writer is one OF them, when
everybody, or so near all that the exception
could hardly be found, drank spirits. Inc
state of society in Maine when everybody
drank intoxicating liquors, has been de-
scribed so many times that it seems unnec-
essary to do it again. and yet, few fully
realize how it was. | remember the time
when nearly all had it in their houses. and
drank it at times so as to be intoxicated. IL
was had upon all public occasions, whenever
men met they had spirits, and the most OF
people drank it daily 1t was the universal
beverage of men, women and children as
much as tea or coffee is today There was
no place of traffic the country over In Wnlch
LIQUOR was not sold either by wholesale or re-
tail. Ministers, lawyers, judges, DOCTORS,
deacons, church members, farmers, mechan-
les, merchants, governors, Legislators, ana
people everywhere and on all occasions,
drank rum, whiskey, brandy, gin or wine,
The rich drank their brandy and wine, the
poor their New England rum and bad WINS
key. l know that this is a very imperfect
description of society in Maine everywhere
when it became State in 1920: And history
informs us that it had been so from its hrst
settlement. a portion OF the years lo2o ana
1927 was in Portland. was carpenter
in those days. | worked in crew OF sixteen,
all of whom drank spirits, and our employer
furnished it at IL a. m. and 4 p m. fer al TO
drink. Everybody drank. did not know
of working man who did not drink. After
we had finished one building the whole crew
went down the harbor upon an excursion In
sail boat. We took two gallons Of liquor
with us and when we returned at night, hall
of the company were drunk. In 1926 L
worked upon meeting house in Whitefeld,
east of Augusta. A hogshead OF rum was
bought by the contractor, and the most OF 1t
| drank by the men in building that house.
| The winter of 1928 l taught a school in
district in which taught who did not keep
| liquor on hand and use it habitualiy. L at
tended wedding whilst there, to which 20
| persons of the best families were invited. a
.lol0a I'D ft,,., chldx
| liquor, and at least half of the guests went
| home intoxicated.
At the time was in Portland in 1926, and
| 1927 that city had a very large West India
| trade. Vessels were constantly sailing load
| ed with boards, sawed at Saccarappa and
! other mills, and hauled into the city, by OK
| teams. MolasseS hogshead shocks, heading
| and hoop poles, came from the country towns
| back of Portland, and were sent to the Is
| lands by the million almost, and in return the
| West Indiamen brought rum from Jamaica,
| Santa Cruz, and other islands, and also
| thousands Of hogsheads of molasses, which
| were sold at the distilleries and manutac-
| tured into rum. There were two dlstlllerles
| in Portland, one or two in Bath, and one in
| Augusta which / knew about, besides
| know not how many elsewhere, remem.
| ber of sloop which took fifty hOgsheads OF
| molasses from Portland to distillery in
| discharging hogsheads of molasses upon the
| wharveS where they would lay not unfre-
| quently for months before there was room
| In the store houses for them, or they were
| sold at the distilleries.
remember one night a fire was raging
near the head of Commercial Wharf. a fire
| ward appealed to the crowd to save, II possl-
| BILE, the property upon the wharf. He SAID
| there was $4,000 worth of property exposed
| All of it was molasses lying there to be made
| into rum. The rum made of this mOlasSes
| went all over western Maine, to York, the
| other towns of Cumberland, to Oxford, to
| New Hampshire, over the mountains to YER
| mont, and over the sea to Africa, to the Is
| lands of the sea, and to wherever the enter
| prising merchants Of Portland sent her ships
| or extended her trade.
We will now see what the result of this
| business was in making Portland a prosper
Gus and growing city, Portland, Bath. Saco'
| Bicdeford, and the whole country around
these towns, were settled by civilized men in
| 1880, or more than 250 years ago. For 200
years the merchants of Portland were en-
| gagged in importing molasses, dlstllllng IL IN
to rum, and the people OF the whole coun.
try in drinking it. Now let us see how fast
| the country filled up with people. How fast
| did population increase?
| The county of Cumberland 200 years after
its first settlement, in $780, had but &C, io2 in
The increase of the population of Bridgton
| for the first 110 years after its settlement
was 26 in year. OF Baldwin, for the first
| 145 years after It's settlement, was in year.
| vi G0rnam CIl6 HTSG llf years dibOl loo ooVeic
| ment was q per year. of Cape Elizabeth,
for the first 22O years after its settlement. 10
| per year. Of Portland the first 100 years al
| its settlement, IA per year, and Tor the whole
| time since it's first settlement in 1880 down to
1880, two hundred and fifty years, it is 135
| per year. The increase of population in the
| whole county of Cumberland, from the time
| of its first settlement down to 1880, two hun
dred years was onlylSoo per, year, and from I!
was sos per year. The increase in popula-
| tion in the whole country of Aroostook from
1880, when it had 1899 Inhabitants, to 1880,
| fifty years, when it had 41,7e0 inhabitants.
66 per year more than tS double 6lf Gu G1mber
| Of it's existence, and 261 more than Cumber-
lands increase has been per year for the last
fifty years.
| twofold: 1st, to shc W that Aroostook is nat
urally the best county in Maine, which NAV
what rum has done in one direction, and that
the preventing of the increase of population
or in other words in the destruction of hu-
|