The Portland daily press., 1886-09-01
AUGUSTA. AUG. 27, 1sse

An early answer VIII pS lesdluSu as
favor. Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant
JAMES b. DAscoMB.
AUGUSTA, AUG. 27, 1886.
Dear Sir-Your favor of the 23rd inst, in
which you kindly ask my views on political
topics now agitating the public mind, is re-
ceived. Although somewhat retired from
active political work, | can but witness with
deep concern the effort that is being made TO
organize Third Party in this State ostensi-
bly, in the interest of the great cause OF Pro-
that cause Wnethef SO mi h'lsvf s.tro
cording to the extent that that movement ac-
ouires prominence and strength, by we aken-
ing the Republican organization. How an
intelligent temperance man, a member OF tne
Republican party, can hope to advance the
cause of Prohibition by throwing the. state
into the hands of the Democratic party, Vo
which the movement obviously tends, that
constant, inveterate enemy OF Prohibition, is
problem l cannot solve The KepuDlcan
party of Maine is, and has been Tor more
than a quarter of a century, the true and un-
failing friend of Prohibition. Every line OF
Prohibitory law now on the Statute book OF
this State mas been put there by the hepuD-
lican party, usually against the heTce opp0-
sition of the Democratic party. Ihe early
motto of the Republican party was lem
perance and Freedom and the record shows
| that no patty ever kept with greater ndenty
and unselfsh loyalty the pledges II maze IN
the interest of those paramountlssues. ITO
hibition was adopted in its infancy by the
Rennt1ican party by the Republican party
| it was matured, protected from the DehO-
cratic tomahawk to which 1t was exposed LOT
many years. Thus suceored and protected,
Prohibition grew with the growth and
strenpthened with the strength Of the Re
nubliean party. Today Republican par
| ty and Prohibition party are synonymous
| terms Nine-tenths of all the ProhlDltlon-
| lists in the State vote the Republican ticket
| The success of Prohibition under the Re
| publican party rule has been wonderful, not
| to say marvellous. Only those who can re-
| member the extent OF lntemperance Whsn
| Prohibition was introduced in this State by
| the enactment of the Maine law can have
/ any idea of the yastness of the work thaI
| has been done and the good that has Deen
| effected The following letter from Cen
| Neal Dow. which was published in the Bos-
| ton Post, April 20, 1884, gives some very
| valuable statistics which are interesting ana
| suggestive:
| '.The Maine law in Maine has been a great sue
cess from the day of its enactment. The whole,e
sale liauOr trade, which was very large In the
| State, ceased entirely from that time and has
never been revived. There is not diStnery or
| brewery in the State and has not been for many
| years, the manufacture as well as the sale Oh
| liuuors being forbidden by the law. AT the time
Of its enactment the trade was spread all over the
State, as it now is in Massachusetts. Ihere was
spot in the State so remote or oPSeure tnat tno
| trade Fdid not find 1t and establish grogshop
The retail trade was greatly reduced in volume
l unmstakably on the enactment OF the law, anu
| has for many years disappeared entirely from
| our rural districts and from our smaller towns
| and Villages and even from many OF our larger
VILLAGES In more than threefourths of our ter
| ritOry. containing more than threeI0urths OF our
population, the liquor traine IS nearly 9t e1 8 a- %
tire generation has grown up, Pracucaliy .,g ".
norant of that traffic and Of its effects upon the
| community. The quantity OF Liquor now soaN N "
Maine in Violation Of law c@nn5t be one-twentieth
| as much as it would be but for Prohibition Our
share of the national drink bill would be aDoutSl3,
| 900. .OOO and we are confident that half million
will pay for all the liquor smuggled into the STATE
million. So we save by Prohibition $4,000, 900
annually in direct cost of liquor and lndlreotJ -
much more the New TsTS e amount Of She an
nnai drink bill OF the nation at s0o,0o0oo0, and
| more than half our national debt"
Mr.. Dow's letter does by no means over
| state the success of Prohibition in Maine.
In the light of this letter we get slight
view of what the Republican party has done
| for the temperance cause in our beloved
State. Twelve million dollars, the General
says, we save in direct cost OF liquor, IN
| directly as much more. Twenty-four mil
| lions of dollars annually saved by Prohibl-
| ton in the hands of the Republican party
| A grand showing, magnificent success!
| To your first !question answer with en-
I phasis, no gain substantial or temporary can
| reasonably be expected from the organlza-
| tion of an independent Prohibition party.
| But on the contrary such movement prom
ises evil and that only to the temperance
cause.
To your second inquiry | remark that, a.
an early prohibitionist, | feel it my duty and
greatest pleasure to stand by the Republican
| party because it has stood by prohibition
for thirty years in the most praiseyeythy
manner, and brought to cur people the bless
ings so well described by Gen Dow above
We must stand by the Republican party; |
is our party. We organized 1t. For thirtl
years we have been heard in its councils
have directed its action and measures
Many of us have spent the best years Of oui
| in M 6p0lPat
ing it to Temperance and Freedom and othel
good works. The proposition to abandon
this party and organize an independent
Prohibition party" appears to me q scheme
of madness and folly to be deplored by every
| friend of prohibition in the land.
Very truly yours,
ANSoN p. MORRILL,.
Hon. JAMES B. DAsCoMB, Skowhegan.