Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-08-14

eating LIQUORS, with the exceptions herein
specified"
This amendment was adopted by the popu-
lar vote. The prohibition of the liquor trafnc
in all its forms 10 therefore incorporated In
the organic law OF Maine. These various
enactments have been secured by the Repuo-
lican partv-its members sustaining them IN
the legislature by a substantially unanimous
vote, while on all occasions they we're resist
| ed by substantially unanimous vote OF the
Democratic party in the legislature and at the
polls. The result of the prohibitory law and
its enforcement under Republican rule for
nearly thirty years have undoubtedly been In
high degree beneficial to all the interests
of the State, moral material and social.
convention of prohibitionists lately 10
session in Portland truthfIlly declare that
''the record of the Maine courts, the deposits
| in the savings banks of Maine as compared
with other States, the small proportion OF
taxes collected by the United States authori-
ties for the sale of liquors in Maine. the total
destruction of the manufacture of alcoholic
drinks throughout the State and the vast in
crease of sentiment in favor of total absti-
hence among generation growing up unde-
bauched by legalized ssloons-all ,how that
Maine may proudly claim TO lead in this
reform and that she is a quarter of a century
ahead of States which license this gigantic
crime"
And yet the convention which makes these
emphatic and significant declarations and
gives this valuable and unimpeachable testi-
mony proceeded to declare that the Republic
can party, under whose auspices and control
these great results were wrought, should be
defeated and deprived Of all power to proceed
with it's work. Every voter in Maine knows
that either the Republican party or the Demo
cratic party will govern the State for series
of years to come. Every voter knows that
the Republican party has steadily favored
prohibition and that the Democratic party has
steadily opposed it-and yet a convention
called in the name of prohibition deliberately
adopts q course which, if it have any effect at
all, would turn the State over to the control
| of the Democratic party and to the enemies of
prohibition. With those prohibitionists who
are bent on this destructive course it may be
idle to argue, but without questioning the
sincerity of their motives l must be permitted
to say that their course tends evidently and
quickly to the destruction of the reform in
whose supposed interest Their movement is
organized. If nothing else can persuade
them, should think the unanimous indorse-
ment of their course by the Democratic papers
and by the avowed opponents of prohibition
would at least startle them into reflection. 1t
is notorious fact that all the secret violators
of the prohibitory law in Maine who are en-
gagged in the clsndestine and unlaw full sale of
liquor regard this separate movement as the
beginning of the destruction of prohibition in
| Maine and are ready and eager, therefore, to
| promote it in every way in their power. For
prohibitionists to organize in Maine in hostil-
| lty to the party that has always maintained
| prohibition and in favor of the party that has
| always opposed it is such a breach of good
faith and honorable cooperation in political
| action that | venture to express the confident
belief that few earnest friends of the cause
can be induced to join in so destructive a
course. Having myself steadily supported
the prohbitory law from the first and given it
my vote at the polls and in the Legislature, |
| have the right to appeal to its sincere friends
not to permit it to be destroyed by defeating
the party whose loyalty to it has been unwav-
ering.
| The industrial and financial condition of
Maine has rapidly and steadily grown better
since the Republican party came into power in
Nation and State. The aggregate wealth of
the State has trebled within that period. In
dustry is the habit of our people and all
classes have alike shared in the increase of
wealth and comfort. The ratio of increase
has perhaps been greatest among these who
work for wages The savings banks SHOW
that the class of skilled mechanics and day
laborers of Maine have at least forty dollars
in the savings banks in 1886 where they had
one dollar in 1860.
The agricultural interest of the State has
advanced with steady ratio and has rapid
ly increased in prosperity. Speaking from
experience and not alone from observa-
ton, l feel justified in saying that the
lands of Maine whether cultivated for
crops or whether devoted to grazing
will yield most satisfactory and encourage
ing return to intelligent industry. 1t should
at all times be the watchful care of the State
to do all in its legitimate power for the agri-
cultural interest
| The benefit which has come to all indus
trial interests Of Maine from protective tar
if is beyond calculation. To uphold the pro-
tective system the Republican party is CON-
mitted not merely by its record but by long
series of public pledges. The maintenance
of protection and the securing of an honest
ballot in the South as in the North are among
the most important objects to which the Re-
publican party is devoted. Those who are
ready to abandon the protective tariff and
concentrate all political effort on prohibition
are likely to realize the destructive effects of
free trade and at the same time hand over the
cause of prohibition to the tender care and
guardianship Of the Democratic party. The
republicans of Maine will, as they have for
NkA,