Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-10-01
GEN. NEAL DOW.
lie Makes Poor Figure in AN Interview.

abandoning the republican party after
having supported it for 50 many years.
He said
Senator Frye wrote to me from Wash
ingtun, in 1856, asking me what we were
going to do. replied that the republi-
cans must pledge themselves to do GER
tain things for the enforcement of the
prohibitory law and that if they would
put a plank in their platform which |
would write, we would he satisfied. That
resulted i'll my writing the plank which
was unanimously adopted at the COnvcn
ton of lSs2 pledgng the submission of II
constitutional amendment and iavorinL
the enforcement of the law When we
went to them to redeem their pledges in
the next legislature, they treated us with
scorn ana contempt, and concluded that
we must put down the party.
COrrespondent-l}ut did not the repub-
leans submit the constitutional amend
ment
General Dow-Yes they did that. But
they refused to pass our amendments to
the law.
Correspondent-But, Mr. Dow, if that
was the case with the legislature elected
in lSS2, why did you support the party in
1854
General Dow with some confusion.
Well, then, 1t must have been in 1884 that
plank was adopted Looking at his pa
pers. No, it was in lSS2 However that
may be- the mistake the republican bosses
are making is this The party is largely
made up of the intelligence and culture
or the country. The bosses imagine that
they can induce those elements in the
party to follow on steadily in their policy
or upholding the liquor traffic They find
themselves mistaken. We won't do it,
Three fOurthS of the republican party in
this state are honestly in favor of prohibi-
ton, but the bosses work the party for
their own good.
Correspondent proportion OF the
democratic party Is III favor of prohib-
ton
General Dow-Not more than one third
rrespondent-Will it help prohibi-
ton to turn out a party three-fourths of
whose members, you say, are honestly in
favor of prohibition fand put in power "A
party twO-thirdS of whose members are
opposed to it
General Dow-It is no fault of ours
that this fight is forced on us. The re
publican bosses will not enforce the law
The carrying of the constitutional amend
ment did not hurt the grOg shops
Corespondent-Wha amendments are
needed to the law in this state
General Dow want Il law to make it
$1,000 me and a years Imprisonment to
sell liquor, and if that would not dO it, |
would pass law to hang them up by one
leg
Cores pondent-IIave you ever had in
truduced in the Legislature a bill such a.
you ask for
General Dow-No. could get no one
to Introduce 1t. Ii such IL law were passed
they would stop selling
CorreSpondent-DO you think ii possible
10 stop the sale OF liquor absolutely any
more than 1t Is 10 prevent murder, lar
ceny or any other crime?
General DOw-Ies. 1t is different, the
gains III selling liquor are small and if the
= "a m N "a a.
the chances of being caught
COrrespondent-But wouldn't the en-
1orcement depend, Just the same as now,
on the election of local officers
Utnerdl DoW-NO, because, If the pen
atty was large enough we would hunt mp
but now, even if they are fined, they 20
right on selling.
pondeut-General has it not been
the case that whenever the passage of
prohlDltUry law has been opposed in other
states. on the ground that it could not be
enforced, that the temperance people have
always pointed to Maine to show that it
could he, and have you not sustained
them by asserting that % per cent of the
trailc had been suppressed in this state
Now that you say that the law is a fail
ure, won't it do great harm to the cause
in other states
General Dow don't say that the law
Is failure. stand by all | have ever
said. see that Mr.. Blaine quotes my
letters on this subject am not finding
1ault with what the party has done, but
with what 1t has refused to do. The grog
shops here are very few and they are car
RED on 10y the very vilest of people The
SIoE men OF the West said to the re-
publicans in 1854, "If YOU do anything
TO hurt the grogkeepers in Maine, we Will
be at you in Ohio, Illinois and Min
nesota,' and the republicans refused to
a n
llcan party Is this. The devil take the
constitution and the devil take the people:
we are going to stand by the grog shops.
Correspondence the 30 years you
stood by the republican party, you did not
discover that it was 50 dishonest on this
question.
General Dow-It was just so, but |
dldn' know H. They have been putting
resolves in their platform every year and
taking great pride in the republican par
ty, having passed the prohibtory law and
we supposed it was all in good faith. But
1t was all a sham.
Cores pondent-Do you not fear that,
should the democrats come into power,
three iourths of them being opposed to
the law, they would repeal it, as the con.
stltutional provision would amount to
nothing without Il statute?
General Dow lvehementlyl. No, sir
Prohibition is safer to-day in the hands Of
The republicans have had its enforcement
Tor all these years and there is not Il city
or town in Maine ~ here the law isn't en- .
tlrely ignored. There is the Superior
Court Of Cumberland county, in which is /.
Port land, where live. The judge Of it, .
Mr. Bonney, is an honorable man and n /.
personal friend of mine, and he is "A pro- |
hlbltionist, but for all that his court ab,o. |
lutely utilities the law Now, in the
name of all that is decent, how is it that /.
j Judge Bonney permits his court to be .
used to nullify the law. The law saws |
that these lawbreakers shall pay a fine of .
500 and 20 to jail for six months. Judge .
Bonney says that they shall not pay 500
me and shall not go to Jail. He take, |
the law into his own hands That il the
way the law Is used all over the state.
CorreSpOndent-Do you mean to say
that a Judge who would deliberately null /.
my law in that way is an honorable man |
and IA prOhibtionist :
General Dow-Oh They compelled |
to do 1t by the BOSSES | met Judge Bon /.
ney, the other day. He said IF Won /
could understand the pressure that is .
brought upon me, you would think better
OF me, but can't stand it, the democrat
lc party of New York Is not any more