The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1888-09-20
WHOLE NO. 23l
LIQUOR IN MAINE.
The Maine Law Doesn't Interfere with
the Process of Drinking in
the Least

Vnt LtuSJ
BANGOR, Sept. S,-The correspond.
ent who recently sent The San a de.
scription OF the workings Of so-called
prohibition in Maine drew o very fair
picture ofmatters liquid as they are
in Portland and Augusta, with the i'm.
portant exception that one can get
oceans of beer in Portland for the reg
ular price, five cents, snd long enough
drinks at that, But the correspond
ent evidently did not get any further
east than Augusta, for he makes the
great mistake of assuming that the
same ridiculous and disgraceful state
OF affairs that prevails in Portland and
the capital exists all over the State.
The writer says it is possible to get a
mixed drink in Portland, in the under.
ground bars of the hotels, but that Gin
the other cities and towns the bartend-
er shoves out bottle and says; Take
this or you'll get nothing. This is a
prohibition State.'"
This bit Of information is well-cal-
culated to provoke an audible smile in
this city, where 125 or more opon bars
afford relief to the thirsty, and where,
from 5 o'clock in the morning until
midnight, one can get anything from
glass of lager beer to champagne
cocktail as easily as he can get cigar.
There are bars of all grades, from
common beer shop along the water
front, where on1shoremen drink what
they call "three-masted" schooners" OF
ale, to the gilt-edge places up town, on
the principal streets, glittering in plate
glass, polished nickel and brass, mar
BILE, cherry and mahogany, There is
no difference whatever between Ban
gor and Boston in regard to the liquor
traffic, except that IN Boston they are
allowed to keep open until II o'clock,
while here they are required to close
at 10 P. M. The common bars gener-
ally no close at 10, but the hotels keep
open as long as there is any business.
In regard to the quality OF liquors,
about which imaginative or poorly in
formed correspondents have written
so much nonsense, it is safe to say that
no better goods are sold in any city in
America of its size than can be had in
Bangor. And there is nothing strange
about that. The people of this town
| live well, and are accustomed to drink
what they like. The law dosen't
amount to Hannah Cook" to quote
Il lacal expression, the liquor business
is profitable, aud there is too much
competition to allow dives and home
made whiskey much of show. II n
man keeps solvenly place and sells
wretched stuff for drinks, he soon finds
his custom gone, for there are plenty
, of decent places scattered all over town
and no one is obliged to drink warm
, beer or bad whiskey.
In regard to the transportation OF
liquor hither, it comes just the same
as any other freight, and there is more
} put down here, both by steamer and
rail, in a week than there is at Port
, land in month. The only secrecy
observed here in handling the stuff is
the carting of it from the stations and
/. wharves at night instead of in the day
time, which "precaution" is absurdi'
i ty itself, considering the entire free
dom with which the stuff is dispensed
after it once gets to the saloons, Their
again, when one OF the wholesalers OF
, iobbers, of whom there are quite /
o number here, has to take n. keg o
? beer or jug of whiskey to one OF hi
e customers, he is required to cover it up
and thus we have the ludicrOus spec
! tacle of express wagons trundlinf
8 | through the streets with generou
5, packages OF the ardent partially con
D cealed by bit of canvass flung jaun
- tily over them. OF course nobody ha
. any idea that the wagons are cartiui
|. liquor around But these profunn,
u bits secrecy are practised in deierenc'
to an order of the police department
Y than which no more humorous organ
l. ization can be found this side OF Dock
" stader's minstrels.
Just before Gov Bodwell died h
appointed, at the solicitation Of til
temperance people, two constables t
ID enforce the law in Bangor, and max
le it Just such a "dry town" as Portlan
ut is. | don't know exactly how man
in new bars have been started since, bt
G, there are quite number, and Grim
IS. has not increased, while the beer flow
u merrily on. There were a few sci
le ures at first, but now one Of the cor
y stables has set up as detective, viii
the other has faded out, and it is onl
once in dogs age that the poit
make seizure or complaint.
Anybody who ever stopped day
Bangor knows that the Liquor law
dead letter here, and yet it can rea
lily be shown that Bangor is a helt
"a, behaved city than either Ptrtlal