The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-02-01
Prohibition in Portland.

REV. L. ii. Hallock in the CongregatiCnalist1
On Sunday, Jan. 18th, Rev. f. I. Bayley
preached sermon in State Street pulpit,
which has already become historic. The
sermon was a severe arraignment Of the Off
cials of the city government for dereliction
in the enforcement of the prohibitory law
In Portland. The gist of the charge may be
seen in these verbs II do affirm most
solemnly that the present enforcement of
our law is utterly inadequate and shamefully
partial; so much as to bring the law itself
into open contempt, and to make the very
name of prohibition, a by-word in our city,
He then goes on to state the results OF his
own personal visits by night to many places
where liquor is reported to be sold, both in
the lowest dens called saloons, and in the
bar rooms" of the best hotels. In these
places-himself unnoticed-he had watched
the mixing Of liquor by bar. tenders, and the
drinking of the same by numerous patrons
with no effort at secrecy, save that there
were no open signs, and the business was
done in rear apartments, out of sight from
the street. He found policemen off their
beat, who refused to enter a saloon W here
men were in the very act of breaking the
law, because they had no warrant" Mr..
Bayley also charged the political parties
with trading" at elections, offering immu-
nifty from prosecution in return for votes,
and declared his longing to vote for man
| for whom the rumsellers will not vote" He
| spoke of drinking-clubs and their terrible
| evils, and the fact that boys and girls of
tender age are learning to drink, and thus
| ''the nefarious business of the rumseller is
reaching even into our public schools for the
| victims"
Such is the sermon delivered with. the
| glow of profound conviction, and accom-
panied with earnest pleadings for official and
| Christian fidelity on behalf of the suffering
and wronged in our midst.
After thirty-fye years of prohibition in
Maine, and in this day of intense and ma
tional interests in the burning question. such
an utterance from the cleanest city of our
State will be widely. read, and should be
most carefully examined. Undoubtedly it
more effectively than Mr.. Bayley put it, and
no one can doubt what he saw with his own
eyes.
In drawing general conclusions from this
| utterance, it should be noted that thorough
investigation of every school in the city
| proves that out of upwards of 5000 scholars,
| only two have been known to be intoxicated
during the past year, and only four had been
suspected of using liquor. These were all in
| the Irish district, and three of them were
| from one family, and their father is in Jail as
| arumseller, after repeated prosecutions. 1t
| is also true that before the preaching of the
| sermon, and as soon as definite information
| was brought, the liquors in the hotels were
seized and the tenders arrested, closing the
| places instantly. Also, the policeman who
| refused to do his duty was promptly sus-
| pended, and the Information given to the
officers was at once utilized for the suppress
| sion of the nuisance.
Though in a sense it may be true that the
enforcement of our law is inadequate and
partial" beg the opponents of prohibition
| who think that the cause has received
| bleeding wound by the above sermon, to re-
member that in Portland, when a man is
| found drunk he is arrested and not kept in
| the saloon till sober, for he is too dangerous
| witness to have on the premises; seizures
are very frevuent, driving liquor into hidden
| places for the most part, and greatly reduc-
ing the profits; the whole business is Won
derfully restricted by the officials themselves
including our Christian mayor, even under
| the depressing influence of a lax public SEN
timent that any quickening of public senti-
ment on the question finds the machinery
ready at hand to embody it in act, and that
the officials do execute the law with measur-
able fidelity, even without the complaints of
citizens, and with an energy somewhat grad
uated by the public demand. And with all
the structures that may be made in the heat
of an argument, it still remains true that, as
compared with the condition of things
where license prevails-as Hartford or New
| Haven IOT lUSbduCt, Will WulCu l. Hdppcu W
have been familiar for years--this city is inn
| measurably cleaner from the curse, and
many-fold safer as place for young men OF
temptable habit.
Coming from twenty years residence in
| Connecticut under local option, and not
stranger to definite facts and fights for pro-
hibition there, l ap ready to state, after four
| years residence here, that Portland Is inc0m-
parably in advance of any licensed city that
/ have ever known in its enforcement of the
law, the fidelity of its officials, and in its safe
| guards for the protection of boys and men
from the rum habit.
That there is need of greater official ideli-
ty to the prohibitory law, that there are temp
tations tor political trades when the balance OF
| power rests with a handful of determined
and unprincipled men, and that public senti-
ment sadly needs reviving, are patent facts.
But, with all her faults in this direction, l
have yet to see another city of 40 goo inhabit-
ants that can show as clean a record as Port
land.
1t was the unqualified testimony of Admit
raj Luce, after two summers in our harbor
with the North Atlantic Squadron, that in
no city could he allow his sailors such liber-
ty, and in none was there such comparative
freedom from drinking as in Portland.
The actual facts, If you can get at them,
| will show that the results of legal prohibition
throughout the State of Maine, and even in a
city like Portland, are UNNECESSARILY bene-
fetal, and constitute most cogent argumen