The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-01-28
Concerning Prohibition.

TEN. Inat mas Deen trieu ana mas tailed,
In precisely the same respect In which II Is
now claimed that the prohibitory law has
failed Experience has shown that 1t has
the same defect which the prohibitory law Is
alleged TO have, besides numerous others pc
culiar to itself. In my boyhood an attempt
was made in Waterville to enforce the law
under the license system. Some licenses
were taken out In those days, but by far the
greater part Of the liquor sellers took out
none. Prosecutions were commenced, and
the most strenuous efforts were made to sup
press the sale by unlicensed dealers, but the
efforts resulted in disastrous failure. The
idea that the licensed dealers would Join
with the temperance people 10 enforce the
law proved to be 'delusion and a snare"
More success was attained under the pro-
hibitory law Of 1876, but as prosecutions un-
der that were in the nature Of civil action,
in the name Of a private citizen, and wholly
at private expense. the fight was too unequal
to be long sustained In any community. In
the southerly part Of Somerset county. how
ever, under the lead Of Joshua Nye. the Law
was enforced sufficiently to diminish the
traffic, but not to suppress II. The material
additions to the law In 1850 gave the means
of a stronger and more vigorous prosecution
of 1t. which In that section Of the State be-
gan to tell visibly upon the traffic
In 1856, the prohibitory law was repealed,
and a license law, deemed nearly perfect,
was adopted. Many dealers took out licenses
but the vast majority did not, and sold with
no iattempt at cOncealment. That law re-
mained In force, two years, but during that
lime rot single prosecution Jor the vtot0-
tton Of q came under my observation. and
doubt u there trGs q single one IN the state.
Yet rum was sold openly and freely. SO
mlseraDly did the license law fail In Its ex-
pected effect, that when, two years later, II
was WI repealed and the prohibitory law enact
ed. there was scarcely ripple Of opposition.
The question was submitted to the people,
and the change ratified by an overwhelming
majority. Considering that the license law
mad been made the principal plank In the
platform OF the Democratic party. and the
State had been carried upon that issue, its
failure must have been manifest, when In
two short years, In spite Of its partisan sup
port, so few were found who were willing to
oppose its repeal. One objection to the sys-
tenn, in the minds Of the people, was that IL
gave those able to pay for the license the
monopoly Of the business; so that the poor,
unlicensed dealer had not only the support
Of his customers. but the sympathy Of q
large part OF the community.
III, therefore, our constitution allowed us
TO euact license law, believe our people
would not be guilty Of the folly Of repeating
the failures Of former years.
But the enemies Of prohibition and some
who claim to be its best friends unite Ia de-
claring the prohibition law to be a failure,
because the traffic has not been entirely sup
pressed In all parts Of the State. To the
former, we may well apply the Hudibras
c0uplet:
EMO rogue e'er felt the halter draw
With.gosd opinion Of the law"
The panacea Of the latter is more and Sc
Gen. Dow quotes with substantial though
not literal, correctness a remark OF mine
upon which he founds an argument for more
law. | am as fully satisfied OF the correct
ness OF that proposition today as | was when
| made 1t. But there are other propositions,
bearing upon the question. equally true.
As long as there is q demand for the sale
Of liquor, men lytu be found toho lCiH take the
risk Of selling u IN spite Of any penalty
which the lav may pr0Cide.
The greater the demand for its sale, the
greater will be the number who will engage
In the unlawful sales without regard to the
penalty Of the law.
Further, paradoxical as 1t may seem, expe-
rince shows that the greater number Of
offences committed, the greater will be the
per cent0ge OF the number Of such offences
that escape punishment
Now, then the sad truth Is that In many
colHmuHitt5, LHc 0eindnu Tor the safe OF
liquors is so strong and so great, that men
can make money In the business II they can
evade the law, and the consequence Is that
they take the risk.
DO then hold that the prohibitory law Il
useless or failure? BY no means. But
do hold that moral suasion" for the people
and legal suaslon" for the rumseller must
go hand In hand In order to achieve success.
Experience shows that the latter Is effective
only when sustained and encouraged by the
effect Of the former
And my experience and observation have
further taught me that in a community In
which those who endeavOr TO Enforce the
laws have to contend against not only the
criminal, but also larger class whose inter-
ests are Identical with those Of the criminal,
and still larger class who sympathze with
him, they can have only a partial success,
and the success is still less when In addition
to these, friends Of the law devote their ef-
forts to advance criticism of the conduct OF
officers. The idea that our police force Of the
size 1t now Is. can attend to their other nee
esSary duties. and enforce the liquor law in
a community having the demand for the sale
Of liquor that exists in Portland Including
the demand by persons here only Temporal
rily) is preposterous. The police force must
be largely increased, or private citizens must
set prosecutions on foot, or we must be con-
tent with the enforcement OF the law as 1t
has averaged for years past.
But there is another, and regard 10 as the
most effective Of all the causes OF the inabili-
ty to enforce the law : and that Is the attempt
TO preach the ld1 and the enforcement oCU
into partisan politics.
1t cannot be successfully cOntrOverted
that the Judgment Of men, however honest,
Is insenslbly warped by their religious and
political beliefs. On questions OF a political
character, in which there IS room for doubt.
judges most frequently divide according TO
their political faith those on each side are
surprised that those on the other side differ
from them, the same Is more generally true
of juries. In the early DAYS of the prohibit
tory law many civil suits grew out Of its en-
fOrcement, before the liquor question was
made apOliticdL one, there was uery little
complaint In cases which fell under nv OBJ
seryation, that Just yerdicts were not OBJ
tained. But after the summer OF 1885, when
the question became political one, II was
frequent occurrence In civil cases OF this
character for Jury to divide precisely ae-
eording to the political procliyities Of It's
members.
1t was hoped, in 1858, when the law was
submitted to the people, that the question
would be removed from the sphere OF partl-
san politics, and that the enemies OF intem-
perance would all unite in a common effort to
enforce the law. For time that hope was
realized. But after time some good people,
impatient because greater pro- ress was nos
made, and others, who thought they saw
chances fer political preferment not other
wise Obtainablc, once more attempted TO
make II political question. The natural re-
suit followed !; the enemies Of the law cum
ningly used this movement to divide and dis
tract its friends, and with such success that
it would seem that only the wilfully blind
could not see 1t.
Finally, measures were taken to engraft the
system into the constitution, the amendment
was adopted by votes OF people who expected
the measure would remove the question from
politics. But they have been doomed TO dis
appointment There Is the same effort to
make the question political one; there Is
the same use of those making the effort, by
the enemies Of the law, as unconscious cats
paws to attempt to pull political chestnuts
out of the fire.
The friends Of the law are divided and dis
tracted; officers charged with its enforce
ment are hindered and embarrassed In the
discharge of their duty; and politics invade
the court room aud interfere with the admin
istratiOn Of justice.
But in this last attempt there Is an addi-
tOnal element and very dangerous one.
The movement Is avOwediy an attempt to
driue the Republican party into the support
of all the measures these parties advocate
or else TO destroy the party. The effect has
been already to disgust many Republicans,
who have always sustained the law, hut have
not been enthusiastic In its support. and TO
make them Indifferent as to its enforcement.
This Coercion policy" never makes con-
verts but invariably tends TO drive very
many into the ranks Of the opposition
The enemies Of the law perfectly under
stand this, and are skilfnlly encouraging the