The Republican journal., 1888-02-09


CID farm should at least have consideration
from those who think of leaving their comfort
able homes i'll Maine to settle in the far West
Two letters on the first page deal mainly
with prohibition. Mr. Mitchell gives an inter-
c>tihg sketch of Portsmouth, New Hampshire
q city so dominated by one man that it might
We'll be called Frank jonesville. He finds that
although New Hampshire has been prohibi-
tory state since 1875, the law is a dead-letter in
the cites, and that there is no attempt or
semhance of an attempt to enforce it in Rock
inghaln county,. The statistics from the books
of Internal Revenue Collector Page are also of
Interest. Cur Rhode Island correspondent has
something to say of prohibition in that State
and his arguments are in the direction of high
leads Us to quote the following pertinent para
graph from The Independent:
Portland has long been the argument against
The Maine law. 1t has furnished the answer to
all questions raised concerning Prohibition. Is
Prohibition effective: Portland. Does Prohi-
bitten prohibit: Portland. Does Prohibition
restrict: Portland. What is the net result in
Maine: Portland. Is Prohibition proper
remedy for the liquor evil: Portland. If Port.
| lane! were Maine this argument would be very
@ood-So far as Maine is concerned But Port
land happens not to be Maine. and so the argu.
nent amounts to just ths-Portland. n n
Maine is certainly as big an argument as Port.
land. but somehow it is overlooked. 1t is said
OF celebrated statesman that his vision is so
! acute that he can see fly on barn at the dis.
lance of half mile, but cannot see the barn
I .i.aj, l.. hn fI,nt I
much moro visible to some people than Maine
While contradictions of the statements in the
sermon of Rev. +. L. Bayley have not reached
our correspondent, they have been numerous
and emphatic. AS to the exact state of affairs
in Portland we cannot testify from personal
knowledge, further than that Oh recent visit
to that city we passed through street which
was said to have been lined with rum shops
and with scarcely al exception the shutters
were UP and the places closed to all appear.
ancc>.
As to Rhode Island, a despatch from Provi-
dence to the Boston Herald says: "a renewed
interest seems TO have been taken in prohibi-
tion. and in Il form which will materially di-
voree it from politics and give it greater
weight The awakening is through the church,
on the issue that prohibition is constitutions
al and statutory law, the respectable and law
abiding citizens ought to exert what influence
they can 10 the end that the law shall be re-
>pccted just as much as the other provisions
enacted for the preservation of the lives and
property of the citizens.' The church work
was to begin at Grace Chapel Jan. 31st, in res
ponse to an appeal by the rector, Rev. David
ii. Greer. DR.. Greer is the pastor of the rich
est parish i'll Rhode Island, and has under his
ministration the elite of Providence. He AS
tonislled them Jan. Doth by preaching sermon
on prohibition, in which he said that, while
not farorinS the law, and believing it to he
unwise, still it was his duty to call upon his
people to aid in its enforcement There is to
be an organized effort among the Episcopal
churches of the diocese to aid in the carving
out of the prohbtory law. The Herald CORE
spondent also gives in extenso the views of
Mr. Arnold B. Chacc, a near relative of United
States Senator Jonathan Chace, a resident of
Providence, but engaged in the cotton goods
manufacturing business at Valley Falls. Mr..
Chacc was Il candidate for Congress In 1886.
and Was the third party man in the contest in
which Maj. William A. Pierce and Hon. Chas.
ii. Page had their first fight. While Prohi-
bitionist he is not essentially in favor of a
third party, and only accepted the nomination
for United States representative that he might
show to the people of the State that he would
not. AS ProhibitiOnist, shirk his duty. Mr..
Chacc is decidedly outspoken in his views, but,
at the same time, he weighs carefully all that
most direct cause of the failure to secure en-
forcement of the prohibtory law" he said:
''The most serious obstacle is that the courts
are overcrowded with cases yet to be deter
mined, and that the prosecuting officers push
everything ahead of these liquor eases. We
get cases, bring them to the courts and there
they lie. There are two or three continuances,
an appeal, and then each is tied up. In this
city we found it almost impossible to get the
chief of police to make seizures. but once or
twice, when we pushed him, he made few
moves. Then the attitude of the executive Off
GERS IS antagonstic to the enforcement of the
prohibitory law-they seem to feel that they
would rather not have anything to do with it,
and their whole disposition is to slide over the
law. The same spirit predominates relative to
the gambling saloons, and no more effort Is
other thing is that the law is unfortunate
enough to have been called prohibitory. Many
think that because the law against the sale Of
liquors is called the prohibitory law, that it
means that the law must, here and now, on the
spur of the moment, without hesitation aud
due regard to the condition of affairs, stop the
sale of Intoxicating liquors. The law is no
more prohibitory than the law against murder
or stealing, but it is looked upon and treated diff
ferently-that is why so many people in Rhode
Island say that the law against selling liquor as
abeyerage is failure. As to the actual amount
of liquor selling, it is difficult matter to deter
mine how much has been done to suppress it.
This much we do know, that we have made
liquor selling somewhat more difficult to persons
who don't know the haunts and miss the sa-
looms on the main streets. and that in the coun-
try districts and towns there Is not the same
temptation to enter public saloons that there
formerly was. Public opinion il what is needed
to secure the enforcement in Rhode Island
there is no question about that. There Is also
one legal thing to be done. When the Prohi-
btionists attempted to put the injunction clause
into the law, they were met by the cry of un-
constitutionality from almost every member of
the bar. Every lawyer secuted the idea Of
introducing that feature into our law. 1t had