The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-03-28
Tho Maine Law.

TO The Editor Of the Press:
Twas very glad to see In the Press Of thi.
morning C27th) this.paragraph which repre-
duce he.e, because It gives me an opportuni-
ty to say In the columns OF your influential
and widely circulated paper what the mass
of the people Of Maine are not well Informed
upon and which l wish them TO know:
We regret to observe that Gen. Neal Dow
Is furnishing arguments both to the friends
and the foes Of the Massaehusett7 pr0hibi-
tion amendment. Its friends quote shis from
letter recently written by him TO the Brook
lyn Eagle:
In more than three-Fourths of our rMaine1 ter
rltory, containing far more than three-f0urths Of
our people, the trafic Is practically unknown an
entire generation has grolCn up there, nerer har-
ING seen q rum shop or the results Of one.
Its foes are quoting this recently written
by the General In the Lewiston Journal:
For more than twenty years l have been 10
every Legislature In Maine, often with hundreds
law as would make lt thoroughly effective These
Efforts have always tailed, and ths 0rOg shOus
keep ofl pretty much as they did tlreatv Bears
Extracts like these from letters and
speeches Of mine have for several weeks
been going the rounds Of the press through
out the country, which detached from the
context convey a meaning that taken In con
nection with what follows and precedes
them. they would not warrant
The letters from which these extracts are
taken said: The volume Of the liquor traf-
ic in Maine Is not more than one-twentieth
of its former magnitude. The law has sup
pressed every brewery and distillery In the
State. Our people save annually. directly
and Indirectly, more than twenty-four MIL
lion dollars, which under any forTn Of
license would be spent and wasted In drink.
At the same time In those old days great
quantities Of West Indian rum were imported
into Maine by the cargo, many carg0es every
year. Now none Of it is imported here and
has not been in many years. Maine, in the
old rum time. was the poorest state in the
Union, now 1t Is one Of the most prosperous.
Mr.. Blaine says 1t Is the most prosperous
Onr people used to spend In drink the entire
value OF all our property In every period Of
twenty years, as the people OF the nation are
now doing In every period OF tairty-nye
years. l said:
The liquor traffic fingers in our cities and
large towns on small scale, and more or
less upon the sly, and this Is due only to GER
tain defects In the laws, which we have en-
deavoTed TO have corrected, but We have
failed In this. Liquor Is sold for the profit
of 1t. Nothing Is needed but such change
in the law as will make IL Improbable and
uncomfortable TO those who violate i. With
such amendments, pure and simple, every
vestige Of the liquor traffic could be driven
out OF the State In six months. Indeed with
such change In the law as | suggest there
would be no contest In the courts, because
the liquor sellers woull Immediately aban-
don the business. They frankly say they
would do so. In default OF this, "the grog
shops (such as have described them keep
on pretty much as they did twenty years
ago" II am wrong In this perhaps some
one will set me right.
This state Of things Is not due 10 a lack OF
public sentiment against the liquor. trafie.
This was clearly seen In the overwhelming
majority by which prohibition was put into
the constitution. am anxious that our peo-
Pile should know why IL Is that the sma
fraction of the liquor traffic, speak a
should be permitted to curse so many as 4,
does and 10 blast, as by force, so many q
our houses. NRAI. Dow.