The Portland daily press., 1892-08-26
THE SHERIFF CAMPAIGN OF THE
DEMOCRATS.

SANN NNA~-@
paign for the sheriff Office in this county
their complaint against Mr.. Cram was
that he had given the people what they
called 'sfanaticaln enforcement of the
prohibitory law. This ''fanatieal'' en-
forcement, they then alleged, had injured
business, plunged several people into
bankruptcy, compelled hundreds of
young men to resort to the private bottle,
evolved the pocket peddler, and created
the villainous compound known as split.
Brother Edward G. SWEET may be said to
have struck the key note Of the campaign
in speech to Democratic caucus in
Ward when he urged the assembled
Democrats to nominate man for sheriff
who would be acceptable to the people
who believed that the prohibitory law
was an Ubiquitous law-meaning Brother
George L. SWEET, the present city mar
shall. For many weeks Mr.. E. C. Swett's
keynote was accepted as the true one.
The county convention ratified it by nomi-
mating Brother George for sheriff, and
Gorham's Corner ratified it more effus-
lively by building huge bon-fires in honor
of Brother George. The Argus ratified
it too, and day after day its columns
were filled with lurid descriptions of a
town filled with pocket peddlers, of front
yards overlooking with broken bottles,
of hundreds Of young men imbibing
whiskey from private bottles until they
were stupidity drunk of these things
attributed to Sheriff Grams radical en-
forcement, and all of these things to be
corrected by Mr.. Swett's Conservative
enforcement. The campaign went on
merrily. The rumsellers whom Mr.. Cram
had driven to the wall were especially
merry. Some of them who were out of
business began to engage shops con-
ditionally, the condition being that Mr..
SWEET was elected sheriff, while others
made arrangements to extend their
narrow quarters. Mr.. Swett's campaign
appeared to be booming in most satisfac-
tory fashion.
But suddenly there came lull. The
Argus's daily dissertation on pocket
peddlers and split ceased. Brother Ed
ward SWEET, who had struck the key
note, was packed off to the eastern part
of the State, and Brother George SWEET
found prolonged vacation in the coun-
try towns in Cumberland county needful
for his health. 1t soon began to be ru-
mored that the effect of Brother George
trip to the country had been to develop
strong prohibition sentiments in his
breast. And Brother Georges change of
heart appeared to be reflected back into
the city. The Argus began to complain
that Mr.. Grams enforcement was not
radical enough, and to explain it's incon-
sistency "let up'' on the part of the
Sheriff was invented. The performance
of Brother George and his organ was a
little puzzling to the Portland rumsellers
for time, but they soon, to use an ex-
pressive bit Of slang, got on to it. 'Pull
ing wool over the countrymen's eyes"
was the phrase which unlocked for
the rumsellers the mystery, and it
meant, of course, that though the
denunciation of Sheriff Cram for
radically enforcing the law had
greatly electrified the denizens of Port
land slums, it had not proved inspiring
to the plain people of the country towns,
who are not quite up to comprehension
of the virtues of the plan of promoting
temperance by covering the town over
with rumshops, and had failed to under
stand that willingness on the part of a
public officer to be false to his oath was
meritorious. When they heard the ex-
PLANTATION of Brother Georges perform
ances in the country the Portland rum
sellers were quite content But it was
not quite so easy to ''pull wool over
the countrymen's eyes, as Brother
George anticipated. Brother Edward had
spoken so recently and so plainly re-
garding Brother Georges views on
prohibition, and Brother Charles had
shouted so Justify against prohibition in
the convention which nominated Brother
George that it was difficult for the latter