The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-02-28

VI Iulh t'A0 AAOW SSA4" AHNiA
Boston to Africa. Now, there is no dis
tillery or brewery IN the State. nor has
there been one for many years.
At the same time vast quantities OF
rum We're imported from English ana
Spanish West India Islands. This rum
came to US by the cargo, many cargoes
every year. The quantity OF this lmpor-
tatlon was very large. l do not know IL
that trade was shared by Bath, Bangor
ana other Eastern towns. | speak only
for Portland. Now all this foreign rum
trade has ceased; not puncheon of rum
is imported, nor has there been one in
many years. The liquors now brought
mere are struggled into the State in VIC
laflon OF law i'll very small Quantities
compared with the old rum time. The
daily use of alcoholic drinks was almost
universal in all classes of society. 10
Work1ngmen especially it was supposed
to be a necessity, as what was called
support" In Portland the town bell
rang at II O'Clock in the forenoon and at
iour IN the afternoon TO notify the people
tnat 1t was grog time. Everywhere at
All kinds OF labor work ingmen laid down
their tools at the stroke of the bell to
take their "grog" No vessels went to
sea in those days with out full supply
of rum as Il necessary part of "ship's
friendly calls were made, the first thing
before setting down, was an invitation
to the side ITO take something"
Upon this sideboard WAS fine display
OF cut glass decanters, tum blers and
Wine glasses, with many kinds of wines
and liquors. The parting guest was ex-
pected to refresh himself as freely as at
his coming. lit was considered rude III
those days to decline the refresh ment.
Now all those habits and customs of
the old time are changed. The bell no
longer calls the people to their grog;
the drink habit among mechanics if it
exists at all, is the exception and not the
rule. No one is SO ignorant as to speak
Of alcoholic drinks as "support;n
Every Lody knows them to be mischief
and not benefit. Vessels no longer take
liquors on board as part of "ship's
Stores" they are recognized everywhere
as an evil to the crew. On calling at the
house of any friend there is no invitation
to drink; there is no display of wines and
liquors, even the sideboard is no longer
seen in any parlor or sitting room.
Everywhere at public dinners there were
formerly always liq "ors, more free than
water, and to be little "by the head"
was ID no way reproach to anyone seen
IN that condition. Now, if any strong
drinks are present at any public festival
IT Will be an exception and not the rule,
This great change in the habits and
uIanners of our people has been accom-
bition and by the constant teachings of
tine mischief of many kinds coming al
ways from the alcoholic habit.
In the old rum time every well-to do
family had regular pensioners calling
every day for "cold victuals." These
were small barefooted children-genersi-
ly little girls-winter and summer, poor
oc fnd Tto
little boys were off at ship yards; car
penteIs' shops, pump and blockmakers'
shops, at new houses going up or old
houses coming down or undergoing re-
pairs. They had baskets, little carts, in
winter little sleds, picking up fragments
of wood, shinges, laths, refuse of any
kind that would burn. Even in winter
often barefooted, in summer always So
All that disappeared very soon after the
enactment of the Maine law. because
fathers were no longer spending their
wages at grog shops. but for the neces-
saries and comforts of home. Nor has
any thing of this been since seen in Port
and How many mi SCRABBLE, wretched
homes were in that way made comforta-
BILE and happy even during the first year
of the Maine law, because the wages of
labor went in that direction and not for
the drink which impoverishes and pau
perizes those who take it. Maine was
then the poorest State IN the Onion; now
it is one of the most prosperous. Mr..
Blaine in our City Hall, during the Gar
field campaign declared it to be the most
prosperous. In the old time we spent in
strong drink the entire value of all our
property in every period Of twenty years
as the nation is now doing in every
period of thirty-fve years. The national
drink bill in 1898 was nearly twelve hun
dred million dollars, but half million
dollars will cover the cost of all the
liquor smuggled into Maine and sold in
violation of law. it is this enormous
saving through prohibition that has
made Maine from the poorest one of the
most prosperous States in the Union.
Unless strongly prejudiced every intelli-
gent man must see that the Maine law
is no failure, but on the contrary has be-
slowed great benefits upon the State
and people.
All the towns about Portland (until
Brunswick and Biddeford are reached
east and west) are free from grog shops.
Before the Maine law they were all
cursad with them. There are no grog
shops between Portland and Conway,
and generally all that region of country
is free from the liquor traffic, including
Saccarappa and Cumberland Mills,
which were notorious for drunkenness
in the old time; now there are no nicer
towns in the country.
No person who had not Travelled through
Maine before 1857, the date of the Maine
Laval was of su fficient age to observe
the condition of the country, can form
any just idea OF the evider S of poverty,
of shiftlessness and thriftlessness-a
most everywhere to be seen Djlapidated
houses, barns, schcolhouses, town
houses, churches, neglected farms, every
where Indications of want of industry