The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-09-10
ESPECIAL TO THE pREss.l

Rochester, n. H.. September 9.-"Quite
dry spell you're having" said a strang-
er to Rochester policeman today, and
the policeman smiled and said nothing.
This dry spell is the result of the pill
grimage made by the police one night
last week when they ordered some 80
places in which liquor was sold to close
their doors. AS already reported the
order came from the mayor and far as
can be ascertained here today it is being
strictly enforced. Rochester probably
has not experienced such drought for
years.
Mayor Sweet, who has made himself
known to other municipalities by this
somewhat famous order. is young man,
being only 80 years old He is native
of Port Byron, n. Y, and is physician
by profession. He came to Rochester
Just after receiving his diploma from
the New York Medical College in 1888.
DR.. Sweet is Democrat, but was elected
on citizens ticket. The young mayor
when he took his office entered upon his
office with rather gloomy views as to
municipal government in general for he
said in his inaugural address:
"The present time, it seems to me, is a
crucial period in the history of free gov
ernments. The peoples will is thwarted
on every hand, Representatives who
have sworn to uphold the principles Of
our constitution and honestly and faith
fully execute the obligations imposed Oh
them by the statute and charter, too often
MI and a. result
today on every hand confronted by lnyes-
tigating committees, by civic declarations
and all sorts of devices to force an elector
to rightfully perform the duties which
he has voluntarily sworn to perform. 1t
has been said by one who q travelled
extensively and closely studied the man
aeement of municipalities that without
the slightest exaggeration the city gov
ernments of the. United States are, with
a few exceptions, the worst in christian
dom. the most inefficient and the most
corrupt. The question for our considera-
tion is, is our city in the list OF excep-
tions and will it remain there?'
Under the head OF police, the mayor
referred to Monte Carlo and Rochester,
as follows:
Gin the police department we need men
of integrity and unquestionable charact-
er. However we'll our city may be man.
aged in other particulars, If the police
are derelict our administration will bo
characterized, and justly so, a failure
The citizens respond Literally to an
appropriation for the protection guaran-
teed BY this department, and they must
have it. They will not allow condition
to exist that brands their city a Monte
Carlo; they will not countenance drunk
enness on their streets; they demand that
houses of prostitution be closed and Kept
under strict surveillance
4, cn1s,n-
spondent this forenoon. The mayor said
he had not at first tried to entirely
suppress the sale of liquor, but had en-
deavored to keep it within bounds, and
as an evidence of this said that some
$500 had been paid in fines during the
year. 'sI tried to regulate the traffic
by means of the city ordinances, SAID
the mayor, (which require all saloons TO
close at 10 pm. and not to opon on sun
days, but L found that the ordinances
were being violated, and resolved to
shut up all The places where i1quor was
sold. There are several bOttling houses
here, and they were given until Wednes-
day night to close out their STOCK. some
of the bottlers came to me and wanted
to make an arrangement py Wnleh bney
would agree not to sell Rochester parties
if they could retain their outside trade
which isIlargely in Maine.
10 this attempt of the bottling houses
to hold their Maine trade. the mayor
wouldynot consent, and said the Wholesal-
ers must shut up shop Wednesday night.
The order also applies to gambling
houses which have heretofore done q
thriving business during the holding OF
the Rochester fair. 'fWhy," said prom
inent citizen today, this place has been
a hell on earth during the fair 1t has
been just like Colorado mining town;
They had all sorts of games going on and