The Portland daily press., 1895-03-28

The PRESS has no intention of mis-
representing Gen. Dow, and it had no
such intention when il alleged that he
had intimated in his article published yes
terday that the judges were corrupt. Its
allegation was an inference from the
Generals language, which was as fol-
lows:
The great obstacle lying in the way OF
an effective administration or PROMOTION
wherever there is such a law is the dis
erection now conceded to the courts. In
this State that obstruction became SO
scandalous that the legislature ordered
the liquor dockets to be published in the
newspapers in the hope that exposure
to the public gaze might correct the
evil. have many of thess dockets, and
they ara a sight to behold! All up and
down the long list of liquor cases are the
| names OF convicted rumsellers marked
continued, not be brought forward
without special order Of the court"
| What is the meaning of this?? that they
are not to be punished, that the opera
| ton of the law in heir cases is suspend
ed? 1t means this: you shall not pay or
| go to Jail, though the law commands it,
1t means that tine name will be dropped
| from the docket by and by. | have one
| docket at the head of which the name OF
| a notorious rumseller is eight times re-
peated: Continued not to be brought
forward without special order of the
court" Many names are two, three and
four times repeated in that way Every
man of common sense knows that prompt
arrest, trial and punishment of crimi-
nal is important to proper adminlstra-
tion of laws. My proposition in relation
to the discretion of the judges of which
the PRESS complains, was taken YER
hatim from the original Maine law OF
which the courts never complained.
In Bangor the rum shops are wide
open in defiance of law and once year
the saloonists walk up and pay about
| S115, which they call license; supposed
to be by express understanding with the
court. In some other places within my
knowledge, the courts have absolutely
refused to help in any way to enforce the
law. One Judge said: If an angel from
heaven should ask it, wouldn't do it,"
] am confident that none Of this can meet
the ar proval Of the PRESS. We can
never suppress the grog shops entirely
| with the enforcement of the law depend
ant upon the sympathies, the prejudices
and will of the courts
a Webster defines corrupt" as initiated,
depraved, perverted, as corrupt courts,
corrupt Judges" Now if dock cts that are,
| TO use Gn6 OeHGfdIS own WOEuS. SiS LII
to behold"; if entries on these dockets put
their by order of the court that mean,
using the Generals own language again,
that you shall not pay or go to Jail
though the law commands it;n if saloon
lists" in Bangor walk up to the court and
pay a license fee once a year, sup
posed to be by express understanding
with the courts" again quoting the Gen.
raPs language; if the remark of one of
the judges that "if an angel from heaven
should ask it he would not help enforce the
liquor law'i-if these things and others in
the Generals letter do not signify that
the courts are "vitiatsd, n"perve,t edn and
"depraved" even, then we should like to
| have somebody point out what they do
mean. The only means of ascertaining
the Generals intention was from his
language and it seemed a fair inference
from that that he intended to intimate
that the judges were vitiated, perverted,
depraved, in word corrupt. 1t appears
however, from bis letter elsewhere pub
lished that such twas not his purpose.
We think, however, that he must ad-
nit himself that his language was not
carefully chosen TO express a mere off
| ference of opinion.