The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-10-07

Hon. Charles +. Libby said: L woubd
say that 1 am one of the few Republicans
who openly express dissent from the
policy of this prohibitory law. l con-
slider that the prohibitory law is failure
so far as the city of Portland is con-
cerned I consider that it has tended
directly and Indirectly to bring about a
certain condition of affairs which l con-
slider is not favorable from moral point
of view. Now, l will give you my ex-
perience as prosecuting officer, and l
am going to speak of some matters which
are rather personal SO that you may fairly
understand my attitude in the enforce
ment of this law. received the nominal
ton to the Office which was followed by
my election, without my knowledge OF
desire. went into the office perfectly
free l went in there with the disposition,
as every officer should have, to make no
inquiry into the operation OF the law
but. as the law was on the statute DOOR,
to enforce it. | think I enforced the law
| impartially, with all the vigor could
| control. had five years experience WIN
the enforcement of the prohibitory law
During that time prosecuted nearly 1000
| indictments, and I collected | think over
$50, 900 in fines in this county and large
| " in the city of Portland had sentences
passed in a month on liquor sellers that
AGGREGATED FIFTY YEARS.
/ kept careful record of every LIQUOR
seller that / had indicted or prosecuted
before the courts, and had a progressive
system of fines and punishments. No
man who came there the second time re-
ceived as lenient sentence as man
who came there first. At that time i'm
prisonment was not obligatory, as it was
made later..on. l commenced with fine
of $500 for the first offence on a nuisance.
If man had not been engaged generally
in the traffic and was not a common
seller, tried to see if he would not quit
the business. If he did not quit then, he
got the nuisance Indictment the next
time. After he came in second time he
was fined 800 more, and each time he
came before the court his fine increased
500 until he got the limit. There was
an alternative sentence in each case, that
if man did not pay the fine he got the
same number of months Imprisonment,
as the number of hundred dol ars in the
fine. I kept record of all these men and
the number of times they came before
me. I looked it all over to see what
had accomplished at the end of my time.
I found that had driven out of business
one set of men, and another set of men
had come in; and SO far as could judge
from my experience the last set OF men
engaged in the business was worse than
the first set who were driven out. In
addition to that I found that when the
law was very stringently enforced it
created
A DEMAND FOR CLUB HOUSES,
and l found that young men were estab-
fishing club rooms here in the city,
and not only did they become places
where drinking was carried on, but
got to be gambling places. | found
that, while 1 was driving the liquor out.
of ordinary shops where it had been sold,
I was driving it into the houses and
kitchens where the children of the family
who up to that time never saw it, were
accustomed then to see it dealt out in
that surreptitious manner. The rigid
enforcement of the law introduced also
the system of pocket peddling, something
we never had in the city before. Not only
that, but found that perjury was be-
coming remarkably common in the
courts l have no expection at all
that in the cities this prohibitory law
will ever be success.
Rt. Rev. James A. Healy, Catholic
bishop of Portland, said: A law Of that
kind is inquisitorial, and what we call q
law of reform by enactment, and is one
which arouses
A SPIRIT OF OPPOSITION. III
The inten tion of those who made such
law, am not going to question; but it
corrupts every set of officers that has any
thing to do with 1T. 1t degrades the idea
of law to the poor people, who say that it
is only law to them and that it is not
law to the richer classes. They therefore
fight it and evade it in every possible
way.
Franklin r. Barrett said: 1t is class
law of course 1t has no effect whatever
on people who have means to send away
for liquors or wines. If 1T has any effect
at all it is on the poor class, the laboring
class. 1t has had the effect, and / have
frequently had my attention called to
it. of occasioning the consumption of an
immense amount of extremely injurious
liquor.
The late Philip Henry Brown said: 1t
has driven away substantially the Ger
man population, which began to come at
one time. AS everybody knows, the Ger
mans want to have their places of resort
where they can take their families and
drink beer. The country merchants who
used to come into the city to purchase
their goods at one time, and, at the same
time for the purpose of enjoying Them
selves, find no particular attraction of
the kind they want in Portland.
Do you think it has had any effect on