Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1900-10-29
Maine and Prohibition.


Durin. my experience as national
worker | have accepted many invitations
from the cha plains of state prisons and
penitentiaries TO hold meetings with the
men OF their institutions. In the four
years time | have never been greeted b.
less than eleven hundred men on such an
occasion until. on July 18th Of this sea-
SON in behalf of the Knox county W. c.
T. l.. | addressed the men in the State
prison Of Maine, located at Thomaston
What an object lesson was that, Only
one hundred and ninetyfour inmates, and
seven of those-women! Compare that 10
the number in any prison in any license
state in the Union. O We unbelieVers. and
then say if YOU dare that prohibition is d
failure.
For many seasons Maine has been our
summer home as a family and rare
privilege ii il for me. coming as / do
rom that state where the stencil of Il
Rdines' law is never out of our nostrils
10 ne able to take my wee grille the
length and breadth of that great State
and have her not once confronted BY u
sign Of the liquor traffic. At the end OF
the season last year a New York business
man said to me. We'll. it may be that Il
man can get liquor In Maine, but there is
one thing sure-hc has got u hunt for it. "
Al the very threshold. as one crosses
the border into the State one = conscious
of the benedicfion Of the prohibitory law.
The atmosphere is pregnant with il. The
flow of liquor ceases in the dining car
cannot get license; the odOr OF the bar IS
absent from restaurant ana 4uHGH-EOOfIl-
c.unCt get license: the visitor with UNI
goily appetite from neighboring stat
caInot sit at hotel table and order the
drinks because there Il no license. II he
gets the drinks IL is by re5Orting 10 dark
corners and devious ways. Ike the guilty
thing that he Is
Wa 4 guest at the launching Of the
worlds greatest hve-master ship, Au-
gust llth in Bath. Maine Trains brought
people from every direction IN honor OF
the event. until over five thousand were
present, but despite a most untiring
search not one drunken person could be
found. And to the honored guests on
board that great ship was served, during
the waiting hourS-not wine or any other
intoxicant. but ice-cold lemonade and
waters.
Even the public parks and Sunday re-
sorts Will bear the test Of COMPARISON
with similar resorts and days in any IL
cense state. AT the invitation Of the man.
a. ers of Merrymeeting Park. | adj
dressed over four thousand people one aft
ernoou in their great auditorium. A, the
close Of the meeting | mingled freely with
drunken person. or even one " no seemed
to have tasted liquor that day. was pres
ent. AS for any opportunity Tor getting
drinks there. il is enough TO say that the
board of managers OF the park is com
posed OF men who use neither tobacco
nor liquor in any form; The superinten-
dent said: They would no more tolerate
the presence OF LIQUOR than a mad bull
on their grounds.
A great blessing to Maine is her civic
League composed Of earnest determined
fOrcement. That the league is a power
feared by His Majesty. the Enemy, is
proved by the fact that the rum demon
Of Mdssac husetts has recently spread its
tentacles over into Maine armed with two
hundred thousand dollars and the promise
Call on US for millions il need be, to de
The league is composed Of the metal tina
turns the ways OF The wicked upside
down.
Men say prohibition does not prohibit in
Maine. After three months Just spent in
that old Pine Tree State (4nd no con-
!irmed drunkard ever searched more dill
gently for liquor than did | during thai
timep IN travelling along the rock bound
coast. from fashiona Bile Bar Harbor 10
the north woods. the lumber and sporting
ca mpS along the Canadian border, on
coast steamers to the inland riverside
towns ! unhesitatingIy assert that it
does prohibit absolutely Tar as the
manufacture is concerned. And if there
be any one in Maine who does get his
liquor surreptitiously. what is the re4
son? Because of the curse OF the pres
ent interstate law whereby the sister
states can manufacture and ship their
liquid damnation" even into Maine ii
there be. perchance. individuals within
her borders willing 10 conniye with the
devil in his crime Of moral murder-here
is heard The voice Of God calling rs 10
battle
As we stand Oh the threshold of this
new year, which is undoubtedly to be one
of the greatest in the history OF our work
let us conSecrate ourselves anew 10 the
work for ational prohibition. A nobler
theme, broader message We could not
h ave for does il not embrace all human
itv and point 10 heaven itself? In the
ma ne of God, in the name OF sin-sick hu-
marty. in the name OF the great loving
heart of our leader. Lillian y. NJ Ste
vens. who with her own State as liv.
ing proof of the promise OF victory. beck
l,s
proclaim il. As surely as God rei.ns |
believe the day is not far distant when
As nation we shall stand for prohibit
zion. There are men living an this land
today who had passed their ma jority be-
fore there was even rumor of liberia ting
the slaves in the South. who had not
white hair in their heads when ever!
shackle had been broken. Thus it will be
with prohibition When? How? Only
God knows. Like the peasan: of old who
explained the absence of liquor in his
ago a man by the name OF John Wesley
came 70 these parts" | sincerely believe
some of us will live to see this nation
bow in Thanksgiving. praising God that
the name Of Neal Dow came to these
parts.
Victory is bound to be ours. for have
We not the promise that woman's heel
it can only be accomplished by work,
work, work. The glad day will never
come II we go to steep with the law ard
the constitution for a pillow; nor through
talking about or praising God for the
ont pouring of His Holy Spirit We
haven got the Holy Spirit if we fail to
work for 1T is the spirit that quick
oEeth.' Nor by prayer alone will il come
No organization ever believed more in the
efficacy of prayer than ours. but each
worker should share the conviction OF
Fred Douglas, who said he prayed for
liberty a good many years, but he never
got il until he took to his heels. The
dignity of our cause demands that our
methods should breathe the quintessence
of refinement. the tact and tolerance of
the Christ. We only offend and antago-
niZe if we point the arrow OF personality
at party or powers. Just as men have
given us all the other good things of
life so il will be men who will finally
grant prohibition and suffrage. Hence
the need that wherever we walk. now
or have our being wherever God may call
us to serve, il shall ever be in that
Christ-spirit Of love and tolerance that
convinces and wins instead of antag-
onizes. We do not battle for right as in
dividuals. but as representatives of
great and mighty organization thai
trusts its soldiers III the field to at all
times WELD the weapons of discretion and
justice. With Gods word back of us and
the immortal souls Of our boys leadin: