The Portland daily press., 1900-09-17
MORAL RECENT UPHEAvAL.
Rev. DR.. Fenm Discusses Results of
Recent Election.

Rev. W. ii. Fem, ID. d., the pastor of
the High Street Congregational church.
ueiFered a very able address last even
Ing on the subject. 1.-THE moral OF the
recent upheaval among us There
was good sized congregation In attend
ance,
"Ehe city OF Portland and the State
OF Maine, said DIR. Fem. ~have ao-
CURED during the last hair century a
great reputation regarding the admins
tra0lon OF the liquor law This admins
0ration has been regarded as peculiar and
TO some degree this Is to be expected
"hen men feel particularly Intensely
ohey are apt to act particularly intensely
A5 mas happened that special Iaxitv in
ehe execution of the law has been sueb
as 10 develop no little feeling. The time
may nave been said to have been ripe for
the result. want to say % little tonight
Ia the line Of the moral upheaval Ouita
co nspicuous change has been the
shameless laxity of the enforcement of
1he law. 1t has been disgraceful. In
many portions OF the city, along Com
mercial street, Centre street and even in
5ne western cemetery liquor has been
dealt out openly to those who desired it.
Inc law has apparently bean nulIl6ed
lJurlng the recent Old Home Week thera
was great amount of drunkenness, No
body could walk the streets and see that
the law was not disregarded. There
came a spirit of boldness on the part of
the rumsellers. This has been because
there has not been an enforcement that
was immediate, certain. TransQressors
have become brazen. / think that the
public has to some degree been little
inter ssted In those who have been edu-
Gated In this non-enforcement of the law.
We feel that there has been a demoraIi-
zstion. The laws on the books should
be obeyed. There has been a deter.
mination that lawlessness should cease
There has been an uprising OF virtue.
You and [ still believe in law.
Quite In the same line of thought has
been the defiance of law by the officials.
They have stated that they would like
to execute the law but that they could
not. 1 am told that the sheriff who
retires did not make these statements.
Yet here was an officer Of the law pledged
to It's tuihlImen. and who yet detied it
An expression has gone abroad that men
who have taken their oaths have within
one week gone hand in hand with the
detiers of the law. know to some degree
human nature and understand tempta-
lions. The cause has been that we have
been cUnniving indirectly through our
officials in this. Other elements have
also entered Into these causes. There has
been the feeling of env y, that men have
been making too much in large fees
do not know as there is
any man who ought to be reproved for
making money out of his otfioe il it can
be done honestly. But such forms of
temptation should cease. I am quite
clear that the transgress1on of the law has
been such that the time for revolt has
come.
1.-The moral Is that there Is a day of
Judgment. God visits sooner or later.
There IS an end to patience on the part OF
the public. Sooner or later In some form
or other the wicked shall be chastised.
When a man enters into such courses the
public takes hold of him. This is one
Of the results. The man who has been in
leag ne with lawlessness is sent down and
visited with appro pirate Judgment. An
other result is that we have annihilated
the pretence that the people do not want
the law executed, have heard officers
themselves say this, Some people Will
tell you there are two pubIics here,
country public and a city public; that
the country public doesn It understand
the issues that confront city. beg you
to understand in the verdict of the coun-
ty the country went one way and the city
went another. What do you think? Does
the city mean to say or does it not mean
to say we want this thing done?s I
think that it is as plain as can be that
however the laws may be enforced nobody
can justly say that the city does not want
them enforced. The people speak and
they mean to be heard.
''The moral results go FAR Their. Tt is
quite a remarkable thing that the result
shows that the law can be executed. Here
are body of men who have said within
the past week that If the law goes into
effect they will have to go out of the city.
They know that the law can be put
through. If it could not be executed in
the hotels and drug stores and on the
corners they could say Go on with your
law, it can t be enforced 1t can be so
executed as to make 1t a partial success
at least. Whether it VIII promote temper
ance and virtue is another question. AS
TO the rumselIers the law can be enforced
so as to drive them out of business.
Virtue is contagious. We have heard that
the backbones OF the officials OF Lewiston
and Auburn have been stiffened. Still
further we have heard OF the conversions
of the politicians I imagine that the
politicians are flexible. They have put
their ears to the ground and have joined
in the popular movement not to be