The Somerset reporter., 1901-12-05
Men and Alcohol.
Continued from Ia Ssge.)


all low and illicit dives because such
places take business away from them"
"Under license they are not apt to sell
to habitual dIunkards Now If man
goes into one of our saloons and they
refuse to sell to him, he turns round and
says well If you don't, | will prosecute
YOU and they don't dare to refuse. y
Many did not seem 10 know of any other
way of controlling the liquor traffic than
by license and evidently knew little OF
the dspensary system. Therefore, in
word, let me state what that system is
Under the south Carolina law the county
and town have a right to say whether
liquor shall be sold or not. If the vote
is in favor of liquor selling, then the
State puts in saloon, one TO certain
number of inhabitants They hire a
man at salary to carry it on, and 1t is a
matter of indifference to him whether
there are any sales or not The liquor
il sold IN sealed packages not to be
drank on the premises This does away
with treating around bar. The regu
lations in regard to selling 20 minors and
habitual drunkards, and in regard to the
hours of opening are strict and of course
easily enforced. The State guarantees
that the liquor is pure, and the profits
of the business are returned to the
counties and towns The saloon is
simply place where if a man is bound
to have liquor he can go and get it. A
system similar to this has been in opera
ton in sweden and Norway for fifty
years, and Russia has recently adopted
it over large areas of her empire.
The third question that l asked was
this:
DO You Believe That while We Have the
Prohibitory Law on the Statute Books
That 1t Ought to be Enforced?
To this every single man answered
"Y esq and answered Eyes emphatical-
ly. There was not a dissenting voice.
Let me group opinions.
What is the condition in Skowhegan
today? There were two who thought
that things were run as decently as
could be expected, but one of these ad
mitted later that he considered the
present method to be low license, and
that liquor was sold as freely here as in
any license town. The opinion of the
other 98 was that conditions were a dis.
grace to the town. One man said "The
saloon is a disreputable institution. Ny
business takes me all over the state and
conditions are worse here than in any
other town except Bangor" A man who
had lived in Bangor said that he thought
we had practically adopted the Bangor
plan. Another said "Things have grown
worse and worse for ten years The
large amount of drunkenness on our
streets was commented upon by several.
The fact that liquor is freely sold to
minors and habitual drunkards was a
matter of remark by men who are in a
position to know these things. The
mildest expression WAS Things are too
loose' The strong expressions, and
there we're many of them were ut is a
damned disgrace, . sit is "A cussed farce"
One man said II have boy, this town
is hell hole in which to bring up a
boy" Another, Something ought to
be done to stop this Internal drunken
ness Another, man who drinks
himself, "Things are going too far in this
town -"
The general opinion was that this
town is disgraced. | found one man
who contended that the law is enforced
as well as other laws but he was a lone
voice crying in the wilderness Why is
not the law enforced? | found various
reasons given. Quite number said
"Too many men drink themselves and
want their glass" | heard some very
interesting estimates as to the number
of drinking men in Skowhegan OF
course by drinking men | do not mean
habitual drunkards but men who on ;
casions, at banquets etc, would not
hesitate to take glass or two of liquor.
One man said Is per cent, another mine
out of ten of the business men drink.
A child in one of our sunday schools
was taught the evil of the saloon and
going home said "Papa | don't think
they can be very bad places when 80
many nice men go into them some
of the men said ~ drink myself but
want the law enforced " But a large
majority of the men said 1.-THE law is
not enforced because the officers will
not do their duty" Except for three
men who have spoken kind word,
have heard nothing but condemnation
for the officials. The argument has run
in this way: The officers are elected to
enforce the law; they have taken their
oath of office to do it; they do not do it
and are to be condemned. | can see no
flaw in the argument. But | have far
more sympathy for the sheriff of Somer-
set county than | had a week ago for he
has been most heartily condemned and
the hot earnest words of many showed
that they meant what they said but
nevertheless there are extenuating cir
cumstances for the sheriff Gentlemen
you dispise the sheriff for not doing his
duty, you ought to dispse yourselves
for not doing yours. While these one
hundred men condemned the sheriff
could not help feeling that it seemed as
though some who lived in glass houses
were throwing stones. No doubt the
most of you voted for him and therefore
have no reason to complain. Moreov3r
If the one hundred who said to me Eyes
| want the law enforced" would go to
the sheriff of this county and say to him
what they said To me and then stand
back of their word have no doubt but
that he would enforce the law. The
sheriff is guilty and so are you And
yet man who does not do his duty
never can and never does win the re
spect of the people They may vote for
him if his name is on their party ticket
but that does not mean that they respect
him or love him. A man gains real
honor and true friends only when like
Lincoln he stands for right and does his
duty
In these interviews our police foI &C
also came in for a share of condemna
ton. Several interesting estimates have
been made of the amount of money
spent for liquor in this town in the
course of year. A low estimate was
$50, 600 and the estimates ran from thai
to 100000. One man informed me that
these saloon keepers had been in busi