The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-11
PROHIBITION A FARCE
MAINE CONVINCED OF FOLLY WILL VOTE A REPEAL.
Dow Law is Openly Disregarded in All of the Larger Cities-Plenty
 of Liquor May Be Had for the Asking at Hotels.

Bangor (Me.) Letter.
 It is just fifty years and week since
 the Maine Legislature. after a contest
 that will ever be memorable in the #history of the State, passed the pro-
 liibitery liquor law introduced and
 championed by Neal Dow. Notwith-
 standing the fact that the law has re-
 mained upon the statute books ever 3since, and has been enforced with great
 rigor at certain times and in certain
 places, there has been quite the aver
 age amount of liquor drank in Maine Band quite the average number of ar <rests for drunkenness and various of-
 fenses to which liquqor- drinking leads. Hand now, after the lapse Of so long a #.time, during which legal prohibition |#has had fair trial with all the ma
 chinery of the State and the several Mcounties almost continuously in the
 hands of the friends of the theory,
 there is a strong movement on foot to
 do away with the law for good and Ball Prohibition has been and still is
 Nan admitted failure, and the thinking
 people of the State have become *united in a campaign to bring about Ia repeal of the law which officials are
 unable to enforce and which large
 proportion of the electorate does not
 wish to see enforced.
 
 There are many reasons why many of the strictest temperance men in this *State desire to wipe the prohibitory law from the statute books They are com Nprehended in a single sentence: Pro &hibition does not prohibit" At no Etime since 1851 has any man of means Hacked the ability or the opportunity < to procure all the liquor he wanted for &his own and his friends consumption. The well-stocked private sideboard Is \ as common a feature in Maine as IL I is in any other part of the United States. Every city in the State has its clubs and the buffet. At all the big zbanouets wine is served as ostenta- ktiously as in Boston, New York or Chi cago. Just as many men-promlnent and otherwise-take their toddy in Maine as they do in any other State, spopulation considered.
 The dispute in Maine is over handling the public saloon so as to diminish drunkenness. The Maine enforcement spendulum a year ago had swung in the how license direction about as far as it acould. In practically every county in sMaine the Bangor plan, so-called, pre- svailed County attorneys sent depu- stv sheriff to Portsmouth, and from the hooks of the Collector of Internal Rev. senue the officer copied all the names those co ling a special liquor tax to the United states Government. This was accept led as prima facie evidence that the per- lsons paving that tax were liquor deal | CTS. Therefore, on notification by the county attorney that an indictment had been returned against them they | came forward and paid the regular fine, | Is11O. Some counties imposed this fine Twice a year, some three times. But even S330 constitutes low license. The |liquor dealers paid with alacrity.
 Officials Wink at Violations.
 For years it has been notorious that certain State officials charged with the | enforcement of the liquor law were run ming a sort of side business of their | own. It became well known by the | Testimony of liquor dealers themselves that in ce tain counties only limited | number would be allowed to engage in | the rum business. These men who | were permitted to sell declare that they | have paid over to the officers certain regular amounts. so much barrel on beer and ale and other sums on cases of liquor.
 As these facts began to be bruited, | the voters became indignant that cer- tain officers were making so much | money. In some counties, what with his profits in boarding prisoners and in fees and other income, the sheriff was putting away $25 900 a year. This may | seem exaggerated but it is easily with in the limits of truth, and the fact has added not a little to the strength of the movement for the repeal of a law that can be made an instrument for H. lic!t gain by unp p~incipled men.
 Tn the larger cities the greatest -hange of sentiment regarding prohi- l