The Republican journal., 1901-02-21

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feel ashamed of yourself for upholding
a measure that favors making your
sons drunkards and also the sons of
other fathers and mothers in the State
OF Maine, and that is just what license
does. WELL" said he, ''this prohibi-
tory law is failure and there is more
liquor sold to-day in our State than ever
before" ''My dear friend" said l,
''you will have to make that talk to
some one else, for | know great deal
better, and you and the worst enemies
of prohibition in the Maine Legislature
will not even deny, when you get right
down to the solid facts, but that the
sales of liquor to-day under prohibition
in Maine are only one-thlrd as much as
they were under license. You ought to
know also that when we were under Ii
cenSe there were open bars every
where in all our country towns. The
town of Readfeld in this county (Ken-
nebec) had seven open rum shops, at
which were sold 1900 gallons of spirits
annually. Albion had several, and also
the town of China, while Durham, in
in the county Of Androscoggin, with
less than 1900 inhabitants, had seven
hiSSAioSO SiOS ollOpo. nv CoNii VI III
| ford had tifty-five notorious drunkards:
kennebunk, ninety-fve: Topsham, with
a population of only 1854, had forty;
New Gloucester, forty; Wayne, thirty,
and Pennington, eighty: and so might
go ON showing you the sorroWful condl-
ton OF this State under license: but it
is unnecessary, as it is a matter of his
| tory. But | say that to-day under pro-
hlbltlon there is not single place that
openly sells liquors for beverage pur-
| poses i'll any of these towns l have
mentioned, and they have few if any
notorious drunkards."
My friend was silent for some time,
but after awhile he said, YES kno w
that rum selling is bad business and this
is tough question to handle, but still
after all find" said he, quite good
many people who favor license That
all may be- said |, land everyone has
a right to their views, but | want to tell
you before we part that the average
citizens in this State are as much OPP
posed to license and free rum every
where among us as they were when we
voted for constitutional prohibition in
1884. That was the year when Blaine,
one OF the greatest political leaders of
our times, received l3, 600 majority, and
our people upheld the principles of pro-
hlbitlon after a trial of over 30 years by
a majority of 47,000-and Governor Hill
was right when he said in his inaugural
address: ''By provision of its consti-
tuition and by statute laws which, with
overwhelming majorities, its citizens
have repeatedly sustained at the polls,
the State OF Maine stands opposed to
the manufacture and sale OF intOXicat-
ing liquors" And he was also right when
he sad: To-day, in a large majority Of
our towns, there exists practical prohi-
bitiOn, and the law against the liquor
traffic is as we'll enforced as against
other forms of crime. Even in our
cities and larger villages, where the
liquor interests are most active and ag-
gressive, and where the law is most per-
sistently violated, it has not failed to
exert restraining and salutary intiu-
ence."
In Cumberland county, after % days
of Sheriff Pearson's administration,
there was not hotel or regular bar
room in which liquor was sold in Port
land. The occupants in the jail were
emptied one-half and drunken people
were rarely seen on the streets. May
the good work continue in Maine, and l
earnestly hope that year by year will
| oilo" INV III " III DolUlC dlIloU
| the greatest foe to civilization. This
anxiety ON the part of the rumsellers
for reSubmiSSiOn reminds me that when
| was boy was very fond of chasing
| squirrels, and | remember one day as |
was chasing fine large gray one that.
| in order to get rid of me he ran into
big hole in tree and then | got little
stick and run it up the hole and tried
to reach him but with no success: but
when | cut a good long stick and the
first thrust that | made reached him,
then there was great commOtlOn. So
with our prohibitory law; it reaches the
rumsellers and that is just what they
don't want; they desire to sell liquor
unmolested, hence they want us to
adopt license law in Maine. | have
resisted for years, and shall continue to
resist as long as | have life and reason,
licensing of this damnable outrage of
Intoxicating liquors, which Lord Bacon
declared 'has destroyed more of the hui
man race and alienated more property
than all other crimes on EARTH" The
members of our legislature who favor
license would do we'll to recall the words
of the United States supreme court in
famous decision as follows:
''No legislature can bargain away the
PupllC VI Vic puUllO HC
people themselves cannot do it, much
less their servants Government is or
gained with a view to their preserva-
ton and cannot divest itself of the |
power to provide for Them
When any Legislature licenses the
saloon it bargains away the public
health and morals Of the people, and |
yet under this decision of the highest |
tribunal in our land, it has no right and |
the people have no right to do so. The
rum shop hasn't moral or constitu-
tional leg to stand on, and the people |
cannot rightfully give it one. Over the
door of our Legislature should be writ
ten the pure words of Lowell:
s'Be noble. and the nobleness that lies
In other men, sleeping but never dead,
Will rise in majesty to meet thine own"
FRANK w. GOWEN.
Waterville, Feb. 1, 1901.