Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-03-14

| dealers in the Great West. And Wha
! is that circular? Young men receive it
old men receive it. Almost everybod,
receives the circular; three full quar-
bottles of whiskey 10 years old for So.
What is the result of that? The result
Is that the young men of our Stat
| club together, send and get that liquor
| and the result is a debauch-ruinin;
them. If you had high license, anc
| they could step into a respectable place
and buy glass of beer they would no
| think of drinking the hard stuff. Wher
thing, by iaw-he then wants to get it
l apprehend if Eva in the garden OF
Eden hadn't been forbidden to eat the
fruit. that she wouldn't had any Curl
| osty half so much excited, and
wouldn't have eaten the fruit.
BY the love of home. of fireside. of
friends. let us cease playing with this
death agent of our young men; and say
to ourselves it is to serious a question
to longer be treated carelessly. Let us
heed the demand of the State, the flow
of bitter tears, and bind UP the broken
hearts that this law causes. License
may have slain it's thousands; the pro-
hibtory law has slain it's tens of thous-
ands.
We are our brothers keepers; and we
owe him duty and society a duty.
We can no longer as honest men ignore
sooiety's call to have us act honestly
and fearlessly; and to lift up from the
low plane to which the prohibitory law
has sunk many and many of the best
l. ha ta nf lot 10 h oh
er plane.
Now the women of the Christian
Temperance Union have had a great
deal to say during this session about
the prohibitory liquor law. 1 have the
greatest respect for that organization.
l haven't a word to say against them.
But what do they know about the
working of a prohibitory liquor law?
They have never been in position to UNI
derstand the working of it. l. have no
doubt they are honest in their en-
deavor. but they are certainly mis-
taken. Thirty-three thousand dollars
were collected in fines at the last term
of court but one in the county of
Pcnobscot Between $4,000 and $1,000
collected in the county of Knox for
liquor fines in the county of Cumber-
land, 1 think I am correct in saying it
was ST. 900 that was collected in fines.
You will find that condition all over the
State of Maine. In Kennebec county l
think the fines were some $4,000 col
1ected by the county attorney at the
last term of superior court but one in
Kennebec county. Does that look as
though the prohibitory liquor law had
n Jc with
in the hearing of my voice that believes
that you had local option and high Ii
cense upon our statute books, today,
there would have been so much liquor
sold in the State of Maine?
l see a change in the signs of the
times. I see the dawning of a new
light. Where a few years ago there
were a few clergymen of this State
who dared to express an opinion
against the prohbitory law, l appre-
bend that one-fifth, perhaps one-fourth
of them in the State, today, are in ia
vor of doing away with the prohibitory
law. They are honest in it because
they believe it does not prohibit. 1t
never has prohibited and never will.
The opposition would have you believe
it is the Incorporate people of the
State who ask for this law to be re-
pealed. l deny it. 1t is the temper
ance men, who are disguised with the
deception and hypocrisy that are de-
handing it. They have seen how it
has been played with by political lead
ers, and no man will deny it. 1t is a
crime that sooner or later must be an
swer for. l believe an unseen agency
is working all the time upon the minds
of men-I believe that way back in
1910 and 1860 that those agitators for
the adjustment of slavery of this
country received divine inspiration.
You may chain down a great principle
for a time. but it will break with ir-
resistible force, and sweep every party
away that stands as a barrier to the
rights of the common people.
Mr.. WING of Androscoggin: Has the
Democratic party declared for prohibit
ton?
Mr.. STAPLES: They did, when the
bill was first signed. l am glad the
Democratic party and the Republican
party has made an issue of this matter.
John Hubbard signed the bill. l have
got it down that he was honest in it,
but l think if he was living, today, he
would not do it. am glad that the
issue is framed, and that the Republi-
can party has placed itself squarely in
favor of prohibition. 1 am glad the
Democratic party accepts the gauntlet;
and at the next election the great ques-
ton will be the referendum of the peo-
ple-the safeguard of the people; and
you and /, whatev have been our past
political associations will be found
speaking together. The question must
be divided. There can be no politics
in it. 1t is question of sobriety upon
the one hand and decentralization and
intemperance upon the other. 1 appeal
to you in behalf of ruined homes and
aching hearts, and in behalf of the
many scalding tears that are being
shed-for the sake of humanity, to no
longer allow this farce to remain. do
not know how any senator may vote
here; but it is coming, as sure as you
live. tell you, today, the great silent
majority of the State of Maine believe
in resubmission. They haven't ex-
pressed 1T. Let us do our duty to the
young men of the State. was panied,
the other day, when I found, in the
State. of Maine. the right of trial by
jury was taken away, and when the