Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-05
THE LIQUOR AGENCY.
Some of the Problems Of Its Admins
tration in This City.

The way the city liquor agency mas
burst into local prominence in the past
few DAYS has certainly been astonish-
ing. It has always caused more or less
difficulty and has been severely crlti-
cised frequently. Some times it has not
done business enough to pay for run
ming expenses and at other times has
done what would please land office
nerhaps. At one time when the city
was pretty dry" the business increased
So RAPIDLY that it became necessary to
change the hours and increase the SAL
arv of the agent. 1t has been watched
with a good deal of interest by many
people with various motives and still
has it's staunch friends and relentless
enemies. There are some who think
that the principle is all wrong from the
beginning and these have been fond of
characterizing it as the town rum
merry" Others have admitted that it
may have been abused and that the
business might perhaps be better reg
ulated so that it should come nearer
the theory on which it was founded. 1t
has even come to the notice of Uncle
Samuel, who collected his 1.-THE on
threats of closing up. But it has gone
on from year to year doing business ac-
cording to the conditions and in spite
of all the crimes and accusations that
have been laid at it's door.
When Mayor Davis first assumed the
duties of his Office he devoted consid-
cradle thought and attention to the
agency. He is one of those who do not
believe in it at all, but as it had been
the custom for many years to keep it
open he decided that it should be con-
Quoted in the best possible manner. The
agent was first instructed to render
monthly reports to the city government
regarding the sales so that a line
might be kept on the business being
done.
The next move was to put the bust
ness on a prescription basis. This
seemed good in the light of theory, but
the practical working proved to be an
altogether different thing. 1t was soon
found that there was apparently no
great difficulty in getting prescriptions
Those who might reasonably be sup
posed to use the bottles for medicinal
purposes and their contents for interior
baths presented their prescriptions as
doubted.
Evidence was furthermore discovered
that seemed to indicate that considera-
BILE business was being done in the pre-
scriptions themselves. There We're 4
few, it seems, who We're unable to get
them when thy wanted them or not in
sufficiently large quantities, while 9TH
ers could get all they wanted. So a
brokerage business sprang up and evil
IDENTIFY some pretty fair profits were
made. Mr.. Colby, the present agent,
stated at the meeting, Tuesday evening,
that he asked one man where he got his
prescriptions and was told that he
could get all he wanted and more too,
for he had sold enough of them that day
to pay for the liquor which he wanted
to purchase. There seems to be grounds
for believing that prescriptions could
be obtained by some people for as lit
tie as 10 cents and could be readily sold
again for as much as 25. This phase of
the question has never been thoroughly
investigated, or at least the result of
such an investigation if one has been
made, has never been made public.
But there was enough to show that
the prescription basis was not doing
all that was expected Of it, so another
change was made and the whole thing
left to the discretion of the agent. He
was given instruction as to the results
desired and allowed to use his own
methods and judgement.
The sales during the past few months
have been less than in some months
previous but, as Mr.. Davis said, while
they have not been abnorminally large
they have seemed to be too large for
strictly medicinal purposes. There is a
story about a man who went to a liquor
agency and wanted a gallon of good
stuff for a mechanical purpose. When
asked how he was going to use SO much
good liquor in such a manner he replied
that he wanted it to raise barn. Sc
some barns may have been raised with
liquor obtained at the agency here.
The conditions have apparently not
been above criticism at any rate for
there has been a good deal of it off and
on. The fact that the liquor that fig
ured in the Gilman block escapade was
alleged to have been obtained at the
agency forced the whole question into
the very center of the stage. Many
stories have been told as to the tricks
that have been played and the schemes
that have been worked ito get the good
stuff that is handled there.
This brings up the most perpleXing
question connected with the whole bus
iness-how can the deception of the
agency be prevented. There is a law
that amply covers the case but the
trouble seems to be to prove the deceit
Mr.. Colby discussed this at the meeting
and told several interesting incidents
He said that he had one case in partic-
llar that was peculiar. A man pur-
chased liquor, stating that his wife was
i'll and that he wanted it for her use
But later the wife herself called and
asked Mr.. Colby not to sell her husband
any liquor. Not little while after the
husband again called and stated that he
wanted more for his sick wife. Prose
cutions in cases of this kind might be
successful if it could be proved that the
actual liquor purchased at the agency
was really used as a beverage.
In speaking of the matter, Wednes-
day, Mr. Colby said that the first tilt he
had over the prescription order was
with a woman of attractive appearance
l IL .41I