Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1903-08-12
Correspondence.
Resubmission.
NORTH PENoBscor, Aug. 6, 1908

nsjen in Maine. The democrats fought
pea.oolv for 1t in the last Legislature, aud
"m no doubt, be too glad to embrace q
,tro issue, and to them hopeful issue in
,ne approaching campaign.
why this sudden uprising and kicking
.,s,ust the prohibitory law, and this loud
"a strenuous call for Resubmission?
what means this stir among liquor
soslers and democratic leaders ell over the
a,oteP 1t is simply this and nothing
ere. The one element is anxious about
,,s business prosperity; the other about
ia political success.
The democrats want to resubmit evil
s.ntlv because they think they see votes
a. # and not because Of their profound
rssnect for the moral and material pros
perity OF the state.
Be- wears when they have touched the
orsstion OF temperance at all In their
nlattorms, as 1 remember, 1t has been at
timed to the license key. They have
charged upon the republican party hypo-
,r,sy In the uphoiding of law which they
Ala not enforce at all, or II enforced at all,
Init partially, and with undue consider
s,;on for certain class of liquor-venders.
But until the last legislature no at
.empt was made to resubmit the prohib-
,torv amendment to our State constitu-
zion. So long as the prohibitory Law was
farce, q pronounced failure, scourged
alike In its limpless condition by friend
and foe to the cause OF temperance, not
single word was said nor a single attempt
made to bring the matter OF resu omission
before the Maine Legislature.
So long as the people were quiet, and
the liouor- q eaters piled their trade with
undisturbed boiduess, add paid their
yearly fines as though 1t secured and In
sured their right to exist as under low
license system, not word about resub-
mission did we hear from these patriotic
lovers OF their States man hood, integrity
and honor.
But no sooner was prohibition trans
formed from scars-crow on the sta ute
book to live animal with teeth; SO soon
as prohibition began to prohibit in earn
est, " hat then? Why we must see whether
the people of Maine want such danger
Gus brute about.
Hence the democratic party ia alive all
over about this question; 1t touches their
yitss it shows how pathetically they
are bound up in the liquor interests.
1t isa splendid revelation in the light
OF the past OF their attitude on the tenn
perance question. Now this question OF
resubmission Is a misnomer; 1t Is soft
way OF putting a hard question. Now
Americans like sugar coated pills.
Let us put the question just as 1t is: II
is not as view 1t, question OF resub
mission at all; 1t involves the submission
OF new question. II Is not: Do we want
prohibitory amendment to our consti-
tuition; but: Do we want to repeal the
amendment we already bave9 1t is ques-
tion to tear out, not to build in; ques-
ton to destroy, not to build up.
With the prohibitory amendment torn
from our constitution, any sort of loose
license law could find its way to the stat
ute-books. With the principle of prohibit
ton engrafted on our constitution, nc
license law can be enacted without the
certainty Of its overthrow by the courts.
Now who are calling for resu omission?
Not those, for the most part, who want
to ses what the dear people think about
prohibition now, and are anxious they
shall have an opportunity to express
themselves on 1t, but they are those who
believe in license system, and are anx-
ious to see IL the people do not agree with
them.
Why, the whole trend of the arguments
on this question in the last legislature,
with one or two happy exceptions, pointed
toprohibition on the one side, and to Ii
cense on the other, when this was not the
question at all.
The real question is: Has there been a
general call for submission on the part OF
the people through the press, or by petit
tons to the legislature? or have the peo-
pie expressed general desire for a change
In the constitution? and not what is our
opinion as legislative body about any
contemplated constitution or change.
This should have directed the talk OF thst
BODY. Instead of that they effervesced in
nowery, classical, spongy essays and elo-
quent hsrangues that would have made
Washington Irving smile, or Cicero clench
MS hair in rage. 1t was magnificent
display OF fireworks that exploded in air,
ana left no impression behind.
The circumstances sent up to that body
were overwhelmingly against resubmis-
sion, but on democratic minds this had
no weight. Now shall not pretend here
70 discuss the comparative value Of pro-
hloitory or license laws in the suppression
VI the liquor traffic. But 1 do not think
.ne time has come to bring the prohibit
tory amendment before the people for
TINS reason; for the pact decade, by
the teachers of license and the nom
effectiveness OF the law in the State SO
iseo'y and irregularly enforced, the
people have been taught that prohibition
VIII not prohibit.
1t Is too bad that this lesson has been
"ught with great, noble party in power
h 70 = H. 0NaNa and