Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-01-12

preme evil which afflicts- mankind. 1t is
simply one of the methods adopted by the
! Legislature to promote sobriety and tenn
| perance among the people, and as such
| should have the cooperation of all wei
disposed citizens
But the saloon itself is an evil and its
eXtirpation is demanded by the best inter-
ests Of society. A judicial experience of
| "A years has shown that in a majority CT
cases against burglars, pickpockets and
rendezvous where those criminals have as
semblei where they have conferred to-
/ gether and where through drink the exit
nature within them has been aroused,
| stimulated and excited.
| THE wnole atmosphere is charged with
! the poisons OF iniquity 1t. demoralizes
| the keeper. sends those who frequent it
to careers of crime.
."Fhis court cannot look upon the vio-
| lation OF the liquor law as a trivial Of
| fence. ror upon the offender, without o
feeling of condemnation. The whole Il
quor business is under the law of the
stature, and the liquor dealer is an out
law. And 1 hope tleN good people of
| Maine will never consent to make the
nefarious business lawful. as they Ger
| tainly can never make it Respectable.
Congressman Iittlefield discussing this
question said: Prohibition is the law
and it is the DUTY of every citizen TO
stand behind and see that it is enforced.
| We do lot expect that the lawless and
| the criminals VIII endorse this idea, FOR
no rogue e'er yet felt the halter draw ard
still hold GOOD opinion Of the law.
am not satisfied with the position of the
| court, but | believe that when our judges
| know that public opinion is behind them
| they will respond-in the proper manner.
| MY view is that all laws should be en-
| forced and particularly the prohibitory
! law. 1 believe that every law abiding cit
| izen is III favor of the maintenance of re-
publicarism in this nation. l am in ia
vor of strict enforcement because l be-
lieve that it is wise and proper. | believe
| it because the prohibitory law stands for
order, sObriety, integrity and for building
up good citizens, good schools and good
government. Its enforcement means
| homes OF happiness and prosperity ami
that is why | supportt. i would support
any other law that would produce the
same result or do BETTER
The sta temenusaof the congressman are
warranted by al, the facts. The year end
| ing Nov. l, 1892, there We're 5297 persons
committed to our county jails. Of this
number 1898 were sent Up for drunken
ness.
| One Of the national temperance socie-
| ties sent out inquiries to jailorS regard
ing the causes of imprisonment. In the
| 900 replies receN ed from license states.
| the average. charge assigned to drink is
! that it causes Y per cent. of impri5on
ments. The 10S replies from prohibition
| states assigned ION the aVerage) 81 per
cent. of the imprsenments to drink, IS
| of these 10Ss jailers reported that their
| jails were empty.
PROHIBITIONS VERSUS HIGH Ii
| 4CENS E.
Some today are asking for a license
| law, believing it a more intelligent WAY
| to handle the liquor evil These persons
point to Massachusetts asian illustration
| of a license state where better results
are secured than under prohibition III
| Maine. Let us investigate this question
and see if the facts warrant this concid-
sion.
| take the following from the Civic
| League Record Of January, 1902, in Massa-
chuSetts. r..-.
over 100 towns have never voted for IL
| cense, and about the same number have
| tried license and entirely abandoned it.
| OF the 81 cities in the state the follow
| ing are now under prohibition: Beverly,
| Cambridge, Chelsea Everett bitchDurg,
| Lowell, Maiden, Medford, Melrose, New
ton, Quincy, SomerVille and Waltham.
| These cities are not all small or subur-
| BAN Several are. manufacturing cehttrs,
and three of them contain an aggregate
population of over 250000.
In spite of the steady opposition oil the
! liquor manuf2 ounrerS and sellers and the
| very qualified success of prohibition with
saloons running wide open in adjacent
| towns mo license" is making progress
| in Massachusetts, and at this time half
| the people OF the state are living under
| prohibition 1t has been proven conciu-
sively that mo license" diminishes crime
| and drunkenness. When a city has closed
| it's saloons the ARRESTS for drunkenness
| have fallen off so much as so to IS per
| cent, The costs for the poor and insane
| seem 10 CIllHlllSll, diSo NSulICy anu (dtil-
bridge have discovered that no license
| does not burden the tax payer, but it in
creases real estate so rapidly that the
extra tax more than supplies the loss of
Following are few of the defects
| found in local option in Massachusetts,.
| % The areas of prohibition are too small
to secure the full benefit intended by the
law In mo license town this handful
was Distributed: @"Cheer upi Cheer up,
You won't have 10 go dry and hungry.
Take car to Clinton. 1t stops at the
finest line of eatables and beverages ever
found in Worcester county. The way we
draw p. b. AMI jones Ale surprises the
Our package goods in quarts, pints and
half pirts are 80 per cent. proof eight
years old Whistles. Come in and see as
~ Towns and cities, voting no license,
through the connivance of officials. Arl-
ington. {. g., voted mo license by two to
one, but last month a raid in that town
revealed Il wagon load of liquors in one
dent, contending for license, made this
statement il the Eastport Sentinel: "F3r
some years past our people voted no IL
cense. This was at once q bid for kitchen
har-rooms, and last year we found 1856
kitchen bar-rooms where liquor was sold
illegally to boys and women at all times
of night and day, and on the Sabbath
day &c The saloon-keepers under Ii
cense fan IT, conform to license regula-
TONS, They sell adulterated liquors, keep
the side door open on Sunday, sell to nj
nors and drunlIards and place beer kegs
in their windows for screens. (D 1t is
not shown that the high license fee pro-
hibits secret selling. Instead, it seems
that the large LICENSE fee is direct in
centive to the lower class to sell without
a license The average saloor-keeper IS
not in a position to make amy complaint
and rarely does he do SO.
Further, q writer in the october num-
Der of the Atlantic Monthly says. IN
Massachusetts no climatic or hygenic
conditions can explain the multiplication
of drug stores in no license communities.
This same writer states that the Massa-
chusetts Bureau of Statistics in 1895 made
an investigation of the relation of the
| liquor traffic to insanity, pauperism and
crime. These Investigations established
the fact that more than two-fftfis of the
pauperism in tie state is directly attrib
utable to drunkenness; that al least one
| fourth of the cases of insanity originate
! from the same cause: and that, Disregard
| ing convictions directly for drunkenness.
incompetence Is responsible for one-half
| the remaining cases OF crime.
| This same report showed that there
were 1921 arrests for drunkenness for
| every 1G0h of the population in licensed
| cities and towns; and 9.94 such arrests to
every io0O of population in no license com
| INIT