Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-03-04


there Is anybody in this Senate ,he
VIII pelleve but that I am honest l.,
what l say. There is no public mate
! am more interested in than am =
this matter: there is no person who h.
lieves in the prohibitory Iaw-tb.ro =
no PEI son who espOuses it that is mo-
anxious than / am to have it repu,.+1,
III the best way. That is my sole ohio.
In TINS matter. / cannot be a nart,, !,
the prohobitory liquor law when 7 sa'
the injury that is being done nv II
All disagree with you is in this
the method you will take to do a1..v
with it. If you will introduce a bin in,,
this Senate that will prove to mo th..,
you can do away with the dire cureo 80
intemperance L will stand her. .,,,',
night 1t together with you, but T .n'
thoroughly convinced that you caunot
prohibit by the present law.
L believe that the people of the St,,o
or Maine are ready for this a1estion
ana l believe it is our duty to give
them the referendum and let them Vote
upon this matter. If we do that wa
Shall have done our duty.
One thing more. You cannot proh;h;.
by law. You cannot regulate a mani
appetite by law. ard you cannot reform,
Il man by law.
l recollect way back the old Wash
ingtonian Society, which did moro
good, Mr.. President. to reform the peo.
pie of this State in the direction of
Temperance than all the prohibitory
law that has been promulgated for "A
Years. Ii the same amount of money
had been expended to reform the neo-
pie by going to a man when he was
down. and taking him by the hand to
lift him up-teach him higher ideas a
higher manhood. which WAS the meth
cd of that society the history of our
reforms would occupy Il place alongside
of the Washingtonian movement. Don't
you suppose these thousands of women
that came here with their petitions. il
they had employed their moral inau.
ence among the people in this way
you would find it would do a good deal
more good than TO sign petitions
against the resubmission of this
Then fellow senators, send it to the
people; let them vote on it; and ! be-
demanding it.
MIR. President, / move that the mi
nOrity report be substituted for the
majority report, and ask that yea
and nay vote he taken.
Mr.. MILLS of Hancock: Mr.. Presi-
dent and Senators, the large number Of
empty seats in the chamber at this
time are a clear Indication to me of
lack of interest in a matter which they
know is already practically settled. /
have listened with a great deal of eX-
pectancy to the honored senator from
Knox. hoping to hear some new truth
on this great question of reSubmission.
have before me volume of the Leg
islative Record of 1905: and while he
has been speaking. l have scanned
with my eyes. the report of his speech
made two years ago on this same ques-
ton; and I find. Mr.. President. that
he has followed the same line of ar
gument. He has employed the same
beautiful figures of speech, | as
sumo that he has used the same ges-
L
President if his tears have been drawn
from the same exhaustless fountain.
I have no intention of taking very
much time of the Senate. l do not pro-
pose to unload a lot of statistics on this
question. l was in the House. last FRI
day. and listened to the speech of the
honorable gentleman from Lewiston,
(Mr. O'Brien). l heard him give bio
sketch Of statesmen. SOL
diers, writer's. philanthropists and phil
osophers who have made this nation
famous. He commented on the Pill
grins. He spoke of the courage of the
O'Brien family. He pictured i'll glowing
language the work of jefferson, the
bravery Of Warren, the eloquence of
Webster and the muse Of Longfelow
Ee then mentioned Houston at Santa
Anna. and wound up by telling us that
Jackson once upon time. captured
New Orleans. He then intinated that
there were a lot more of these fellows
in his Encyclopedias Britannica, but ne
hadn't had time to dig EN- out. " mat
these men could possibly have to do
with the resubmission of the lilth
IL DtNoflu NY
sion. l think the gentleman was try
ing to show in some far-fetched. routd-
about way that we ought to have con-
fidence in the American people. In fac'.
he stated that was his purpose: ana
trust. gentlemen. we do. l trust We
have such confidence in their sincerity
and good Judgment that. when more
than 20 600 voters in the State of Name
against the rcSuDllIsSioh
of the fifth amendment. or against any
of her legislation. we shall listen TO theif
protests and harken to their petl,lolis.
Why not discuss this question Hseh
Why is it necessary to rake the codis
of ancient. medIaval and modern MS
tory. credit the law with a few tlilss
and charge q lot of things against ~
The question is not on the merits "
demerits of the prohibitory law as
the last speaker has gone into so cl'-
uuentlv and to such great length. 1Nc
question is simply whether or not we
shall compel the people of Ma'ile "
vote on the retention OF the ~"
in the constitution. IL
not. as it is so often put. whether w
shall allow the people to express ,ne.'
oniniou on this matter. You cannot
speaking, allow people to 90
a thing which they do not want " o'
The question is whether we shaii o"'n
no, tho pcople from AroOstook to w