The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1906-12-20
SturqIs Deputies To Be Withdrawn.
THEIR COMMISSIONS WILL EXPIRE
DECEMBER 81, 1906.

DECEMBER 81, 1906.
The following letter issued from the
office of the enforcement commission
ers confirms the rumOrs which have
been rife for the past few months that
the new sheriffS who will take office
January 1 will be given an opportunity
to enforce the prohibitory liquor law
without the aid of the enforcement
deputies working under the Sturgis
law passed at the last session of the
legislature. The announcement, which
is in the form of letter from Governor
Cobb, follows:
State of Maine. Executive Depart
ment.
Waldo Pettengill, Norman L. Bassett
and Alfred H. Lang, enforcement COM
missioners, Augusta, Maine.
Gentlemen: Chapter 90 of the Public
Laws of the State of Maine for the year
1905 is "an act to provide for the better
enforcement of the laws against the
manufacture and sale of intoxicating
| liquors" This act is the so-called Stur-
gis law and it created the enforcement
commission. 1t also specifies the pow
ers and duties of that commission and
states that the authority of the latter
SNAIL Ut EAclCloCu WltH WIG oNV lNO ouo
under the direction of the governor"
Inasmuch as nothing in the act in
question relieves the local officials of
any responsibility assumed by them
when they took their oath of office, it
was hoped that it's mere enactment by
the legislature would call the attention
of such officials sharply to the fact that
the people of the State resented both
notification of the prohibitOry law and
illegal local option. In some counties
its enactment Immediately corrected or
lessened the abuses against which it
was aimed; in others it produced no
marked change.
Since the appointment and confirma-
ton of the commission in April, 1905,
you have been satisfied that there has
been no occasion to put the law in OPP
GRAFTON in any county in the State ex-
cept the following, namely, Androscog-
gin, Kennebec, Oxford, Knox and Saga
dahoc, and il this opinion, with full
knowledge of the facts [ have concur
red. | believe, too, that the same rea-
sons that first prompted you to exercise
your authority in the above named
counties exist today, and that your
presence there now is altogether JuStl-
fable.
But on January /, 1907, as a result of
the September election, every sheriff
elect must take his oath of office and
no one has any right to assume that
such sheriff-elect will be faithless to the
trust imposed upon him by a majority
of the citizens of his county.
In three of the five counties now re-
quiring your services new sheriffs have
been elected In all fairness to them,
and in full accord with what | conceive
to be the real purpose and spirit Of the
law, there can be no question but that
you should withdraw from those coun-
ties January 1, 1907, in order that such
sheriffs may have full opportunity to
prove their intention and ability to ell
| force the law.
| In the remaining counties the sheriffs
have been:reelected, and it may be argu-
ed that there is no good reason for be-
| lieving that they would change the
course pursued by them at the time the
commission was created, and the course
that logically and finally caused you to
take action in those counties. But in
sense they, too, are new officials. They
at least take new oath of office, and
in view of the public attention here
tofore focused upon the conditions
| prevailing LIcle, IL iu1y NV oo tAPSo.
ing too much to believe or hope that IT
you withdraw from their counties also,
they, too, will undertake January L.,
1907, to enforce the prohibitory law
with vigor and determination. Surely
no harm can come from affording to all
sheriffs the same opportunity to begin
the new year under precisely the same
conditions.
am convinced, therefore, that in all
fairness to the officials in question and
out of regard for this particular law it
| is for the best interest of the State that
you notify every deputy enforcement
commissioner that his service will ter
inmate Dec. 81, 1906, and that his CON-
mission will be withdrawn. l advise
and direct that this be done.
Beginning January /, 1907, the sheriff
in every county in Maine will BE- the
master of his own opportunity, and 1t
will be for him to demonstrate, as he
properly should, whether he possesses
both desire and capacity to enforce the
laws of the State without aid or inter-
ference.
The enforcement commission itself
should be retained in full authority and
power ready to act as before should oc-
casion require, for believe more firm
lv than ever that until some better
measure can be devised or until our
present prohibitory laws are changed,
the law creating that commission, de-
signed as it was for no purpose other
than to prevent notification, will ultl-
mately win its way and completely
justify its existence.
Very truly yours,
WILLIAM IT, CORR Governor.