Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-04-07
GOVERNOR COBB
CONTINUED from Page One.)

| cardinal principle of the Republican
| party in its relations to State issues.
| will go further and say that men IA
| miliar with State politics will agree
| that had any candidate for State office
| during that period arisen in a Republi-
| can State convention and declared him
| self to be in favor of resubmissiOn and
| opposed to prohibition, he would have
| been denied peremptoriIy the nomina-
| ton he sought.
A few years prior to 1904. however,
evidences of unrest appeared. and there
were signs that the Republican party
might not he altogether sincere i'll its
advocacy of prohibition In certain 10
calitieS under Republican control the
law was openly and hagrantly nullified.
In more than one-third Of the counties
Of the State Democratic sheriffs had
been elected, and the reason given was
| that the voters in those counties had
| become disgusted with the inetflciency
and insincerity of Republican officials
and had manifested their dissa tisfac-
| ton by electinS Democratic sheriffs. It
| is only fair to say, too, that several of
| the Democratic Shcriffs after election
| enforced the law more vigorously than
| had been done by their Republican pre-
| decessors. Republicans throughout the
state were alarmed, and the general
| impression seemed to be that it was alb
| solutcly imperative for party success
| that the people of the State of Maine
| should understand that the Republican
party was still the firm champion Of
prohibition and enforcement This in
| brief was the condition of affairs in the
summer of 1904
| At the Bangor convention a plank
was adopted, most explicit and COM
prchensiVe in its language, declaring
| without any evasion whatever that the
| Republican party believed in and stood
for the maintenance of the prohibitory
laws and their rigid, honest and i'm
| partial enforcement.
| 1t was upon that platform that I was
| nominated and | accepted it's state
| ments squaroly and without reserve. AS
soon as the campaign opened | took the
| stump. In every county where l spoke
1 l was urged by the Republican leaders
| to state that if elected | would do
| everything in my lower to enforce the
| prOhibitUry laws Many of those lead
| ers told me that unless the voters could
| be made to believe that the Republican
party was honest and sincere in its pro-
| fessiOns upon that subject, there was
| grave danger of losing their respective
| counties. In every rlace | spoke [ not
only said that if elected / would use
| every legal right and moral Influence
| that belonged to the office of Governor
| TO enforce those laws. but stated fur
| ther that | asked for no mans vote un-
| less he believed | would honestly try to
| do what | had said.
1t is true that a Presidential election
was pending and | presume national is
sues had much to do with the result.
but so far as 1 was concerned, | con-
fined myself wholly TO State issues and
mace the fight more upon the prohibi-
tory question than anything else. The
result i'll the State was Republican
victory by q plurality of about 21.000
and it was generally conceded that the
principal factor of success was the re-
established belief in the minds of the
people that the Republican party meant
what it sail upon this particular pues
tiOn. Surely | betrayed no cOnfidcnccS
nor did | secure the office by any false
pretenccs. If the people believed what
saii they knew what to expect.
meant what | said, and believed that
the rarty intended to take its platform
seriously.
When the Legislature assembled
took it for granted that there would b.
some legislation giving for tn" first
time to an Executive. authority to on
force this particular law. and | SUP
H.,
result Of the evils of notification that
every one could see and that every good
citizen must deplore. ! believed it was
outrageous to see a law Of such inn
portance violated in 50 many towns
and cities of the State. and felt that
such a course was doing incalcuIable
injury to th,. welfare of Maine.
BY what right should a certain class
of men he protected and allowed to
prosper in an illegal business? Every
individual attempting to do any other
kind of business was forced to do it.
and in most cases wanted to do it,
within the law. but here was business
where certain men seemed superior to
the law and this in itself appeared to
me to be a grave injustice.
All law was being brought into disro-
pute and disregard. and there was
neither sense nor logic in notification.
AS citizen I never have stood, and as
a citizen or Executive I never will
stand for notification Of law. 1 had
supposed that my election if it meant
anything meant protest against nulli-
fcation, and it was for this reason I
confidently expected Legislation to rem
edy it, believed that the Republican
party would keep faith with the peO-
pie: and that 1t would stand on its
platform because it was right to do 50.
Prior to the passage of the Sturgis
Law there was no provision whereby
the Executive could attempt to enforce
the prohibitory laws. and this question
was presented to me by the Legislature
and by public sentiment in a way that
it had never been presented to any of
nv predecessors. | never heard of the
Sturgis Bill until one day shortly after
the opening of the Legislature. Sena-
tor Sturgis came to the Executive
Chamber and explained its provisions
L,,t IL,