The Republican journal., 1906-04-12
lydia ptkhams veeabe Compound Where

brief was the condition of affairs i'll the
summer of 1904.
At the Bangor Convention, a plank
was adopted, most explicit and compre-
| hensive in its language, declaring With,
out any evasion whatever that the Re
! publican 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 l. was
nominated and | accepted its state
ments squarely and without reserve.
AS soon as the campaign opened | took
the stump. In every county where |
spoke l was urged by the Republican
leaders to state that if elected | would
do everything in my power to enforce
the prohibitOry laws. Many OF those
leaders told me that unless the voters
could be made to believe that the Re
publican party was honest and sincere
III its professions upon that subject,
there was grave danger of losing their
respective counties, III every place |
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 further that asked forno man S
.
~ try to do what had said.
1t is true that presidential election
was pending and | presume national
issues had much to do with the result
but so far as | was concerned, | con-
fined myself wholly to State issues and
made the fight more upon the pro'llbl-
/ tory question than anything else. Inc
result i'll the State was Republican
victory by plurality OF about 2i0oo
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 said upon this particular ques-
ton. surely I betrayed no condolences,
nor did secure the office by any false
pretences. If the people believed what
/ said they knew what to expect. |
meant what l said, and believed that
the party intended to take Its platform
seriously.
When the Legislature assembled |
took it for granted that there would be
some legislation giving for the first
time to an executive, authority to en-
force this particular law, and sup
posed that authority would come as
result of the evils of notification that
every one could see and that every good
citizen must deplore. | belleved 1t was
outrageous to see a law OF such i'm
portance violated in so many towns
and cities of the State, and felt that
such a course was doing lncalculable
injury to the welfare of Maine.
BY what right should certain class
of men be 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, with
in the law, but here was a 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 dlsre-
pute and disregard, and there was
neither sense nor logic i'll notification.
AS citizen | never have stood, and as
a citizen OF Executive | never will
stand for notification of law. | had
supposed that my election if it meant
anything meant protest against NULL
lication, and it was for this reason L
confidently expected legislation to rem
edy it. [ believed that the Republican
party would keep faith with the peo-
Pile; and that it would stand on its plat
form because it was right to do SO.
Prior to the passage of the Sturgls
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 way that
it had never been presented to any OF
my predecessors. l 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
to me, and never knew until that day
that anyone had been at work, was at
work or intended to work in behalf OF
measure of similar intent or import.
If any one else is the author OF that
law | do not know it.
| told Senator Sturgis that in many
respects the law was not an ideal one.
1t seemed to me that the people OF
Maine might not altogether approve of
the idea Of giving to the Executive au-
thority over county officials, but was