Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-09-06


they had bought on different SUNDAYS
and holidays. But with this overwhelm-
ing, positive evidence, that Jury dis
agreed. Some of them would not vote
to convict him, and the Court dis
charged the jury. and that case and all
the others were mol pressed; for after
that experience, we all agreed that il
was practically an impossibility to con-
Wet a licensed liquor dealer who had
paid $1,000 for his license We hung a
man in Massachusetts a few months
ago on circumstantial evidence but we
could not convict a licensed liquor deal
er with overwhelming. positive evidence
of violation Of the law. While | have
known of many instances of conviction
of men selling without license, vet I
cannot recall a single instance in Is
years in Massachusetts, where a
licensed liquor dealer has been con-
victed before n jury of violating the
law.
But under prohibition it is very diff
fercnt. The low dive keeper has no
license to lose. if convicted; and as he
has but little at stake, a jury is always
much more ready to convict such a
IltII Iltlitt, say, IL Is Iflutn
to enfcrce high license than rrohib-
tion. because it is much harder to get
evidence against licensed dealer
ani much harder to convict him be-
fore Il jury after you do get evidence
against him, than il is to get evidence
and convict an Illegal liquor dealer un-
der prohibition. Wherever it is hard
est 10 convict a rum-seller. there you
are certain to find the most fragrant
violations of the law.
Isut some one says. "Prohibition
won't prohibit" OF course it won't
Neither will an AK cut. 1t takes man
takes Il man behind q law to make it
work. An AK will not chop wood of
Itself. neither will a law enforce itself
Let me illustrate. When | first got
married. ! had to chop my own wood.
One day when there was no wood cut
with which to cook dinner. Mrs. Miller
ca,rc to me aud said: My dear. the
wood is out, please go and cut some"
| said | would, but for some reason I
failed to do it. like the man in tho
Scripture. ! said l would go but went
not But Mrs. Miller did not so out
to the woodward ana ecold the AK be-
cause there was no wood. but she came
to my room and SColded something else,
If your prohibition ;X does not cut,
doi't blame the AK. but blame your
officers who refuse to obey their oathS
of Office If you should get high license,
these same officers would not enforce
it any better Ii your law is not en-
forced, it is not so much change of
your law as Il chang" of your officers,
that you need.
There may be some weak points in
your prohbitory law. But. if so, the
thing to do is to mend the weak points
of your law and hold on to it. | was
brought up on q farm. One day the
cattle broke through Il weak place in
the fence and got into the cornfield.
Father might have said Boys, that
fence around the pasture is no good.
Go out there and tear down every panel
of it, That fence won't prohibit. The
cows have got through it again into the
cornfield. It's no good. go and tear it
all down" Did my father thlk thus?
Not at all. but like a sensible farmc"
he said, "Boys, the cows have got out
of the pasture into the corn again.
There must be Il hole in the fence
Go find it, and mend it"
Do you think we would have projected
the corn better by tearing down all the
fence that kept the cows from getting
out of the pasture into the corntleld?
No, nc. And do you think that you will
better protect your homes, your sons
and your daughters. by tearing down
your prohibition fence which for 80
years has been your protection. ana let
the open saloons come i'll with all thelr
evil influence to wreck and ruin your
homes?
But since your prohihitory fence has
been mended by the passage ana en-
force!nent of the SturGiS law there mas
been but little complaint along this lire.
If is because the liquor men and their
now find it so hard To
break through this prohibitory fence
that they have set up such Il howl
against it.
Fourth, high license i'll Massachusetts
increases drunkenness. That is, the
amount of drunkenness under hish
license is much greater than under pro-
hibtion. 1t is only reasonable 10 sup
pose that q man who pays Sl,ooo for MS
license and must furnish up an expen-
sivc saloon must sell much more liquor
TO make a living than dealer, or dive
keeper, who does not have to pay any
license fee, and who pays but little rent.
And the easier we make it to get liquor
the more there is sold. The more open
the saloons are the greater the telnpta-
t;on to drunk. The more liquor there
is sold the more drunkenness there Is Ill
the town.
When a merchant desires to make
large sale of any articlc. Ne
displays it prominently in his froh'
windows. and makes it look as az
tractively as possible. lie aiSo
adveriises it widely in the newspaper"
and'in other ways. and so secures
enormous sales of that article. NO"
that is Just what the saloonkeeperS NV
i'm license states. First. they rent the
hest stores on the most prominent
streets i'm the city. They can aiford y
pay higher rents than any other husi
ness, hence they can and do coinlnah'
the finest locations in most incense
cities. They display their liquor !"
the most tempting manner IN theii
large front plate glass windows TO at
tract attention, to arouse the apP'tite