Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1908-07-27
A LOCALITY WHERE
DRINKS ARE EXPENSIVE
May Cost $4,000 to Sell One in Maine
With Full Penalties Enforced.

New York, July 25-(Special Cores
pondence of The Republican, ITO
Maine-the Pine Tree state-goes the
/ record of the most expensive drinks on
earth When noted gourmet recently
spent $4,000 for wines at a dinner to
twenty persons in New York 1t was
thought that the record for high priced
libations had been broken. But in
Maine a single drink-and one of poor
whiskey at that-may cost $4,000. 1t
| isn't so expensive to buy as to sell,
however, and the penalties which have
been piled up by the law makers to
| be visited on the head of anyone who
sells liquor read like a modern inqui-
sition. For selling a single drink the
following things could be done to the
vendor. He could be indicted on the
grounds of search and seizure, COM
mon seller, nuisance. drinking house
and tippling shop; could be fined four
or five thousand dollars and kept in
Jail for years. If that does not consti-
| tute a record price for a single drink
1t is hard to discover what does
But in spite of the most rigorous
prohibition laws in the country, there
is good deal of question as to Names
real prohibition position. That the
laws are constantly evaded is a matter
of common knowledge. Their existence
on the statute books have bred many
queer incidents in their evasion. One
effect has been to bring into existence
a form of intoxication peculiar to
Maine which is commonly called the
"jaky drink" 1t is most frequently
met in rural districts where various
Intoxicating medicines" are sold. and
in more decorous language is known
as the Jamica ginger jag. AS the name
implies it results from copious con-
sumption of fiery Jamaica ginger.
In its larger aspects the value of
Names prohibition law is open to
question: not as a law certainly as
to the manner in which 1t has been
Applied. More distant states look up
on Maine as the apotheosis of dryness;
in that state itself there is much dis
cussion of the workings of the law.
Dryness loses some of its drought
when viewed more closely and Names
title as the "dryest state ever" becomes
"a little less secure.
A Maine man. Mr.. Holman Day. who
has observed the working of the laws
affecting the selling for the past twen-
ty years, confesses in the August num-
Der of Appleton's magazine that these
laws have become wholly political. and
have no longer a moral bearing. Sum-
ming up the whole matter he asserts
that the results of recent political cam
paigns have shown that "the folks of
Maine wanted prohibition but didn't
want it enforced" How true this opin-
ion is has been evidenced by the con-
tinuity with which the prohibition
laws have been kept on the stat
ute books and even made more string
ent while at the same time all sorts
of means of evading them were open
ly tolerated. Maine, for instance. has
developed a rapid transit system so
remarkably rapid that it can transport
a case of liquor from Boston to the
home of the thirsty Maine man in halfi
an hour. Numerous so-called express |
companies which have sprung up in !
various parts of the state, primarily |
for the purpose of expressing liquor
from Boston to Maine points when
ever it might be ordered, have now
reached the point of keeping a stock |
of wet goods on hand. a customer or
dering a case of beer for example is |
Immediately supplied from the stock |
on hand, his order being used simply |
to keep the supply up. In some cases |
to such a wonderful development was
this rapid transit carried that a man
would order a single drink from Boston |
through one of these express compan- |
les and receive it in about two min |
utes. In various cities. the Appleton
article explains, the Bangor plan is |
followed Under the Arrangement |
which takes its name from the city |
which has steadfastly refused to go |
dry. a certain number of places are al |
lowed by the officials to dispense IL |
quor. Twice a year the proprietors are
arrested and fined-the amount with |
costs added being S11O. This really |
amounts to nothing more than a con-
veniently low license. Like all good
things. however, this was carried too
far, as Mr.. Day points out.
After the Bangor plan got started"
he says, doing its snug little business
all over Maine, the sheriffs in num-
Der of counties over-reached and
made it a bit too snug. The charges |
were freely made that the rum sellers !
were invited into a close corporation, |
only approved men being allowed to
open places. These men have declar-
ed that they paid to officers certain
sums each month. so much on a bar
rel of beer or ale, so much on hard |
liquors. No. one yentured to explain
by what right sheriffs or their agents |
collected such sums. But the fact that |
they were being collected was a mat
ter of common knowledge and it took |
the voters from two to four years to |
get mad enough To remedy the eitna [