The Seattle Republican. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1???-1915, 1909-02-19
Who Lead the Anti-Local Option
Forces in the Debate.

your attention to the state of Maine as
the banner prohibition state and I ex-
pect it is. If it is, God help the rest.
I know a little of the state of Maine as
was born there, and nearly every rela-
tive I have on earth lives there today.
Maine has had prohibition for fifty-seven
years, on the statute books.
Four years ago Maine passed what is
known as the Sturgis law. In effect
this law makes the Governor of Maine
Grand High Sheriff of the entire state
with power to appoint any number Of
deputies for the purpose of enforcing
the prohibitory laws.
Gov. Cobb has been an advocate of the
law and himself stood for strict enforce
ment. What did Gov. Cobb accomplish?
He spent $4,000 of the taxpayers money
for one thing. He was elected by ma
iority of $4,000 four years ago and re-
elected by the narrow margin of 1000
two years ago, and his political doom is
sealed,-he has no future
Two years dBO IIlS 1OS4S1oIuAO ASPSNANN
the Sturgis law,-Gov. Cobb vetoed the
repeal bill.
The legislature of Maine, now in ses-
sion, will reepal it again and the present
Gov. Fernald will sign the repeal bill,
and Maine will have returned from the
cloaked hypocrisy of the past four years
to the old system Of open hypocrisy
The net results in Maine of four years
enforcement has been to drive the vice
of Illicit liquor selling into the very
| worst class of dives.
The man who says that prohibition
can be enforced after Names experience
of the past four years, simply does not
know anything of the facts or his brain
| is distorted.
NY own observation within the past
| two months in Maine was that you could
find a fairly good grade of whiskey in
nearly every home; you could find the
best grades of whiskey in every club, and
the worst grade of whiskey ever known
on sale everywhere. To get it one only
needs to know the ropes and unless one
is deaf, dumb, blind and crippled the
ropes are easily found.
If you travel in the smoking car of any
train in Maine I will guarantee you will
see more men drinking from bottles than
YOU will in Washington. Maine faces the
bitter humiliating fact that she cannot
rid herself of the curse of prohibition
because the Illicit liquor sellers working
with the prohibition fanatic, both egged
on by class of lawyers who make their
living from the Illicit liquor traffic, are
too strong for the sober, intelligent
broad-minded citizenship of the state to
combat handicapped as they are by
having the prohibitory law in the con-
| stitution.
Knowing as do that any boy with the
price can get whiskey of the worst kind
at any time under prohibition,-th cry
of save the boys by voting for prohi-
bition does not appeal to me. knowing
as 1 do that prohibition does not help
the cause of temperance and that it does
breed hypocrisy, lying, deceit and dis
regard for all laws, 1 am opposed to it
in any form.
The great prohibition contortionist
brought by our friends from Spokane
to intimidate the legislature into passing
this prohibition measure, stated that rs
per cent. of insanity was caused by the
use of liquors. Every man on the floor
of this senate knows what is the first
and greatest cause of insanity, and 1t is
not intemperance. The second largest
factor causing insanity is emotional re-
ligion" that is, religion as taught by the
Holy Rollers, Billy Sundays and that ilk
The third largest cause of insanity is in
temperance. The truth is bad enough;
why make it worse?
That the use of liquor is the cause OF
all immortality is another fallacy easily
exploded. The Turks do not drink at ALL
and yet who will claim that as nation
they are more moral than the people OF
the United States, England or Germany
That certain human inclinations cannot
be prohibited by law, all history proves
The Jews tried prohibition on the Chris
tians for a long time later, the Chris
tians became so strong that they not only
attempted to enforce it against the Jews
but included all religions other than their
own. Calvinism was prohibited and John
fled to Geneva to save his life. once
firmly in control of Geneva, Calvin be-
came a pronounced prohibition1st. FRO
hibitory laws endangered Martin Lu-