Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-01-09
these two being private stock" am

lllLS ~, continues tIlt'
report. have been charging the state
liquor commissioner for their private
stock whiskey 81 per gallon and have
been selling to outside customers
private stock for s.. Il a gallon They
have been charging the State liquor
commissioner for Monogram whiskcy
$685. per gallon and outside customers
$215 per gallon. We cannot say that
it is the same whiskey but the as
sistant reports that whiskey under the
same name is being furnished for the
above prices and WHISTLES Of the same
name have been sold to the liquor
commissioner and sent to the Lewis
ton agency for the advance prices
above quoted"
The committee say that their assis-
tant reports that the State is being
charged 35 cents more than the market
price for G. .. Blake whiskey; $1.50
more per case for Hunters special; 25
cents more per case for Hermitage rye.
The assistant also states that Geofge
+. Hewitt & Co., charge the State $3.50
per case for HeWittS malt, which is
80 cents above the regular price, but
that OH Monogram burborn where the
regular price is $11 per case the State
is being charged but 1925.
The assistant says Boston wholes al
ers are telling him that there is a
general discount ranging from 10 to Il
per cent and sometimes IS per cent on
barrel orders according to the size OF
the order and that the State liquor
commissioner seems to be in entire ig
norance of this matter OF discount:
HI, ~. ii.
count could have been obtal1ed and
was not.
In their recommendation for cOrnpe-
titive bids the committee say: cat
present he is a borrower of $4,000 and
the State allows him interest upon that
sum. Under the system we suggest
the State would he the owner of the
liquors sand by paying cash would be
able TO get substantial discount,
which the commissioner seems to feel
he is unable to obtain under the pres
ent system and which he asserts none
of his predecessors secured
Elmer e. Ncwbert of Augusta and
Albert J. Skidmore of Liberty submit
ted minority report as follows:
So far as it treats of conditions, pos
sbIy the report of the committee on
salaries and fees, submitted to your
honorably body, leaves nothing unsajd
No language however is too strong to
characterize the liquor business which
llourslies in a few communities In this
State under the protection of law.
While concurring in general with the
findings Of the committee we must dis
seat in certain particulars. and beg in
diligence of our colleagues if we re-
state d few points on which there is
little difference Of opinion.
AS now existing, the whole agency
system is morally and economically i'm
possible, inconsistent with even easy
standards of decency and a traversy Of
law and order AS a moral or econo-
mic proposition we submit that the
liquor business. nor should 1t Permit
4 municipality to do so.
That the agency system is neither an
answer 10 q demand nor the corOrally
of Il need is shown by the fact that
out Of all our municipalities only 13
maintain agencies. Is It not sgnlfl-
cant that there is not an agency in the
counties of Somerset, PiscatauuIs. Wal
dc. Tcnobscot, Hancock, Washington.
ArooStook; that knox county has but
1: Cumberland I; Lincoln. ]; Sagada-
hoe /; AndrOscoggin 2; oxford .;
Franklin 2: While the three agencies
in i<er ncbec, located in Gardiner, Ran
Golrh ard Chelsea, have their sole ex-
cusc for being because of their near
ness to the Soldiers Home at 1ogus?
l.
agencies within d limited radius, il
neither more virtuous nor afflicted with
more frequent epidemic OF disease than
central or northern Kennebec, whose
people not only have no agency but
will not tolerate one.
Portland has an agency, which up to
within a very few years annually sold
S1S,0 900 worth Of liquor, presumably for
medical purposes. Is II logical good
sense to argue that Portland has need
that Bideford does not share? Or that
Portland prcceives duty that Angus
to, Waterville. Belfast or Bangor railes
to recognize among it's Municlal obli-
cations?
III the light of the fact that there
are only 10 agencies in the whole State,
iIilJlSltJliS W llIc "dlitS VI vel y
limited number of our citizens, Is there
left shred of the argument that the
agency Is a necessity?
We would further suggest that it is
beneath the dignity of the State to en-
ter upon traffic which 1t stigmatizes
as illegal. The State has no right to
conduct g. business which it brands as
a crime. The $4,000 profit accruing in
the past six years to the State from the
liquor business dishonors the people of
Maine while the $500 internal revenue
tax, which the State pays as whole
sale liquor dealer shows how inconsis-
tent is the attitude. of the State, when,
under the prchibitory law, the pay
ment of such q tax by the individual
citizen is prima facie evidence of guilt
punishable with imprisonment.
Under no color of rhetoric or logic or
| sophrosty or political expediency can
this false position Of the State be main
tanned in the light of an intelligent and
enlightened citizenship.
The discredited agency system is not
worth reforming. There is no demand
for it. The need does not exist. The