The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-15
BREWERS WOULD
 60 INTO FUEL MANUFACTURE
Excise Committee Told that Prohibition Would Not Destroy Usefulness of
 Beer Plants.
for and Against Bill for Total Prohibition With Referendum to PeO- ple-KendaIl Says People Tried Prohibition and Be came Sick of It.
Ry OUT Staff Corres.l

Hartford, April 15.-A large number of persons appeared before the Excise committee yesterday afternoon to fla vor or oppose the bill prohibiting the sale and manufacture of liquor in Con- necticut, and providing for a referen- dunn to the voters to decide the ques- tion.
 E. L. G. HohenthaI of South Man chester, conducted the hearing for the friends of the bill. He said that ab- solute prohibition was not intended. It would merely take place in towns
 where a majority voted for the bill. Other towns would remain under the present system.
 pr. T. D. Brothers of Hartford said that if the sale of liquor was beneficial it's sale should not be stopped, but that if it were the reverse it should be put a stop to immediately. He argued that alcohol, while at first in its effects like an anaesthetic, was in reality a narcotic and that over 50 per cent of evil was caused by it's in fluence. He claimed that cheap alco- hol is the coming fuel and that it would soon take the place of coal and wood for heating, lighting and power purposes. The brewers, if this law is passed. will soon take up it's manu- fracture. The time is near at hand when denatured alcohol will be as cheap for fuel as coal at s2 ton.
 H. B. Brown, of East Hampton con- trasted the operation of the license Of the prohibition system for the nine teen years fohdSing or until 1872. He claimed that under the license system the evils of social drinking were great iy increased and that drunkenness in creased until it was seen that the only remedy for it was prohibition.
 It was first tried in Maine and the effect was magical. In Connecticut the contest was short and in 1854 the pro hibitOry law was placed on the statute book and from the first it was suc- cessful. Later, amendments were in troduced into the Legislature which undermined the good of the law. Since the passage of the license law in to increase the size of our jai1s. pris- onS, insane aSylumS, and hospitals in order to take care of the increased numbers of drunkards and criminals.
 N. W. Kendall of New Haven, in Op- position, spoke of the prohibition per iod Of nineteen years and how the peo- pie got sick of it and the State be- came license again.
 J. B. Klein of Bridgeport, represent ing the liquor interests of Bridgeport, referred to statements made Tuesday by Professor Fisher of Yale, that he was not opposing the bill from the moral standpoint, but from the ground of public health He then took up statements of Dr. Brothers that alco- hol acted as an anaeSthetic and said he wished the eminent gentlemen would get together and decide upon some def mite line of action. These people ask that the matter be submitted to the people for decision The question all ready has been, for it was embodied in the platform of the Prohibition par ty and last fall the people had an op- portunity to vote for Scoop" O'Brien as the Prohibition candidate for Gov ernor. He claimed that there is noth- ing in the Ten Commandments that prohibited indulgence in wine or in toxiCating fluids, but the gentlemen of the opposition seek to go ahead of the God and add the com Thou shalt not drink |"