Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-08-21

abhorrent that the county and State
were Obliged to interfere. This nest OF
niquity at Newark had carried the
PERSONAL LIBERTY idea (Which
the Governor of our State recon-
mends) So far that 1t not only menaced
morals and in business, but it became
50 oblivious to all sense of right and
.deceuoy that the State was obliged to
take charge Of its affairs.
And vet in Maine our distinguished
.Oovernor. with the heads of the Demo-
cratic administration. backed by Rum
Trust dollars aud influence. are de-
eiariug to the people of Maine that
even countrywide prohibition is too
unwieldy" 10 be regulated" Cover
nor Plaisted tells an State yell
low journaL that in order TO be rid OF
this eternal liquor problem" it is nee
eSsary To establish a local option sys-
tenn in which Il town or city may do
as it pleases to the limit Of vice and
moral degradation. regardless of its
effect upon the people of surrounding
towns. cities and counties.
Let the people of Maine study well
the picture of conditions which the To-
cal option system brought upon the
city of Newark 1t is only necessary
to understand that there are scores
OF cities in the United States that are
now living under just such evil condi-
tions--oniy awaiting a propitious mo-
ment, when the volcano of lust and
crime will burst forth upon the rest
Of the world in all its hideous vicious
ness. The people of Newark thought
to regulate the liquor traffic by the
method. They made the
license a high one-s1000 yearly for
each saloon doing businessman in
spite of the $4,000 revenue which the
city received for its share in the rum
business, it sold its own sons for the
money which it received.
Mr.. Baker prettily described the nat
ural tendencies of events when, in his
to his story of Newark,
he said:
Drop a single pebble of crime into
the smooth life of such a community.
and straightway the commotion may
be seen widening in hatred and sor-
row"
Further along in his story. Mr.. Ba-
ker said: What farce it all is.
Spend thousands yearly in schools,
boast about enlightenment, and turn
boys and girls loose for amusement in
houses of prostitution"
Probably the leaders of the party
which is attempting to infliet the sa-
loon upon the people of this State; the
liquor interests which are flooding the
homes of Maine with their false and
literature. and the organs
which represent both the administra-
ton and the Rum Trust. will deny
that the intention is to infest COM
with saloons and houses of
prostitution. Yet such is the absolute
truth. Saloons and houses of ill fame
go together. One leads to the other,
and there is bond by which they are
welded in the common association and
necessity. Schools and churches are
overridden and the branches of the
Y. NJ. C. a. are scoffed at and derided
out of existence. Fairgrounds and Ii
braries become useless and go out of
fashion. Ali the surplus energy, intel
ligence and money goes into the sa-
loon. with it's Illicit, damnable meth
DDS of acquiring money.
Let the Governor of Maine join in
the ridicule of the law against the liq-
uor traffic, and uphold such conditions
as made Newark. Ohio, the by-word
of the world; but that is not the sort
of progress which the Christian and
thinking people OF Maine uphold.