Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-07-18
Address by Miss Anna A. Gordon.
STRONG ARGUMENT FOR RETENTION OF
THE PROHIBIToRY AMENDMENT.

srRoNG ARGUMENT FOR RETENTION o
IL THE PROHIBIroRY AMENDMENT.
A temperance meeting In New Hal
: Wednesday evening was addressed b.
? Miss Anna A. Gordon OF Evanston, Ill.
cepresident Of the National Woman
Christian Temperance Union. Mis-
Gordon made strong plea for Maine t
preserve the prohibitory amendment t
the constitution In the coming election
The affair was under the auspices Of tn,
local w. C. T. U.
Preceding the meeting there was
parade, headed by the Lumley Castl'
Band, with Albert d. Park as marshal
A good number of the Young Campaign
ers for Prohibition were at the head o.
the column, followed by men and women
on foot and In carriages. The evening
though not one of the worst, was very
warm, and the line of march was short.
ened from what had been laid out, the
procession going by Pleasant Street to
Western Avenue, to Gothic, to High, to
Porter, to Park, and back to the hall.
Il oo0"u"o Vi tuo uooe soo soho u'o wv
join the parade.
Banners conspicuous in the parade
bore significant legends, such as, "Vote
No on Sept. H." prohibition Ever"
License Never" "Maine Must Keep
Prohibition" and 80 on, and one horse
wore q blanket inscribed, ~ have too
much horse sense to want saloons"
Mrs. E. E. Chapman, president of the
local Union, presided at the meeting in
the hall, for which there was fair au-
dience. The opening exercises included
songs by the Young Campaigners, a
song by Miss Helen Barnes, reading of a
psalm by Rev. T. N. Kewley, and prayer
by Rev. Elisha Sanderson. Mrs. Chap
man then introduced Miss Gordon.
Miss Gordon is of a pleasing presence,
and clear and direct manner of speech,
without attempt at undue play upon the
emotions, however strong her appeal.
She spoke less than an hour, and
throughout held the close attention of
her audience, which was in full sym
patty with her.
In opening Miss Gordon expressed her
thanks to all who had assisted in the
demonstration of the evening, and relat-
ed an incident regarding Presbyterian
minister, of which the parade and it's
banners had reminded her. This minister
met at a hotel table traveller for a
Wholesale liquor house, who complained
of the state of his trade, because the
women and children were getting out
and parading with banners to aid Ken
lucky in going dry. The minister listen
aA aly 10
sympathies to the discontinue of his
nearer, by advising the liquor represent
alive to follow the same line OF cam
paigu, and suggesting as notices for
some OF the banners, "The saloon brings
prosperity" "Beer Is better than bread"
"Pay your taxes with boys" and so on.
Mothers do not kneel, said Miss Cor
don, to thank God that their boys are
but to ask him to forward
the cause of temperance and prohibition.
am glad, said she, to have some little
part in the campaign in this state that for
more than fifty years has kept the temp
tation of the legalized saloon away from
its youth. She then related an incident
lard at Old Orchard, where a thousand
school children were asked
by Ex-Governor Dingley how many had
ever seen saloon, and no hand went up.
She also related the incident of Governor
Dingley encountering boy singing
"The drink that fills the drunkard's bowl
Is not the drink for me-
and when the governor asked him when
he learned it, he replied, "Why, never
had to learn it; always knew it," A
state where the boys "always knew"
such songs as that is pretty good state.
Conditions in Maine. where she has
spent much time, and in license states,
where she has also spent much time,
were contrasted by the speaker, and she
related some of the things she had seen
in Chicago, where she recently, under
escort, made a tour of the saloons. In
the saloons of the cheaper class con-
ditions were bad enough; but in
fashionable saloon on State Street, al
though the law forbids the sale of liquor
to minors, she saw girls Of fourteen and
sixteen served liquor with their escorts,
and she gave some description of the
scenes she witnessed there. The license
law Is more grossly violated in Chicago
than the prohibitory law in Maine.
There is more money on deposit in the
savings banks of Maine than in those of
all the great license state of Illinois.
The 1900 saloons of Chicago, at the
lowest possible estimate, absorb Of the
peoples money s7S,0OO,OO0 every year.
And in return for that they pay in to the
city in revenue, s7,500,0OO. Leaving
out of account all the crime and misery
produced by the traffic, there Is the bust
ness side of it, with balance of seventy
millions to the bad. But it isn't the
money that's wasted that makes US want
to keep the open saloon out of Maine.
It's the fact that the saloon calls for
boys. 1t must have the boys, or it can
not be maintained. Shall it have the
boys of Maine?
In closing, Miss Gordon echoed and
affirmed as her own belief the expression
of Mrs. Stevens, that prohibition at its
worst is better than any form of license
at its best, and expressed confidence
that the prohibitory amendment would
be retained at the election in September.