Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-08-12

III
BILE sons of Maine on election day in
+, september fling this vile rum business
to its death with the same strength
with which martyrs used to be flung
/ in olden times into arenas full of lions
Iand God VIII give us the victory over
the right to rob and debauch our peo-
pie by regulation" of the drink traffic
lin Maine. In 1907 ! took part during
the last week of the campaign in the
state of Delaware for Prohibition
making my headquarters in Whining
ton and / now desire to make a COM
pnrison of crime which l found exist
/ ing at that time in that license CITY
with our cities in Maine
Wilmington is less than one and
half as large as Portland, yet accord
| ing to official reports found that it had
| four times as many arrests for assault
3 1-3 times as many for murderous as
J sault, 8 1-3 times as many for murder
2-3 times as many for shooting, 5k
times is many for street fights, 46 times
more Sabbath breaking, Sc times more
men not supporting their families and
4 AZ times more for wife beating. Will
mington is 80 times as large as Lew
lston Yet, according to official reports
| or both cities, Wilmington had in 1907
SIX times as many arrests for all
causes as had the city of Lewiston, 3
IL times as many arrests for intoxica-
uon, Il times as many for assaults, ID
tlmes as many for shooting, Al times
as many street fights and 103 times as
many breakers of the peace. Will
mlnston Is 3h times as large as Ban
gor, yet II had in 1907, As times as
/ many arrests for intoxieation, seven
tunes as many street fights, also as
sault cases and 16 times as many
murders. Wilmington is less than
eight times as large as Bath, yet it had
IN 1907, 2215 times as many arrests for
all causes, II times as many arrests
for drunkenness, 80 times as MANY as
sault cases and Al times as many
street fights. Wilmington is less than
seven times as large as Auburn, vet
official reports showed in 1907 that IL
had 17l3 times as many arrests for all
causes. l7l9 times as many arrests for
intoXication. 20 times as many assaults
and 81 times as many breakers of the
peace. l counted &c drunken men in
20 minutes in the streets of Whining
ton on Saturday night, Keeling and
staggering out of the wide open license
saloons which the brewers and distil-
lers and their henchmen are fighting
to establish in Maine.
These facts which / have presented
in my comparison of the city of Will
mington under license and the cities
of Maine under prohibition shed a flood
of damning light on the licensed sa-
loon. which system the liquor interests
desire to saddle upon the State of
hut ha \
| stand by the great principle of Pro-
| hibition which has been upheld by
| many of the greatest and most emf
| nent men in our State and nation.
Hon. John A. Bingham of Ohio IA
| Their OF the 14th amendment TO our
| constitution and who was one of the
| most eloquent orators In anti bellum
| days. said to me; II am proud that it
pleased God 10 give me the privilege
! to write the 18th amendment in the
constitution of my country, but oh
| how much prouder would / be il I
could only write a new amendment to
our constitution forever prohibiting
the importation, manufacture and sale
of alcoholic liquors as beverage Pro-
hibition is the only remedy in the end
to do away with the liquor traffic"
And when I came to bid him good bye
and bow over his trembling hand he
said to me as a tear gathered in those
eloquent eyes: Young man. all that is
left me now is the sorrowful pleasure
of peaceful waiting to meet those dear
to me in the world beyond"
/ close this article in quoting the
words of one of the greatest temper
ance leaders the world has yet reared
General Neal Dow, who asks repose
in the soul of Maine. God bless his
memory. Long will it live, long will
1t stand among the brightest stars as a
lover of temperance and humanity. In
an address in New York state some
years before he died General Dow said:
| I'VE should deal with the question
of the sale of liquor under the penal
code. as we deal with dynamite and
other dangerous articles of commerce.
In our long campaign of missionary
! work in Maine against the liquor traffic
in the decade 1910 to 1850. We every
where protested against the policy Of
legalizing the liquor traffic, the sum of
| all villainies. 1t is the direct and In
evitable cause Of more mischief, mis-
cry, wretchedness, and ruin to the
people and to the State than come from
all other sources of evil combined. We
declared that If all this poverty, paup-
erism, degradation. EQUALIZATION, and
crime were to continue, let II be with
out the sanction of the law and in
spite of its prohibition. AS the result
of that agitation the policy of license
was abandoned as infamous some
years before the Maine law was enact
/ ed. in 1851. We put it to the people,
In heavens name, why should we give
legal sanction to the gigantic crime of
crimes?' That question was answered
in Maine by the refusal to authorize
drunkard- making any more"
Let the noble words of the Father
' of Prohibition sink deep into the
hearts of our people and let the people
of the State of Maine remember that
there is only one certain way to put
stop to the rum business in our state
and nation in the end and that Is by
the great principle of Prohibition.
FRANK w. GOWEN.
Waterville. Aug. II, 1911.