The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-06-29
DON'T GO BACK TO.
LICENSE
High License rs Seen By q Former
Maine Man.

A resident of Maine who felt trou-
bled over the imperfect enforcement
of prohibition in Maine moved into
license territory. and In 1907, wrote
the editor of the Civic League Record
as follows:
Don't let Maine under any consid-
GRAFTON ever go back to license 1t
would be a crime for her to do so.
and in my opinion, lowering OF her
morals and civilization.
when any one tells you that IL
eense would be better because the
traffic could be controlled, that hy-
pocrisy would be done away with ana
that there would be less drunkenness
under license, you. can tell them for
me that no greater falsehood was ever
uttered. The last two years. which
have spent in the states of New YORK
New Jersey. and Connecticut, have
shown me. as never before, the evils
of license.
I'm New Jersey, license gives the
saloon absolute control of the parties
and so OF the politics of the state. A
few big brewers control every saloon
In the state and through them the
politics of the state. The license
laws are broken every day. Drunk
enness Is seen every night on the
streets and Is so common that the
police take it for granted and never
arrest drunken persons unless fight
ia started. Indeed. 1t is so common
to see drunken women on the streets,
that they are hardly noticed by the
natives who are used to such sights.
Poverty among the working people is
extreme.
80 little is thought of the sale
! of liquors in New Jersey that
at ball game given In the interest OF
the Passaic Hospital at Passaic, N
j., women sold wine and beer openly
at stands for the benefit Of the hos
pital, and they did big business:
"While | was in the state of Con-
necticut during the months OF Decem-
Der and November, last year, and
January and February Of this year,
| spent most Of my time at Hartford
and Rockville and found conditions
there almost If not quite as bad.
II have been in New York state for
the past eight months. During that
time | have been in several OF the
large cities like New York, Syracuse,
Utica, Albany, Geneva, Auburn, Ro-
chester and Ithaca, and have been
very observing of liquor selling and
its results. l tell you, Maine wants
none of the license system.
Il went TO the football game be-
tween Cornell and Princeton last Sat
urday afternoon at Ithaca, N. Y, and
remained in that city over night. The
evening of the game l started out
about eight o'clock, on a round of the
saloons, there are lot of them. l
wanted to see who was In them and
how much liquor was sold, and who
bought It; and l want to say right
here that IL the people of Maine could
have seen how many of the more than
5000 students at Cornell were drink
ing in these places and were drunk
they would say none of such condi-
lions for us. The drinking and drunk
enness on the part of the students
was taken as a matter of course, "the
boys are having good time, why not
get drunk and raise h" the people
said.
Here In Seneca Falls where I am
now, place having 5000 population,
there are twelve saloons on the main
street, and twice as many on the side
streets. think there are between 38
and 40 licensed places besides the
speakeasies. The license is $500 a
year. The saloons control the officers
and the politics of the city. Indeed,
they control things to such extent
that the newspapers do not dare to
speak of the saloons in other than
complimentary terms.
"a drunkard died In one of these
places recently and a reporter with
whom ! am acquainted sent report
of this death to the paper. In speak
ing of the place where the man died
he used the word saloon. The next
day the saloon-keeper gave the re-
porter an awful calling down, and
gave him to understand that he did
not want him and would not have
him call his place anything but the
right name, Cafe The same day the
reporter got letter from his paper
directing him to use the name cafe or
restaurant in any future report he
might send of the same kind.
you cannot go out on the street in
the evening without seeing drunken
men, and it Is very common to see
women going to the saloons with pals
for beer. Drinking men tell me the
liquor sold in the saloons here Is vile
stuff, and this explodes the theory
that only good liquor Is sold under
license"