Daily Kennebec journal., 1911-04-24
The License Argume mt.

| In recent address before the Thurs
day Club. one of the most prominent an,
: influential women's clubs of Biddeford
DIR. y. a. McNally, secretary of th'
board of health of that city. said h'
favored the license law for controllint
the liquor traffic. He is quoted a
follows:
suppose you grant one license to every
2N0O inhabitants and YOU would have 2
from each. the city would realize I40
lannually. or $4,000 for 10 years Thi!
would go a long way toward starting {
proper sewage system, which it is i'm
| perative the city should commence thi:
lyear | suppose that you women will say
| that il would be awful to have 20 u
| censed liquor shops in this city. cal
| tell YOU at any time within 10 years there
has been three times that number Selhnt
| liquor right along in the city of Bidde
| ford. While cities in other states are de
irving benefit from the sale of liquor
kitchen bar-rooms Erafters and p0ckei
Ipeders get ours. In houses where | have
been called to treat alcoholics ! lave
seen children, six and eight years old
selling whiskey. 1t is no hearSay. / have
| seen il with my own eyes and the 'ilti
and squalor in such places are dis
gusting.
This apparently sincere doctor is at
temptine to convince his hearers and
those over whom he may have an in
nuence. that if a certain numb er of
saloons were authorized and run in a
element argumenD manner there
would be no other liquor selling. He
would have his hearers believe that
the kitchen bar-rooms, grafters and
pocket peddlers" would disappear in a
whiff If he has seen little children
selling whiskey he is a loyal supporter
of the law and patriotic citizen if he
did not notify the proper authorities
and see to it that such resorts of
pretend that the mere establishment
of licensed saloons will operate to do
away with places where the inmates
are so lost to manhood and womanhood
that little children are enrolled in the
dishonor?
Does DIR. McNally pretend to teach
his people that the "disgusting filth
and squalor" to which he refers will
disappear from such localities under
ItSllflt vi iiCtDStu SdippiiS
If the city of Biddeford were to de-
rive $4,000 annually from licenses
alone how much sorrow and disgrace
and hell would be scld to its people to
compensate the liquor trust?
In these dens of hopeless depravity
we wonder if the doctor has not wit
messed evidences of other crimes From
the indications of its presence in the
district in which he practices, would
DR.. McNally advise the licensing of
houses of i'll fame? Would he thus
expect to eradicate the evil in all quar-
ters?
If the doctor has seen little children
selling whiskey he has perhaps seen
them snatch fruit from a window dis
play; would he. then, license thievery
in order to mitigate the evil?
If DR.. McNally would have the city
add rum selling to its business for the
sake of the revenue, would he also
care to traffic in mems souls and the
happiness of homes by adding a side
line of rum selling to his practice?
What brought about the filth and
squalor" of the places to which the
doctor refers? Was it the living of
quiet, decent, wOrkaday lives under the
example and leadership of better and
stronger element of society? Who is
to blame for such conditions--those
who demand a law against the liquor
evil and urge it's enforcement: or those
who would do away with the law and
constantly search for quibble by which
the procuring of drink is made safe
and easy?
Does DR.. McNally honestly believe
that, if all the effort to aid the liquor
interests were turned against it and
toward the enforcement of the law.
there would be $4,000 worth of liquor
sold in Maine in a year?