Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-09-11

tplice paid by the license holder would
insure his living up to the conditions
! imposed by the license authorities,
with the result that kitchen bar-roems
and the evils resulting therefrom to
| the general public would be done away
with" That proposition looks plausi
| Bile. 1t is one of the things many peo-
PIE here in Maine are believing today,
| and il is on that belief that many Will
vote Yes" next Monday. 1t looks as
though it ought to work that way. But
il doesn't. Many people are being de-
eeiVed by II. The fact is that by the
way In which the liquor business is be-
ing done in license states, by the ac-
tual conditions that prevail in the
business, by the relations that exist
between the wholesale dealer the
brewer. the distiller and the retail sa-
loon, Involving also relations with po-
lice and politicians. the saloon. for
several reasons that could be explained
Is space permitted, becomes the source
of supply 10 the kitchen dives and
pocket peddlers furnishes them with
the goods" sometimes willingly
sometimes unwillingIy. Instead there
fore, of the licensed saloon driving out
the dive" according to the theory be-
ing promulgated by license advocates,
! II actually promotes and works In
league with 1t, and you have both side
by side. Do we want that state of
things in Maine?
on one side of the question is theory
On tue other side conditions and facts.
1t behooves the people of Maine to go
below the surface to discover how IL
cense actually works in those places
where ii is in force, and not be de-
ceived by the beautiful theories that
are being exploited. Within three
months a manufacturer in Il license
city of New York state, city of about
! GO. 000 population, d city that is liter
aliY cursed with the licensed saloon.
said to the writer. Mr.. Crosman, don't
let the people of Maine open the state
| to the licensed saloon. without doing
everything that is possible to prevent
! il. From our experience here in this
city. 1, is awful.
The licensed saloon. wherever il ex-
| lists, viaIotes law to the greatest pos
aible extent limited only by its ability
10 connive with the police and poiiti-
cans. IL dQutteFdtcS us SOO0S ~
make extra profit, and the higher the
license to be paid the greater must be
the profit to meet it; it sells out OF
prescribed hours: il sells to women; it
sells to minors; it resorts to devices to
slim uIate and increase trade that have
never been attempted here in Maine
even under the most lax enforcement
we have ever known; it makes nui-
sance of itself and menace to the
! community; and il is protected in do
ing so by its legal backing and license
4 The man who votes for it assumes
moral responsibility before God and
his fellow men for the curse it brings.
or the community, on our homes, on
our boys, on our girls. We don't want
| il in Maine We are much better off
under prohibition with. the best en-
| forcement that can be secured, ineth-
cient as it may be in many places.
Under our present law, any time, any
| where, when conditions get bad enough
10 arouse public sentiment, selling can
be stopped and conditions cleaned up
quickly. Under n license law, with the
saloon on legal footing and protect
ed by it's rights" the matter is much
| more difficult.
| GEORGE L. CROSMAN.
SacO. Me-, Sept. s, 1871.