Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-08-26
JOHN BURKE.
Governor of North Dakota.
Old Rum DAYS and To-day.

EultOf henneDeC
\ few days ago l had a conversation
with gentleman whom l have known
we'll for years. and although he is strict
ly temperate himself. he favors license
law in Maine. We were talking of the
coming big fair in our city and he being
a prosperous farmer was much interested
in the premium list for the incest cows,
the best calves, beets, turnips, potatoes,
and products raised on the farm. Why"
said he. I'VE are going to have the biggest
fair We have ever had, this year, and all
the industries of kennebec county and
the State will be on exhibition" Now
hold on a minute. said /; "You make
mistake there" What do you mean"
said he. II mean." / replied that the
managers of our Central Maine Fair have
not yet to my knowledge offered any pre-
MUM TO encourage the industry you de-
sire to have licensed in Maine. Now why
+, don't you go to the presidents office AT
ONCE and get a permit to- erect a big
stand on our fair grounds and then dur
ing fair week place upon this platform in
full view of the people the finest speci-
mems of the liquor traffic, which you de-
sire licensed in our State, so it may be-
come a legitimate business. Do you
j,
fair would offer you a premium on some
of the finished jobs turned out by the
rum shops?'
My friend looked at me moment with
fire in his eye and then said: "Gowen.
what a damn fool you are on the tenn
perance question" And then he dropped
| his head and stood thus for short time
and l noticed that the ugly look had left
It-s Il xrrht I
~ guess you feel ashamed to favor the
regulation of a business in our state that
| is pirate in the sea of commerce.
Please remember that when state
makes terms with it's enemies il is no Ion
ger a state. a state contemplates soVer-
eighty and sovereignty never makes terms
with it's enemies-and you and every hon
orable man knows that the rum traffic is
| the greatest enemy of mankind
But" said he. there is more rum
sold in Maine today under prohibition
than ever before" Now look here" l
said. Il am tired of hearing people make
such foolish talk as you are making and
YOU will pardon me when / say that all
| such talk as you are making is abso-
lutely false. 1 have the temperance his
tory of the State of Maine in my library
I
State in the old rum days and will com
pare those old rum days with the present
condition in our commonwealth under
| prohibition. In the old rum days Maine
was the poorest and most drunken State
| in all our nation, at all private assemblies
| in those days such as weddings, balls,
parties barn raisings and even funerals,
there was much rum drinking and drunk
/ n,,l alc Of roll nnnfarpnnAC
and ministerial gatherings there was
/ tipling or rum drinking. Today under
prohibition all this has been swept away,
as well as the distilleries and breweries
and wide-open rum shops in all our viii
: lagos and towns.
| Let me refer you to some of the old
! kennebec county towns and compare
them in rum days and now under prohibit
ton. Take TIE town of Readfeld, where
was reared that grand man, Hon. Lot NJ.
| Morrill,. who branded the liquor traffic on
the floor of the United States Senate as
the Gigantic crime of crimes. and we
| find that under license and free rum that
| town had seven open rum shops at which
were sold 2900 gallons of rum annually,
while today under prohibition there Is
not drop of liquor sold in Readfield
| for beverage purposes. The town of
| Clinton had 10 open rum shops under Ii
cense and free rum, but today. under pro-
| hibition it has no open rum shops. Take
| the town of Albion, which gave to the
world Elijah Lovejoy, the first abolition
martyr, who regarded the liquor traffic
as we'll as the slave traffic as a twin relic
of barbarsm, and we find it had six open
rum shops while today under prohibition
there are none The town of Wayne,
named in honor of one of the most gall
liant soldiers that ever led men to battle,
had eight open rum shops and 40 notori-
Gus drunkards, but today. under prohibl,
! ton Wayne has no open liquor shops and
no drunkards. The greater portion of
our farms We're mortgaged and sold Tor
over IS per cent of Names $1,000 farms
are owned by the sober and industrious
men who till them.
/ I'm the town of Kenduskeag in our
State the open grog shops in the old rum
days sold three $50 gallons of New Eng
land rum every week but today under
prohibition there are no open rum shops