Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-05-29
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER.
Shall We Retain Constitutional Pro-
hibitipn? Or Shall We Abrogate the
Amendment and Open the Pathway
to the Licensed Saloon?


the institution which by our constitu-
| ton is made an outlaw in our good old
Pine Tree State, whose motto is. 4
lead" For answer | will quote the
words of another:
Morally, the saloon is cesspool of
corruption, without single redeeming
feature. 1t stands out in its horrible
deformity as the enemy of everything
| that is clean. or good, or holy. ana
poisons with it's unsavory breath
everything it touches. 1t enters the
sacred precinct of the home, and robs
| II of every precious thing, from the
cradle to the grave. destroying all
upon which the beauty and the fra
GRANGE of life depends. and sends its
Keeling, cursing victims into the awful
presence of their God. to hear the
terrible sentence. Depart; no drunk
ard can inherit the kingdom of Heav-
en-
1T defiles manhood, womanhood and
childhood, and casts mildew and
blight over the millions of lives.
whitening them as the sitting sirocco's
breath shrivels the rose or the lily. 1t
lays its whitening hand upon more
than 1000 of the boys and young
men of our country every year, and
debauches the lives of more than TO-.
600 girls and young women. Like the
unyielding grave. it cries. Give. give
1t turns loving fathers. sons and
brothers into murderous fiends. and is
responsible for nearly or quite ninety
per cent. of the violent crimes that
shock the sensibilties of the age. 1t
peoples our jails. penitentiarfes. insane
asylums and almshouses. This mon
ster is wrapping its shiny coils about
someone in each of four millions of
our homes. and bringing worse than
death to those homes. and has filled
the land with broken hearted mothers
wives and sisters. 1t is the prolific
source of suicide. divorce, and all
manner of crimes against society, the
state and God. 1t represents every
thing that is vile. unelean and UNI
canny"
Is this language too strong? l an
swer, No thousand times. Mo-
Words are not at my command to de-
pict this gigantic evil in it's blackness
Kind reader. listen: This is the kind
of an institution that the brewers, dis
tilers and liquor dealers are moving
earth and hell to force upon us. by
crushing out our constitutional law
and substituting license law instead.
Will the good citizens of Maine. in
whose hands the power of franchise
rests. allow these fiends in human
form to forge their chains of destrue-
ton around our hearthstones? God
grant it never.
No man who has eandidly weighed
the question can. for one moment,
support by act. voice or vote the legal
lied saloon without first deliberately
being willing to profit by the suffer
ing and ruin of his fellow man. Yes,
willing to profit by gain wrung from
helpless children and broken hearted
mothers. Twenty seven years ago
this coming fall by an overwhelming
majority of fifty thousand votes. con-
stitutional prohibition was adopted in
Maine. The law has been assailed by
it's enemies at home and abroad: rec
reant officials have violated their oath
of office; the gigantic liquor trusts
have hurled their engines of war
against it. they openly declare that
Maine is the keystone of the prohibit
ton arch. and If that can be broken.
the whole structure will crumble to
the ground. Yet with all these forces
working to nullify and bring the law
into disrepute, conditions are far bet
ter than had we the open licensed
rum shop on the streets of the towns
in Maine.
The fight is on. The greatest moral
battle Maine has ever seen will be
fought in the coming months that are
hafnPn Batt
Southern soil. when brave men went
down by scores and hundreds and
sealed their victory with their lives.
will be so far reaching in its effect on
present and coming generations as the
outcome of the conflict now before us.
May Heaven grant that enthusiasm
snail be awakened in every heart,
from the smallest child in the primary
school to the gray haired sire in the
old armchair, and as the clarion call
TO arms rings out from Kittery' to
Fort Kent and from the ocean laved
rocks of Quoddy Head to Old Oxford's
rugged hills, may everys lover of God
and home and native land rally to the
front and face the enemy with flash
ing eye and nerve of steel. And when
the mellow rays of September sun
snail kiss good night and cast it's
parting gleam over woodland hill and
vale and battle the bosom of each
silVery lake with its golden glow; and
when the mighty battle of the ballots
snail have ended on September nth,
1911, may there go up such a shout of
victory that Heavens arches shall
ring and the angels shout for Joy that
ilght has triumphed over wrong. and
me cohorts of the rum traffic shall
nave received crushing blow.
Inc glorious stars and stripes, I'M
stained and honored. still shall wave
proudly over every schoolhouse in the
tate we love SO we'll Then. with re-
he"ed courage and greater zeal, will
we wage the warfare until the day
sIali come when public sentiment
Shai be so strong in every nook and
corner of our State that no official
snail dare raise his hand to Heaven
ana swear before his God to execute
Tue law and then. to his everlasting
euahe' and the shame of our noble