Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-03-23

| n gentleman who is not Il member of
! this Dody and who therefore could not
anSWc or in debate. Now let US sec what
| the Law is which the gentleman deems
| 80 necessary. We have had prohlbikon
| in Maine since 1854. since lS5t uninter-
Iuutcdly, and never until 1909 did il
| occur to anybody that il was ncceS-
| sary. in order tn enforce the rruhibi-
tory law. that the Governor should be
so situated that on petition of 30
adult PERSONS lie could give Il hearing
as Ia whether or not he should remove
n county attornoy and appoint some
one else in his prve. t% the gentleman
from Hoalton trltttuiis. said. il We
were. gong to repeal this law simply
becauec T. was a Republican law, We
would repeal in 4 largc measnr" all of
the ly>es passed during the last half
a c4rtpI-- Many Of thlEa in my opin-
ion might wisely he repealed.
Tut 10, all that 50 years
VIII. ire party now in tn" M
norit IN Maine in tho ma jority. for IS
of :fGsc 20 years nobody deemed ii n"c"S-
sarv 10 have this law. Year after year
..eprblicans got along without il, Demo-
.f.tS got along without it year after
wear. II was simply one of a series of
laws passed in desperate attempt not
10 enforce the prohbitory law, but to
make the people of Maine think that
|, somebody was going to enforce it, 1t has
been on the statute books two years. Dur
ing those two years Governor Plaisted
was not Governor. During those two
years Governor Fernald was Governor:
and would not say here on the floor of
the House where Governor Fernald has
no opportunity to answer me. at be-
cause conditions in Bangor We're what
the gentleman from Houltou describes
them to he. if they are described truly
by him. that therefore Governor Fernald
was a coward. / would not say that.
tApplause) If conditions i'll Bangor or
anywhere else have been bad for two
years with that law on the statute books,
who is responsible for those conditions?
The gentleman has said. in attacking the
present county attorney of Penobscot,
man who is known to most of us and
known to most of us as a gentleman, that
he does. or that he assumes he does, GER
tain things in connection with his bust
ness in the courts at Bangor | know
nothing o. the details Of his work. |
know that his Work there was sufficiently
satisfactory to the people of ienobscot
SO that when he came up for recollection
last fall he got the largest vote of any
county official on the county ticket in
spite of the repetition day after day in
the Bangor News of the same sort Of
talk that the gentleman from Houlton
saw fit to indulge in here. The people
oI.1 1t, H., a
know him as a gentleman, | know him as
a lawyer, l nnow him as an honest man,
and no man for the purpose of exciting
any prejudice against anybody or against
any bill has right to attack him on the
floor of this House as he has been at
tackled.
But to return to the laW. Two years
ago the gentleman from Houltnn stood
up in the House and argued strcn-
uously for this law and said then if
it was passed that that meant en-
forcement. Give us this law, he said.
and there will be no more notification
in Maine | remember his argument
we'll. | listened To it with good
deal of interest. That was the one
thing that was going to wind up the
matter of notification. They had the
Stugis law and the Cakes law. and
the Prohibitory law on the statute
books and in the Constitution That
WAS not enough. Give us just this
one more law and we. VIII take care
of prohibition and enforce il from one
end of Maine to the other" Well,
you had the law for two years. /
wonder, was the prohibtory law en-
forced strictly in the city of Portland
during those two years? Let us get
away from Bangor and get down into
what was tin . good Republican
county with a good Republican coun-
~ attorney. How about Portland for
Two vars I am no going to attack
the UNITY attorney of Portland or
maxi any criticism of him at ALL
He i%s his duties to perform and
] have mine. But | know that con-
diu0n- in Portland during those two
yelrs we're very far from what could
be described as ideal endorsements
4tnu yet the county attorney of Cum
berland was not brought before tho
brave Governor of Maine and a hear
ing had and he removed from Of
flee. OF course he was rot. When
that law was passed nobody intended
to Use il. Nobody ever intended to
use 1t. Gentlemen who sat in the
House with me and voted for the
law gave as an excuse Tor their ac-
ton two years ago that it never would
be used but that 1t would satisfy an
element in their party made up in
part of the gentleman from Houlton,
an element that had gravitated
INTO Repubicanism from the Pro-
hibition party and could only
be satisfied if they could have all sorts
Of political measures passed. not for
use but for the purpose of talking to
the people on the stump; and this law
was framed. Now l wish YOU would
study that law. 1t says that You want
to give the Governor power to remove
county attorney. You don't do it in
| Your law. You say the Governor may
| upon petition of 30 adult citizens take
| INTO consideration the conduct OF q
county attorney. He cannot act upon
, ms own initiative. Now If YOU had
Governor who wanted that power, Il
Governor who wanted to use that DOW
err he would want it So he could use it
on ms own motion, and II there had
been any idea when that law was fra,p