The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1911-07-20
Stockton Springs, Me-, R. F. D. No 2.
81 Glover St.
ANsoNIA, Conn, June %,

ANSoNIA, Conn.,, June %, 1911
Mr.. F. A Lane, Stockton Springs, Me.
Dear Brother:-I have just had occa-
sion to witness an incident, that, while
it was nothing new to me, was some
thing that you never saw; that is,
woman go into the front door of sa-
loon and come out the side door with
pail of beer. | have seen incidents SINH
lar to this great many times at this sa-
loon, which is across the street from my
office, and there are over forty saloons in
the city of Ansonia-all, or nearly all, of
which are doing business of the same kind.
have seen, not occasionally, but fire.
quently, little children go into this saloon
and carry away liquor for others to drink.
| Children bring empty pals to the door Of
this mill at noon and at night for the
men to get filled with beer when they go
out from work. l have seen women
come out of this saloon that were so
drunk they could not walk straight on
the sidewalk. These are things | have
/ seen from one saloon. Now multiply
this by the forty or more saloons in the
city and draw your own conclusions.
/ Then just compare conditions here with
conditions in any of your Maine cities,
and remember that you are going to vote
either for or against just such conditions
when you cast your vote in September
Now, please do not attempt to starr an
argument about this. know conditions
in Maine are bad and have been growing
worse ever since the liquor interests Of
the country adopted the Democratic
party of Maine to work for their inter-
ests. l know that there are lot of
people in Maine who are doing things
that are awfully wrong, but remember
that they are doing those things in direct
violation of the laws of the State and
are liable to arrest and punishment.
Men will say that prohibition does not
prohibit; that the sale of liquor still goes
on. Let me call your attention to the
fact that murder, stealing, forgery and
all kinds of crime are going on all the
time all over the country; and are you
going to vote to make all of these things
legal simply because men will be crimi-
mails?
| have lived in both Maine and Con-
necticut and have had occasion to study
the conditions in both States and know
that prohibition is the only way to handle
the liquor traffic successfully. will ad-
nit that conditions in Maine may be bad,
but l know they will be thousand times
worse if you adopt the license law in
place of the prohibitory law.
believe there are a great many voters
in Maine who have the best interests Of
the State at heart who have made up
their minds to vote to do away with pro.
hibition simply because they do not
know anything about the conditions that
exist in license communities; but want
to tell those men that if they lose prohi-
bition in Maine this fall they will reap a
harvest of shame and disgrace the like
of which they can have no conception. If
they could have seen what have seen
| during the past eight years they would
stick to prohibition.
Being native of Maine l shall always
, have the best interests of the State al
t heart, and as am deprived of the priv.
, lege of using either my influence or my
vote for prohibition at the coming cleo
ton take this means of doing some
thing to promote the cause; so if yo'
will be kind enough to give this as:al