Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-06-02

words Which the rum trust and its
board of paid henchmen are forever
putting into the mouths of those who
have the desire and the lack of char
acter to oppose the moral welfare OF
the people of Maine. We should not
after this exhibition be surprised to
hear MIR. Ashby proclaim that the laws
against burglary and white slave
traffic are breeders of hypocrites
and nullifiers of the law. What a
spectacle il is that men should be
obliged. in order to carry on dis
reputable business and to traffic in
the souls of humanity. that they should
be obliged to become hypocrites' Mr..
Ashby must be Mortified at this con-
dition of affairs when ne thinks of
all the laws of all the nations, and the
hypocrites they have made.
Further along Mr. Ashby refers to
such Shiny law" and then goes on
to ask
How much better are the people in
Maine today than they are in New
Hampshire Massachusetts or Canada
Are the churches any better? Is there
any less poverty? Are there any less
drunkards and jail birds according to
of the home? Do they have pretty girls
out on the streets to entice the unwary
eountryman into dive where he may be
drugged and robbed? Did you ever hear
of 'rotten-egging' a minister of the gos-
pei because he came among them to
suppress the rum traffic
Ii Mr.. w T. Ashby knew as much
about these questions as he pretends
to know, he would know tand we be-
lieve sufficiently in him still To think
that he would not absolutely misstate
conditions for the sake of misleading
his neighbors) that no state in the
Union has so few criminals in proper
ton to its population as has the state
of Maine. and we feel perfectly safe
i'm claiming that this fact Is due to half
a century of prohibition.
Mr.. Ashby asks if the people in
Maine are any better than they are in
other New England states. and we
would assure him that we have not the
slightest doubt there are as good peo-
pie in every state of the Union as
there are in Maine. but there are not
so many people of acknowledged re-
speetability and moral worth accord
ing to the population. in any of the
states as there are in Maine We an
swer, also, that the churches are no
better here than they are anywhere
else. sc far as the accomplishment OF
churches in other states go; but we
would inform Mr.. Ashby of something
which he seems never to have heard
that Maine has longer school terms
and turns out more high school grad
Union--per population.
Mr.. Ashby asks. Is there any less
in Maine?" And we would
answer that no other state in the
American Union has SO few people who
pay rent and so many who own their
homes. according to the population. as
in the good old Pine Tree State. We
would add also that Maine has more
money per capita in savings banks
than any other state in the Union.
Mr.. Ashby asks. How about the
purity of the homes" And right here
we would like to resent in words so
strong that We cannot use them in the
Kennebec Journal Mr. Ashby's at
tempted slur on the quality OF the
womanhood and the purity of the
homes of one of which we are in
in as few words as possible. that the
quality of the Maine home. according
to all statistics that have been pre-
pared, and all the tributes that have
been paid to the nobility of the wo-
manhood of this country. no section
has come in for a stronger share than
has Maine. and as an evidence of the
purity of the home and the effect
upon the manhood of its boys and the
character of it's institutions. let us
point Mr.. Ashby to the career and the
quality of the men and the statesman
ship by which Maine has been repre-
scented in the affairs of this nation.
both in Congress and in almost every
national government office, to say
nothing of the Maine men who have
stood at the head and moulded the
public affairs of fully one-half of the
states of the American nation If Mr.
Ashby has any grasp OF the public at
fairs of his State and the part Maine
men and women have played in the
affairs of the nation and of other ma
tions, he could hardly write the silly
tumble of misleading statements, OBJ
servations and questions he has in
fieted upon the people because he has
found an organ so devoid of character
and so little recognized in the affairs
of the people that it is ready to pub