Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-08-03

communities in license states. No one
can doubt this--I do not say deny-Who
has compared our principal cities and
larger towns with those of license states
No one can doubt this who knows what
Maine was before the days of prohibit
ton. and what she became after its adop-
ton. Practically all such have passed
away But some of them left their testt-
mony on record. | venture to quote from
few Of them:
Senator Frye. Names grand old man,
for whose restoration to health and for
his continued life we all hope, said,
There cannot be found a man In Maine
who is not prejudiced by reason of being
a seller or drinker to excess. or by party
passions. who will not concur with me in
saying that its blessings have been meal
cuIable."
James G. Blaine said. ''Intemperance
has steadily decreased in the State since
the first enactment of the prohibitory
law. until now it can be said with truth
that there Is no equal number of people
in the Anglo-Saxon world among whom
so small an amount Of Intoxicating Ii
quors is consumed as among the $4,000 in
habitants of Maine. The people of Maine
are industrious and provident and wise
laws have aided them They are sober,
earnest and thrifty
Lot NJ Morrill,. Hannibal Hamlin. John
Lynch the late Chief Justice Peters and
Senator Eugene Hale. who has but re-
Gently closed a long. successful and hon
orable public career. united in the state
ment that the consumption of intoxicat=
ing liquors in Maine was not one-fourth
as great after as before prohibition And
the late Judge Clifford of the United
States supreme Court said: "Under the
operations of the law, there has been
diminution of crime, and the effect has
been to make the sale OF liquor disrepu-
table"
The last clause quoted from the letter
reminds me of those who imagine that
when one has counted the DRINKS in any
community he has measured the evils of
the liquor traffic there. But to assert
that the only evil flowing from the liquor
traffic is drunkenness. is absurd. 1t is
proven SO by the testimony of competent
men the world over / am tempted to
quote from some of them.
Competent Testimony
Theodore Roosevelt. speaking of it. said:
"The business tends to produce criminali-
ty in the population at large. and law
breaking among the saloon keepers
themselves When the liquor men are al
lowed TO do as they wish, they are sure
to debauch not only the body social but
the body polite also"
Again referring to the saloon. he said.
1.-THE most powerful saloon keeper con-
trolled the politicians, and the police,
while the latter in turn terrorized and
blaekmailed all other saloon keepers. If
the American people do not control it. it
will control them"
Governor Hoke Smith. of Georgia. who
about a week ago was elected United
States senator. said at is absolutely
impossible to have permanent decent
municipal government where the saloon
dominates municipal politics. The elimi-
nation of the saloon will help municipal
politics everywhere
Governor J. w Folk. of Missouri. a
well known Presidential possibility, said
of the traffic. cit is business the natural
tendency of which is toward lawlessness.
and the time has come when it will either
run the politics of the state or be run out
of the politics of the state"
Many other equally competent witnesses
might be cited to the same effect. The
traffic tempts to intemperanee. and pro-
duces much of it. But long before it pro-
duces any. it does immense harm to the
business. the morality. the politics of the
state. The poor. miserable. helpless.
pitiable drunkard. may be its most repul-
sive. but is far from being it's most harm
fui and dangerous product.
Again I quote from the letter:
Finally the theory of prohibition
is to make men temperate by remov-
ing prohibition from their pathway.
The attempt to carry this theory into
practice has proved substantially i'm
possible: but suppose that it were pos
sible. would it be wise? Human char
acter is built up by resisting tempta-
ton. We are all of US exposed con-
stantly to all of the temptations of
the world. the flesh and the devil; we
cannot escape them If would. and
it is quite evident that il. was not in
tended that we should Frequently we
yield. and having learned the fruits of
yielding. we try to do better next time
Strength of character is built up little
by little in just this way-there is no
other way to acquire it, Some never |
do acquire it. but remain in the weak
minded. yielding class as long as they
live. Temptation to excess in liquor
is in no wise different from the other
temptations of life Legislation will
never succeed in taking it away from
us. The remedy does not lie there. but
in cultivating the powers of resistance
in the education of youth. not by way |
of keeping them ignorant of evil and
sheltered from temptation. but by
way of giving thers full understands
ing. so that they may know the evil
only to shun it and build up character
ny resistance to evil inelinations. Re-
lance upon law to accomplish results
OF this kind is a delusion and i'm so far
as it tends to check personal effort.
is a positive snare"
Is All Good Wrong?
''Well. if that view is sound. the prayer |
that we learned at the knees of our |
saiuted mothers must have been a mis- |
translation aud its closing petition should |
DC made to read. lead us not into temp |
taton that we may avoid evil" Again, |
# that view is sound. all other prohibit |
lions ought to go as well as that of the |