The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-07-20
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1911
Arguing Against Prohibition

fFrom the Richmond Virginian.l
"Would Maine have fewer murders
~ capital punishment there snoulo
no restoredY % asks the Boston GLOBE
mont know. But there is Deilei,
more or less current, that she WouIo
have fewer IL prohibition and conse-
nuently boot leg liquor were aooI-
ished.-News Leader. ;.
We nresume our contemporary Is
arguing from the records OF Incense
communities, where murder Is one OF
the lost arts. Alcoholic drinks tend,
as all scientists tell US, to compose
the mind. restrain the passions ana
quicken all those processes that issue
in calm and sober judgment. Inc
man who harbors any preludlce or
Dassion. or he who broods over
wrongs. fancied or real, if he Will but
stem into a neighboring groggery and
WOO the kindly offices OF Bacchus'
will find sanity returning to mlnd,
self-mastery to will, and the sweet
spirit of peace and goodwill lowering
over his heart. It's a great institu-
ton. this open saloon. The commu-
nifty should not only permit 1t, but
should substitute it, as great public
influence in the prevention OF crimes
especially murder. It's specihc
against the virus of hate, from which
murder is often born-and the regu-
lation of public order. That's the rea-
son why the law closes them on cleo
ton day, because it's day of more
or less excitement, and the open sa-
loon would kill all party enthusiasm
the quieting effect of the alcohol
would turn an exciting election into
the holiday of an old ladies' home.
That's why the government always
closes the saloons in times Of public
riot, because a few drinks of whiskey
would so restrain passion and calm
inflamed minds that despised rights
and liberties could hardly arouse sur
ficient courage and zeal to tight foI
their own.
OF ali the Illogical arguments, in.
consistent with facts, we have ever
met in support of the licensed saloon
this one is the limit. The syllogism
would read about like this:
There is murder in Maine:
Prohibition obtains In Maine;
Therefore, prohibition produces
murder
Submit that proposition to any mas
ter of logic, and he will tell you it is
great He will grow wildly enthusi
astic over 1t. Indeed, anybody with
grain of common intelligence can
see that the logic is irresistible and
the conclusion unanswerable. There
Is nothing for those poor, deluded
Maine folks to do but to rise up Ell
masse and overthrow prohibition. HUI
man life is far too valuable that any
reformers sophistry should be per-
mited at its expense. The perpetuity
OF the State demands the immediate
overthrow of system that Is rapidly
depopulating 1t by the wholesale null
duplication of murder. But the weak
ness of the situation Is found In the
fact that often faultless logic is ut
terly inconsistent with actual fact
That's the trouble with the logic of
Our contemporary. The fact is, and
we challenge its denial; wherever the
saloon Is banished crime decreases.
We happen to have statistics at
hand bringing Maine, no-license
State. into comparison with Massachu-
sets, an adjoining license State.
Boston, Mass, has high license and
stringent regulation. Portland, Me-,
Is under prohibition. Boston has 426
arrests for every 10000 of population:
Portland had eighty-four arrests for
every 10000 of population. In prohi-
bition Maine there were thirteen pris-
oners In the penitentiary for every
io,000 OF the population, while in
nigh license Massachusetts there
were thirty-three.
We could, If occasion demanded.
submit statistics from the criminal
records of many communities fur
nishlng irrefutable proof that the sa-
loon Is the most prolific parent Of
crime that history has ever known. |
But this must suffice to show up an
other specimen of the argumentium
al 1gnorantiam. Again we dismiss II
with smile.-B0ston Transcript.
A man Is always Interested In the