The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1911-09-23
THE MAINE ELECTION.

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Maine has gone wet" so the press
dispatches assure us. No member Of
the McAlister family ever worried
himself over whether it went wet or
dry; because those Of us who wanted
it wet" always had it so, and those
who wanted it dry" were also ac->
commodated. so long as they kept
away from the wet places
Maine is in many respects Pc
culiar state. In some of it's aspects,
1t resembles the country from which
my forefathers didn't come-the EN-
erald Isle.
There, as in Maine! were to be
found both Extremes and
adversity-with the latter predomin-
at1ng. I am not guessing at this, for
have had it from reliable authority
as to the former country, and as to
Maine, I can verify the statement
from personal observation and expert
ence.
In order to have good red hot
political campaign In any state or
country, the two p's, poverty and
prosperity must be upon an equipoise
or nearly so. Perhaps an intense
yearning for office. such as we some-
times witness in our our state of Min
nesota, may serve as a good substitute
for economic inequality: but the one
or the other must be present, other
wise, our elections would be very
tame affairs indeed.
The fact is presumably, so patent
to my readers that they can dispense
with the exclamation point after
what fools We voting mortals be-"
The funny feature about the Maine
election was the degree of earnest
ness generated by the contending
paris, when as a matter of fact, each
has been working for years to adj
vance the interest of the other.
How Is that? This is just the how
of it. Let the manufacturers, dis
tilleres and so-called restifiers of our
good friend booze be permitted to
pursue unmolestd, the even tenor of
their way for ten years more and the
1rnbiber will be an unknown quanti-
ty In the United States Of America,
because the present generation Of
bibulous aristocracy will be killed off
by the dope" sold to them for
"booze" and the rising generation.
not being equipped with stomachs
having cast iron Innings, cannot pos
sibly cultivate an appetite for the
''dope."
So you see the evil will eventually
destroy itself. The remedy may be a.
little drastic, but society's experience
with it already, demonstrates the cer-
tainty of it's being eventually effec-
tive.
The prohibitionists on the other
hand restrain the quality produced,
render its adulterating, if not impos-
sible. at least extremely difficult, and
HANGED, and the exhilirating effects
from the use of "phonibition booze"
can be realized without taking any
immediate chances with death.
Under prohibition in Maine prac-
tically everybody drank, but the ini-
Quitious rectifier? was not permitted
to- ply his vocation, and as a result
the liquor sold to the people was
pure, aged and healthy, and only
Intoxicating when taken in inordinate
doses.
am not contending that the me-
thods which obtain under prohibition
ly superior to those which prevail in
"wet' states Of which Minnesota is a
lamentable example. The hypocrisy
practiced is prohibition states has the
redeemiag quality already indicated,
but the hypocrisy practiced in wet
states is productive of nothing but
evil and that continually. =,
Consistency is an unknown jewel
in all legislative and executive &C
ton pertaining to the liquor traffic
in Minnesota.
Dealers in all products taken into
the human organism except whiskey
as to purity and freedom from adul-
| teration. The whiskey vendor alone,
of all dealers, seems to be free from
any restraint as to the quality of the
article he dispenses over his bar.
E. How long such condition of affairs
shall continue I know not. At pres
ent our authorities seem to think they
have done their full duty to the pub
lie. when they make a pretense Of
enforcing some foolish regulation
based upon the hands Of clock.
!. In other days certain authorities
were accused of figuratively strain
Ing at a gnat and swallowing a camel.
In our day and generation the figure
Of speech would not be too far reach
ing were the authorities accused Of
straining at the eye winker Of q gnat
and swallowing a sawmill.
&=>& = SANDIE McALISTER. !
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THE SOCIAL. EVTT. ~