Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1911-08-15
From a True Friend of Maine.

connected. has taken the foremost
position in support of Prohibition IN
the contest which is now approaching
the battle at the polls. The Journal
has always been right on every lead
inc question; and since the days OF
Luther. Severance and James G..
Blaine. il has never been more ably
edited than at the present time. Its
editorials in standing for the integ-
rIty of the home and the safety of the
Preside. are quoted throughout the
country
There is only one side to this 4ues-
ton that will stand the bright light
of publicity, and that is the side oil
the prohibition of the liquor traffic.
The other side has no argument. the
other side will hold no public meet
ings. will hire no brass bands to call
The people together TO discuss the
question. Discussion and publicity are
the things il breads. The devil al
ways works secretly, and most of the
time in the dark. His most efficient
work is done when good men and
women are sleeping. when darkness
envelopes the world.
A license law in Maine is unthink-
able / am tired of the idiotic cry
that prohibition does not prohibit"
Whoever said il did? But the pro-
finitely better than license. Prohibi-
tion at it's worst is better than Ii
.cense at its best. Those who have
lived in license states, and made q
careful study of the workings of their
liquor laws, decide in favor of proli-
hilton every time. One gentleman
writes: II have seen more people in
one hour under the influence of strong
drink in Washington than I have in
all the cities of Maine combined. /
have seen more. people drunk in a city
in Maryland in one day than I have
seen more men drunk in the country
J in Delaware in one evening than
have seen in Maine in three years.
and more people drunk on the side
walk in front OF one building in New
York city, than I have seen in Maine
in three years. l am sure, as far as
drunkenness is concerned, that there
is not licensed city of any State
that can show as clear a record as
the worst governed city of Maine"
So much from the testimony of a
gentleman of keen observation.
When / was a boy in Brunswick,
before the prohibitory law, l heard
my father say that there were fifty
grog shops in that town. and thirty
eight in the little village of Topsham
Just across the Androscoggin river
When ! came to Augusta to live, IL
1854. nearly every printer in ever,
printing Office drank, keeping his bot
tie under his printers stand, concealed
by quire of paper. One of the hes
preesmen we ever had in the office dice
Of delirium tremens. / was called II
his room, and was with him near tn
end of his dreadful conflict. ant
helped TO close his eyes in death. after
the most fearful scene ever wit
messed. God pity me if i should vote
yes" while the memory of that event
burns itself into my soul Now. under
prohibition. nearly all the printers are
total abstainers. and any one OF
them drinking steadily would soon
lose his situation. And the same
could be said of many other profes
sions and occupations.
Prohibition has not only saved tn,
man, but IL has saved the State from
disgrace. A license law can neve
make the business of rumselling re
spectacle. You can't regulate it an
more than you can regulate he'll
determination is the only remedy
w ny CliOAi1 ttit tototC iACChSN u bhS'
ness that destroys the home; remove
the ripples from the face of an limo
cent child. and gives him the draw
and wrinkled face of an old man; dc
stroys the power and capacity of tn
breadwinner to support his family
and sends his wife and little helples
children out into the cold world I
shift for themselves; seals up all tn
fountains of tender feelings and emo
lions, and makes brute of a ono
fond and loving husband? oh, NJ
The State of Maine is not ready
out around such monster evil il
arms of governmental protection,
place by law such business on IL
same footing as the grocer, the dr
goods merchant, and the boot an
shoe dealer.
But why multiply arguments? The
nave all been on one side. All we hay
10 see TO now is 10 get out the vote
rro,fr n