Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-03-25
MAINE BETTER OFF
BY s12,ooo,ooo Per Annum Under
Prohibition That Under License.

The saloon element and their
friends will have to conjure up some
new material with which to meet the
anti-alcohol crusade now moving on
to national victory said Sanford b.
Horton. assistant secretary of the Re
ligious Liberty Association of Wash
ineton, p G, tn a representative oil
this paper They have told us that
prohibition does not prohibit and
therefore the business of whiskeN
drinking should be licensed. They tell
us that prohibition laws make posi-
Bile blind tigers. speak -easies.' boot
logging, etc, ad nauseum. Moreover
we are told that the only way to have
a law abiding system of dispensing
whiskey is to license ii as business.
In reply to these specious argu-
ments put forth by the liquor interests
we would say. first. prohibition does
prohibit, or there would not be so
much said along that line: second, the
saloon people are not able to show
that licensing the traffic insures its
conducting itself in lawful way. such
as the elimination of the blind tigers
the 'speak-easies.' etc. What is the
ftttIl dht NfiliNsis7O ioi OH
where the saloon is licensed. There
are in that city 1000 licensed saloons
and at least 5000 places where liquor
is Illegally sold In Pittsburg not long
ago the licensed liquor dealers appeal
ed to the city government to close u9
some 2000 blind tigers. but these have
not as yet, / am informed, been closed.
In Philadelphia the police report that
there are as many 'speak-easies' as
there are licensed saloons.
The fact alleged that 81 100000
worth of alcohol is consumed annually
i'm prohibition Maine is also held up as
a reason for repeating its article pro-
hihting the sale and manufacture of
alcohol in the State. Supposing that
TO Re true, if the traffic were licensed.
according to United States statistics
Maine would spend nearly s13, 1000, 00l
per year. Thus from the standpoint of
economies Maine is better off by at
least 81 coo, 0e0 per annum under pro-
hibitory law.
There is method in the madness of
King Alcohof.s friends They are face
TO face With the fact that King Al
cohol is an outlaw in Maine and other
states. and it is intended by the saloon
people to break down all legal barriers
and permit him to associate with other
business enterprises upon an equal
footing. But there is no way TO make
the alcohol trade respectable. Alcohol
is a poison. a narcotic, an evil agency
under the influence of which men are
unnamed and become friends of law
1essness 1t is SO held by scientists. by
jurists. by business people, by stu
dents of economies, besides by the
church
I'm 1908 Judge Kimball of the Fed
eral branch Of the police court of
Washington, l. G., said: Many years
of close observation as judge of the
police court has convinced me that the
largest percentage of crime is direct
ly traceabe to drinking. | was at the
Jail recently. and | asked Warden
Harris for his opinion on this same
sui ject, and he asserted that his talks
with criminals of all types had shown
90 per cent. of them had reached their
downfall because of Whisliey drink
ing
THE United States supreme court
has declared: The statistics of every
state snow greater amount OF crime
and misery attributable to the use of
ardent spirits obtained at these liquor
saloons than to any other source 1t
is therefore proper and right that the
State should treat alcohol as an out
law and should repress it as would be
the case with murder, theft and all
other acts which menace the peace and
safety OF society even for the welfare
of these who use ii as a beverage.
Maine is to be congratulated upon
its having kept faith with its Con-
stitution for so many years, and while
conditions may be bettered in respect
to law enforcement it is to be hoped
that the legislature viii not reopen the
question of repeating the article pro-
hibiting the liquor traffic. 1t is also
hoped that the Legislature will not
pass any legislation which viii make
possible the violation of the Constitu-
ton IN any part of the State, city,
town, village, plantst ton, etc. Keep
King Alcohol. the enemy of the hu-
man race. outside the borders of this
ayrnat 'punrnanxVaa1t11