Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-05-08
Editorial Comment
The Issues of Maine in September
d,ewiston Journal9

LeWiSton Joufnait
The democratic press of Maine is
having a hard time to get an audience
on their rehash of the finance and "A
Bankrupt State campaign which did
them service two years ago.
A writer of such fluent English and
suen delightful play of wit is con-
Quoting a press bureau from Augusta
so vigorously that one might wonder
why he fails to hold his audience as of
old Is his song no longer welcome
Has the Jester lost the cap and bells?
Or is there a suspicion that he is tax
ing. for partisan uses. the high salaried
time that properly belongs to the Peo-
pie in an office that demands not mere
ly perfunetory service but also some
thing more2 This would be one reason
why the people paid no longer amy at
tention to this rigmarole of insinua-
ton. half-statement. inuendo and exag-
geration that is being put forth daily
This would be one reason why the peo-
pie were showing signs of being very,
very tired of that estimable and pro-
life person.
But there is something else. Parties
are but men. When men keep their
word. they make good. When they
break their word they lose their hold
on the public confidence To-day the
issues in Maine State political life are
simply this-has the Plaisted admin
istration lived up to its promises on the
one great issue in Maine public life
Has it made good? And the answer is
no. 1t promised by platform; by cam
paign promises; by the governors in
augural; by uplifted hand in high
places to see to it that the laws we're
respected and enforced by the duly
elected officers. We have shown this
in many ways, i'm exact reproduction of
the very words of the administration;
by parallel columns; by liberal extracts
of the speeches of the leaders To-day
what is the condition of Maine? 1t is
outrageously and rottenly given over to
the control of the criminal classes in a
large area of the state. The influence
and The sympathy of the Plaisted ad-
ADMINISTRATION is with the open saloon
The chief end and aim of Plaistedism
has been to legalize the saloon. Plaist-
edism has simply broken faith with the
Folks. 1t won two years ago on false
prctences. 1t fooled five thousand vot-
that they don't like to think about it
to-day. They are Disguised with the
whole business. They simply say that
they don't propose to be fooled again.
To-day. we are up against Condi-
ton in Maine. Here in Androseoggin.
notification is q menace to the life and
happiness of a decent people. Men are
being shot down in cold blood at the
doors of their homes Women are pur-
sued by thugs and hold-up men. Mask
ed creatures lie in wait for the very
angels of Mercy at the doors of our
hospitals and seek TO lay upon them
violent and profane hands of lust or
murder. innocent people are robbed
by night in their beds and the saloon
sends out its emissaries to villify and
malign. The rum shop entertains the
official and the commoner alike and is
not disturbed They hardly draw their
curtains over their thousand dollar
bars, And we are not alone Water
vile. in which the Socrates and the Al
cibiades of the democratic party reside,
is shameful example of deliberate
and intentional notification; or else
the uncontradicted stories of recent oc-
currences are false. Portland is no bet
ter. Statewide is the growing senti-
ment of revolt at these conditions 1t
is a struggle for the Home. 1t is a
struggle for Public Safety 1T is strug-
gle for our very lives and liberties. And
no pretty humor or fanciful tales about
things that happened long ago will di-
! vert the people of Maine from !, deter
mination to clean house in Maine next
| September. There will be but one par
amount issue. And whether a man be-
lieves in license or prohibition: whether
| he believes in the saloon restricted, the
saloon prohibited or the saloon wide
open. he will not entrust any longer
the decision of that question to those
who have made a mock Of our laws and
enthroned lin Maine that spirit of null
LITIGATION. which, as Gov. Fernaid said