Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-10-19
Thei"Folly" of Prohibition?

Thei"Folly" of Prohibition?
Rather striking testimony to the
folly and failure of prohibition. and
the evil results Of such impracticable
sumptnary legislation, is given by an
authority of weight, Royal f. cabell,
Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
He is quoted as saying there is more
whiskey stored in Kentucky today
than ever before, and that the con-
sumption of cigarettes has reached a
total of billion month and is still
increasing. He attributes the in
creased smoking of cigarettes to jul
dicious advertising; the increase of
whiskey he attributes largely to pro-
hibition. 1T appears says the Com
missioner, that in dry territory,
whiskey, being of smaller bulk in pro-
portion to alcoholic content, is more
easily handled than beer, ale or wine.
A bottle of the one contains many
more drinks than a bottle of either of
the others.3 He adds: Il have been
told the distillers would like to see the
whole country go dry, as that would
give them a monopoly of the manu-
faeture of Intoxicating beverages.
And experience in prohibition States
proves that not only is the sale of
hard liquors. encouraged TO the ex-
clusion of bulllier and milder bever-
ages, but that much of this stuff is of
the vilest connection and deadly in eff
feet. And then in this State there is
prohibition hard cider.-Portland Ar
que. 8,st b5- ssff fs...#s.s =,
&c ha onr fhinu
those favoring the license revenue
system of rum decentralization to pub
lish such misleading stuff as referred
TO by the Argus, and then the facts of
actual consumption in license and
prohibition territory without word
of explanation showing the contrast.
1t is results we are after, and in spite
of all the sophistry of the booze trust
and its tools, sales of booze are less
by several hundred per cent. in
prohibition territory than in license
territory
Were this not true why the untirng
and costly effort on the part of the
makers and sellers of booze, to repeal
all prohibitory law?
The strongest card of the booze
makers. and the subsidized press is
the quality 9f the liquors sold under
rum trust law and under notification
of prohibition law. If you have ever
noticed Il, the quality of the latter is
always poison' and 1.-THE former
''stlmui4nt'n ''tonie,'' with the rum
press. They never tell you why a rum
seller issRso much better disposed to-
ward hie PATRONS when he is paying a
high liGsnse than he is when he is
cheating his license fee out of the gov
eminent By violating the law
According to the Argus. Sentinel,
Biddefo.d Record and their ilk the
Connection that comes by express
into prohibitory territory from license
territory for peddling in some manner
in violation of law, is always deadly
in effect Whereas under rum
trust pretense substituted for law, Ii
quors are always pure" and charm
less" to the consumer.
In the same breath, these inconsis-
tent tools of the booze makers will
tell you that the manufacturers of the
hard stuff which becomes so deadly
under prohibitory law, prefer such
conditions TO a license SYSTEM which
lets in beer and ale Then why tht
poisoned poison?
AS a matter of common humanity
the "vilerp the stuff and the sooner
il puts its victim out of the world, the
quicker he will stop paying his earn
ings to the booze makers and abusing
his family. OF course ii is saerilegi
Gus TO-, speak yqf o poor drunhard'
that way before the, paid tools OF tn
rum trust but. happily 1T is one of tn
little jokes OF Providence that it i
true. Many men not fit to die ar
better dead than alive and the wors
the liquor the booze crowd serve up t
them the earlier their families get re
lief.
So don't lei US hear too much abou
'viie' poison:
Attorney General John S. Dawson c
Kansas, says:
1T is often said that prohibitio
does not prohibit. And that is tru'
Neither does gun shoot, nor shi
sail, nor a piano make music of II