Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-01-24


have another chance to express lneHl
selves on the question of the modiflca
ton of the prohibitory system Mr.
owens well known views and Wlshe'
would naturally lead him to that posi-
tion The judgment of even truly goo,
man may be swayed by his pre1udlces
1t is when Mr.. owen quotes otnsrs ,., tita
He said in this Portland address ina
Master Stetson of the state grange ue
clared the people of the town OF efee it
where he lives, would not be faVoraplt
10 allowing Lewiston or any other citN
to sell LIQUOR and thus throw temptatloi
in the way of the people OF the towns.
If the sale of liquor in the cities o.
Maine is a temptation to the people OF
the towns then those people are alTeaay
subjected TO temptation ana nave peet
subjected TO il ever since tne t,, W.
of the prohibitory law, Just as they Wert
subjected to it before that time But the
people of the towns in Maine are, pN q
very large majority, temperate anu Jaw
and Rangor and other cities IN Malne
and they are not corrupted Sornet1lness
they cross the borders of the STATE aiu
visit the great cities ofgoI rar,,, Jit bv
law Int il does not occur TO even the
Civic League to advise Maine IONS ~
keep away from Boston 1of ,a anap tH9,
they NAV fall victims TO temptation
Sentinel
No fair-minded person will deny the
above assertion that intoXicants al
WAYS have been sold to some extent
in the cities of Maine and, probably
always will be. so long as the stuff IS
manufactured and the laws of one
mart of the country are outraged by
another section with the sanction OF
the federal government. The follow
ing dispatch shows to the people OF
Maine their helplessness to maintain
the high position they have held and
make Roadway against an evil which
converts millions of dollars annually
into sentiment" and lawmakers:
Washinqton. Jan. 22.-Beer is
commodity and railroads must carry
it, when offered for transportation
from one state into "dry" counties OF
another state, regardless of the laws
of the latter state. The supreme
court of the United States made this
ruling today regarding a proposed
shipment from Indiana into Ken
lucky.
Rut the writer of the reprinted edi-
torial section above must just as
frankly admit that always has the
traffic in Maine cities been under the
menace of the law and the fear of in
formers. and that it has not openly
advertised for customers as is done in
license territory. He win also admit
that the young men and boys of
Greene il they have partaken of
calamity water" have had
to hunt for it, whereas, were Lewis
ton q license town, the sellers of in
toxicants would hunt for the boys.
The writer of the Sentinel editorial
could not, did he for moment be-
lieve his own argument, claim that
the consumption of intoxicants in
Maine has been one-fourth as large
as in neighboring license territory,
because all statistics in volume, and
all. estimates by those in position to
know, even to the liquor wholesalers
themselves and their publications, adj
nit Names low consumption per
capita. Nor could this writer claim
that had Maine. 60 years ago, en-
braced a license system, under which
all the schemes of an INSCRIPTIONS
and merciless trade. been put into eff
feet to drum up and maintain trade,
have kept consumption of intoxicants
down to the neighborhood of
81, 900, 900 per annum.
Suppose our per capita consump-
ton had been increased only four
times. where would the other $4,000
600 a year have come from? II it had
been increased to the rational total
average, from where should we have
raised 100000 more every year
than we have been spending for in
toxicants?
Does any one of those now fighting
SO zealously for the liquor interests.
from Governor Plaisted down or up,
claim that an increased business in
would have increased the
economic welfare of the State in pro-
portion to its reduction of moral and
spiritual well being?
Could these promoters of the liq-
uor traffic show a single instance or
one remote way in which the business
is a benefit to person or community,
we would admit the personal liberty"
But why should we recog-
nize the right of traffic that is
wholly bad to prey upon the inno-
cent public?
On an electric car to Lewiston from
Augusta, Saturday afternoon, was a
man who was filled with personal
liberty" to just that extent which
made him obnoxious to every person
on the car. Everyone was made un-
comfortable and uneasy for the entire
trip. All pleasure of the ride was