The Republican journal., 1912-04-11
never satisfied. but always reaching out

Let US SCanQ by the law, StanQ by the
truth, and stand by the liberties of the
people.
When the vote on the amendment was
taken last September the lines of cleav-
age were not so clearly drawn as they
have since become. Then there were
men who favored repeal believing that
it did not mean license. Today resub-
mission means local option and license
law. There can be no misunderstanding
of this fact now We have the issue
squarely before us without any attempt
to disguise the real question.
License men for the sake of creating
prejudice against the law and forming a
sentiment in favor of it's repeal, make
much of the personal liberty argument.
1t is catchy phrase and often it has
fooled men who do not stop to look be-
meath the surface. By the use of this
false argument they have no doubt won
some men to their cause and gained
votes that they could never have had if
they had confined their plea to good logic
and common sense. In it's relation to
this subject, personal liberty means
nothing more nor less than immunity
from law, or the right to buy and drink
and sell without the legal ''Thou shalt
not" of the constitution or statutes. If
it meant less than this it would not be
personal liberty, for such thing cannot
exist where there is not freedom from
restraint. Carried to its logical conclu-
sion this argument of the license force
would stop only at anarchy, for that is
freedom from restraint, or immunity
from law, can be had.
Every man has to give up some person.
al liberty for the sake of his own and the
public good. Civilization, itself, rests
in no small measure on that truth. Even
if there were truth and logic in the argu-
ment it would be capable of double
application.
Granted, that man should have the
liberty 10 vote to sell intoxicants under
the sanction of law, and that he should
have the right to sell and buy protected
by law, that he should be permitted to
establish the legalized saloon and throw
the strong arm of the law over and
around the rum seller, that all the evils
that always cluster around the saloon
should exist, what then?
Would it not still be true that the right
to prevent these conditions was an in
herent right of men, and thus, in logic
al sense, real personal liberty Of the
citizen? Which will you have, the liberty
that gives you the saloon sanctioned by
law with it's evils-and even saloon men
have to admit it is an evil-or the real
liberty of your natural manhood, which
gives you the right to place the strong
| heel of constitutional law upon the head
of the serpent whose sting is death?
The real fight is against the drink
habit itself. Which best helps the right
in that fight, liquor laws based upon the
power of might or prohibitory laws
based upon the inherent manhood of the
voters?
The decision should be easy. But men
say prohibition can not be enforced, and
there is some truth in the assertion, but
not in the sense they mean to convey it.
So, too, license laws can not be enforced
and the evidence constantly accumulates
that license at it's best is worse than
prohibition at its worst. Space does
not permit the evidence to prove
that statement here. but hold myself
ready to sustain the point at any suitable
time or place.
Public sentiment is against the law,
says the license man. Is it? Who took
the trouble to measure that delusive
thing called public sentiment? What
was his standard of measurement?
Where did he find his so-called public?
What we perceive, and feel, as well as
what we think, goes to make up our sem
timent. The aggregate sight, feeling
and thought of the public, make up the
public sentiment of any people. What
have the people of Maine seen, felt and
thought about prohibition? Find that
out and you find out what public senti-
ment is in regard to prohibition. On one
side they have seen notification and VIC
latlon coupled with dishonesty and greed.
Illegal selling and drunkenness to some
extent. They have felt the force of a
long continued and determined effort to
overthrow the law. Through all of this
they have said, prohibition is good
thing if only we can have the law en-.
forced.
On the other hand, they have seer
Maine prosper as she has never pros
pered before, with the best farm homes
in the country and the banks filled te
repletion with the earnings of the labor
ing men and the farmers. Farm homes
all over the State, and especially in Wal
do county, which are homes of plenty
and sobriety. Fathers and mothers who
keep the home free from even the seem
OF liquor and whose children are in nc
danger of becoming drunkards. This is
= | Al - A. H.,