Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-05-05
The Booze Makers Squirm.

The Booze MAKERS oduifH',
Desperately attempting to und1
some of the good work which Collier $
Weekly is doing, the liquor interests,
through the 3o-calIed National Model
License League" are sending out Il
| feeble reply to those The Man Who
Makes Money Out of It" editorials.
Here is a specimen of the argument
| on circulars sent broadcast:
In pandering to the prohibitionists
you are encouraging men and women
to excuse u guilty man and to accuse
| the innocent. If the man who COM
mitted the murder was intoxicated his
| intoxication was due to the excessive
use of liquor. The man had deliber-
ately overthrown his reason and ha
made himself menace to society.
"He had the choice of being temper
ate or incorporate and he became in.
| temperate. In committing the mur~
der he used firearm. Firearms are
subject to use and to abuse.
/ Would you have the name and
photograph of the maker of the fire.
arm?
| 1T is conceded that the practice of
carrying pistols is indirectly RESPONSE
| BILE for the majority of homieides aud
vet note that you do not strike from
your advertising columns the re-
munerative advertisements of those
| who make it possible for men to carry
| concealed deadly weapons. You would
make fish of one and flesh OF another.
In the case of firearms, you can sec
j that they are useful even though they
i may be misused, but in the case oil
.lliquor you profess to see nothing hit
i the abuse. and you would place the
/ blame for this abuse upon the maker.
| Neither the distiller, nor the fire
arm maker, nor the manufactures OF
the butcher knife can follow MS
product to the ultimate user and guar
antee that there shall be no abuse ana
you will agree with me that the writer
Of an editorial cannot he expected u
s. be willing TO assume responsibility foc
The possible effect that that editorial
may have upon the mind Of the fead-
er"
The editor of Golfers needs no as
sistancc in answering the booze max
Il ers. but we wish to call the attention
Of Kennebcc Journal readers to some
of the fallacies, the wiiful sophistries,
of the above.
In the first place Golfers does not
: advocate letting the poor fool victim
of booze escape the penalty Of his
! crime, for if he did not realize the
Il cnormity when he committed it, he
understood the chances he was taken
when he deliberately set about roDbini
himself of intelligence. Neither would
Golfers allow to escape the sneak
; ing, murderous- hearted money maker
who engages in the business of making
poison and then spends great sums oi
money to exploit it that he may in
duce more men and boys to become
Iaddicted to the drink habit and thus
increase their hazard of becoming
murderers a thousand fold. Golfers
thinks the men who for profit and &c
| increase lutiI oNAi AN<NoiiSo - A-AN
manufacture stuff that turns 1ecen
!, men into murderers, brutes, lunatici
land paupers, should be known to thu
| world at large, if not punished
But Golfers should go one step far
e ther and itself publish the picture o
7 Uncle Sam, who is engaged in th'
business Of booze poison manufacture
and Of exploiting the sale of it-th,
! making of drunken criminals ans
paupers.
FL Tis true that "the man who had de
4 | Iiberateiy overthrown his reason" ha'
the choice of being temperate, anS
4 perhaps he would have escaped hi
4 natural cravings had it not been fo
: the advertising, and display, and tn
E lying literature, and the thousand an
one methods of making drunkard
made use of By the makers and seller.
: Of intoxicants. Perhaps they taugii
:. him to drink beer or ale when he wa:
: boy, by telling him that it was man
: ly and would never harm him beeausi