Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-01-06
Does Governor Haines Mean It?

find the cnapter on pfoHlDilloh anu
enforcement of law. in Governor
Haines' inaugural address, sufficient
ly emphatic. They are mumbline
same old story" and Just what we
expected-not a word to indicate that
Governor Haines is to bother himself
with the enforcement of the rum
! laws The burden of complaint on
! the part of the Democratic press
seems to be that some definite plan
of action against the rum traffic was
| not outlined. This may suggest to
some the probability that the So
! friends and would have been best
pleased with a giving away of the
exact course which Governor Haines
| intends to pursue. That he has kept
| that up his sleeve is, apparently, q
| bitter disappointment.
| OF course the papers which uphold
| the booze traffic cannot conceive of
| Governor Haines holding sheriffs re-
spensible for conditions in their sew
law eastgh, in spite of Democratic
attempts to wipe it all off the
statutes, 10 make Maine as dry as u
covered bridge. seems not to have en-
tered the minds of our liquor interest
serving friends. Nevertheless, sheriffs
who fail to grasp the meaning of the
words of Governor Haines and the
demand of the people of Maine, are
likely to find themselves in trouble
| with the law.
That none of our readers may be
misled by the slurs of the Democratic
newspapers, we are reprinting that
part of Governor Haines' address I'M
der the caption Prohibition Law"
Let every reader decide for himself
whether or not Governor Haines is
on the right side of this great ques-
| ton. Here are his words:
For more than fifty years Maine
has had statutes prohibiting the
manufacturing, sale and keeping for
sale of alcoholic and malt liquors.
In 1885 this principle was adopted
into our Constitution. For many
years it has been a subject of
political contention. In 1910 it was
again submitted to the people, and
| by a majority vote in 1911, it was
again reaffirmed and kept in the Con-
l CIT
| believe they should, this question IS
settled. and no public officer has any
authority but to execute the law
against liquor selling in faithful and
| impartial manner: and ! shall do all
in my power, during my term of of
flee, to encourage the honest enforce
n1ent of all of our statutes against the
liquor traffic; and | ask all good citi-
zens who have the love of their fell
low men at heart to join with me in
| this undertaking. l especially ask the
press of the State, without regard to
its political or party allegiance, to
| help in creating a public sentiment
against rum selling and rum drinking.
| 1t can do more to help or more TO
| hinder in this cause than any other
| influence in the State
No one can doubt the curse of
Intoxicating liquors to most who use
them. Science has proved their
| certain destruction to health and life.
Business no longer toIerates them.
| The man seeking employment with
| rum in his breath, finds no work, but
| is relegated to the realms of tramp
dom. The business man who in
| dulges in their use very soon finds
that he has no credit at the bank.
The transportation companies do no.
find it safe to employ men who drink.
The farmer who returns home from
town drunk has the contempt of his
neighbors, and his wife and children,
| their pity and sympathy The pro-
| fessional man who was once called
brilliant. with the remark that lit is
too bad he drinks" is now called a
4 fool for throwing his life away
No sane man, in the light of mod
ern investigation and science can
give any excuse for the use of intoxi-
eating liquors, or for the grog shops
from which it is dispensed. The man
whose business it is to sell liquor in
violation of law is, as a rule, too lazy
and shiftless to do anything else. He
is in that business for the money he
can make out of it, and when once he
has engaged in it, he becomes so de-
moralized that afterwards he is dis
qualified for any other vocation.
The money they take, especially
from the laborine man, to whom they
do the most harm, can not be spent
for clothing, food or other necessities
or luxuries of life. | regard the last
election as a special test upon the
question of the enforcement of the
prohibitory law. No statute should
ever require such a test but the de-
termined efforts of the liquor inter
ests in the State and the outside of il
for the past few years have made
this question so acute in our politics
that the vote of the people, giving
expression to their sentiments con-
corning it, is of the greatest value tt
all charged with the duty of enforc-
ing this law. 1t seems to me nov
that. after the long and heated dis
cussion we have had upon this sub
ject, both upon the stump and in The
public press, with the vote that has
followed, it may now be considered
as well nigh settled. No furthel