Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-04-07


Maine. il because somebody sought to
gain some standing among q certain
class of our citizens by pretending TO
he an advocate of int enSe, fanatcal en-
forcement oil this Prohibitory Law
that because of that you should take
from John Ballou all that in his old
age he has left. the honor OF represent
ing the people who honor him, who es-
TEEN him. aye, who love him. 1t would
be terrible thing. Think When | ask
ed the witnesses of the prosecution.
going into their own camp for the in
formation. men whom | never saw be
fore, and probably never will see again,
if down III Bath, there had been even
4 rumor Of dishonesty connected with
John Ballou's name, those strangers
said to me, mo- T..
/ knew that | could take that chance
safely with every citizen in Sagadahec
county, with every man who ever shook
John Balou's firm hand or looked into
his honest eyes. | knew ] could do it.
Think of tia man who has occupied the
office of sheriff for Sc years, an office
which is always surrounded by gossip,
surrounded by malicious gossip,-for Sc
years, and yet nowhere in any corner of
and mean and despicablc as to Intimate
that ever Il dishonest act came from
John Ballou Think of it,
And You are asking to remove that
man from office,
Gentlemen. | respect the sheriffs of
Maine. / know most of them. They are
gentlemen. But I dare say that no other
sheriff in Maine could hold that record
| for six Years, the record that no enemy
even accused him of dishonesty. 1t is a
rare thing. I have known many of them
| to be unjustly accused. l never knew
one to absolutely escape such accusation,
excepting John Ballou. And when they
tell me that he has held the office 81
years and that in all that time no
breath of scandal has been whispered
against him, he stands to me like a
lighthouse, showing the way to decent
fame which he has achieved by his man.
ly integrity and his honesty of purpose.
And You are asked to remove him from
office? Why? Because, forsooth, he did
not .demean himself by going personally
in his old age down into the filth of Bath
and searching rum shops, but appointed
deputies to do it. They were not rs
yigilant as the Statutes say they ought
to be. They were not as vigilant per-
haps. as you and / think they ought to
be, and he is technically and legally, OF
course, responsible for their acts.
Nor would / have You think that John
Ballou at any point in his career would
escape the responsibility of his acts.
Technically, legally, responsible for
them, and yet doing just what that high
oil ia do lon N hat
sort of work to somebody else. trusting
them perhaps too implicitly. And think.
the man whom he trusted was his own
son, and if man cannot trust his own
son to do his work, whom can he trust
He believed in his son, and when his son
told him that things We're going along
in Bath as well as could he expected
when of all the fo,0o0 people in Bath not
one came to him and made complaint
when of all the citizens of Sagadahoe
no one complained, when of all the peo-
pie of Maine no one complained, he be-
lieved that everything was going along
as it ought to go. Not with fanatcal en-
forcement, but reasonably. fairly, hon.
estly.
If he WAS wrong in that belief. he was
misled, if he was deceived somewhat by
his own son. and somewhat perhaps by
the city administration in conjunction
with which he worked. are You going to
say to the Governor of Maine.-we ask
YOU to remove him from office? What n
terrible thing it would be- What an
awful thing it would be. What tray-
esty on justice il would be, If YOU should
take that attitude.
Let me say To YOU again, if the proving
that the sheriff knows of misdemeanors
being committed in his county and does
not raise his voice against the commit
| ting OF those misdemeanors is evidence
| to suffice to remove him from office,
can bring before this House charges
which will remove from office all of your
sherifls. ! will so farther yet,-all ol
your county attorneys | will go farther
Yet and say that if You read the clause
| in the Statute ON the same page as that
| from which my Brother Plummer read
| relating to selectmen and mayors OF
| cities. | would undertake to put out OF
| their offices, if that sufIices to do it,
, every mayor of every city in Maine, and
| every selectman of every town in Maine
! with over 800 people in it,-not alone on
! the liquor law-there are other laws in
! Maine.
| But if the commission of misdemeailors
| by people within the jurisdiction OF an
executive officer, and the knowledge on
the part of the executive officer. that
!, such misdemeanors are permitted are
sufficient to remove him from office, then
! reiterate to YOU every executive officer
| in Maine is open TO removal, and even
at the risk of being misquoted and seeing
, the glaring headlines in some Portland
paper with regard to the matter, I would
| say I could 20 far enough in that line
TO almost get To the judges of the SUI
preme judicial Court of Maine.
I Think of that! Take your statutes and
read the duties that are laid down for
officials. Nobody lives up to them.
Nobody ever did live up to Them No
, body ever could live UP to them Men
take their duties seriously and work un-
der them. under the conditions which
surround them and do the best they can.
Let me picture for moment-and 1
won't take but u moment doing it-what
you are calling upon John Ballou to do,
if you follow the line of the testimony
presented here, to enforce the law in
| Bath