Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-10-17
Uo the Flue the Fly Flew.


quote you. he betrays at once wax
ing temper and a waning cause
The Journal has recently been hav-
ing lively tilt with the Waterville
Sentinel over question of public IN
aerest and importance which is best
stated by reiterating our own posi-
ton thereon:
I'VE do not believe in divestins
judges of discretion in the imposition
Of sentences in criminal cases, but we
do believe that in liquor cases our
judges should make jail sentences the
rule, and fines the cautiously cbnsd-
ered exception
In one of o. Henrys short stories,
an indignant lady. long of words but
short of education, exclaims: oh.
How you ruffie my ignominy." The
fact that the SentineIs latest effu-
sion About Jail Sentences mis-
quotes and misrepresents us, shows
that we have ..ruffied their ignominy.'
In order to permanently embalm the
Sentinel fly in the liquid amber of
fact and reason, We shall "ruffle its
ignominy" little further by brief
recapitulation of the positions it has
taken and from which 1t has been
driven. We believe this will be a use
full application of the modern slogan,
.s'Swat the fiy."
We have statute stating that
whenever it is provided that an Of
fender shall be punished by fine and
Imprisonment he may be sentenced to
either or both. The Sentinel first took
the position that this was q Joker"
intended to take the teeth out of the
prohibitory law. We gave vigor-
GUS swat, and the Sentinel buzzed
hastily away when it was shown that
it had been the law of this State ever
since 1S40 having been enacted near
iy two decades before Maine had any
prohibitory law. In order to spread
a little fly paper over that abandoned
position, should the Sentinel ever at
tempt to return to it, we may add that
Massachusetts has a precisely SINH
lar general statute. enacted in 1886
and continued to the present day, and
New Hampshire also has such stat
ute, which has been the law of that
State since 1857. In both those states,
as in Maine. this statute is contained
in a chapter relating generally to SEN
tence and its execution in criminal
cases. 1t is expressive Of the great
and fundamental principle of Judicial
put a Joker into law couple of
decades before 1t enacted the law itself,
disproves the assertions of those who
contend that a child cannot be born
before its mother. But that Massa-
ctusetts should have put pre- natal
Massa chusetts "joker' into Maine
statute--~ell, We just swatted.
the Sentinel next asserted that, at any
rate. the statute comforting judicial
discretion became a sjoker' in 1898.
when it was amended by extending it's
provisions to acts imposing fine and
in addition thereto Imprisonment" Ac-
eordine to the Sentinel, the addition of
these words 'iokerized" the statute,
because in 1887 and 1891 liquor statutes
had been passed providing for fine
and in addition thereto" imprison-
hent In this way. to employ the Sen
tinei's phraseology. the liquor stat
utes got around and "circumvented'
the general statute comforting discre-
ton upon the judges. The act of 1898, re.
storing judicial discretion, for 16 years
hereafter, according to the Sentinel's
reasoning, escaped the attention ol
lawyers. laymen and legislators, unit
discovered by the Sentinefs mentor
ME-. fdttdISdfis Htiit q " ~
Legislature in 1909. In discussing tbs
Hastings bill, which again sought t
take liquor cases out of the realm OF
judicial discretion. Mr.. Pattangall sale
of the judicial discretion statute
Don't keep that'fraud on the stat
ute hooks any longer, that Section
of Chapter 1856. because il is fraut
and nothing less. Ii says that or
means land" and that it means in ad
dition thereto"
And again he describes it as
"A most iniquitous statute, the mos
dishonest statute that ever was writ
stesa on the law books Of any state il
the Union.
Those are harsh words, Bertha Blu
they were honey to the Sentinel fly un
iii we again swished the fly killer. Thi
.Iuiauifous" statute has been the lay
az massachusetts for II years. of NeN
r4annpsllire for Az years, of Maine TO
= years. The 1893 amendment wa
unanimously reported by the judieiar
no6nmittee, OF which the two Demo