Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-04-10

well, you laymen fairly we'll that to get
; what we call enforcement, and ! am GO
ing to speak OF just what VIC cali en-
forcement in moment that you nave
| cot to have the cooperation OF your
| sherlffs. of your county attorney, OF
your Judges They must work together.
There is no use for one to go off on a
tangent and try to do different than the
Others. and you know by the court rec
- ords of Cumberland county that your
sherifrs. your county attorneys and your
iudees have been working together. and
when you condemn Sheriff Moulton for
the course that ne has taken, you are
too sensible and 100 fair mon to do as
Mr. Ed Emery did. in the same breath
to condemn Moulton and to scatter flow
| ers over the county attorney ana The
| court
am not criticising the county attorney
or the court; l. am simply saying that
. they an work together not 10 violate
thc law, not because they have not as
much respect Tor law as You, not because
they have not as much respect for law
as every individual member of this con
yention. and | think more than This con-
ventlon has collectively shown once az
twice during these proceedings If you
will pardOn my comment. They have
every respect for Law. hut they have Il
| work IL out rs some Of you worked il
| out when YOU were placed as they are
placed when you weren't working on
! ideals, when you were down in the pit.
| Sorling as best you could, when YOU
| weren't trying to make fun, either for
| yourself or your party, but when vol
were laboring as public officials in other
spheres. trying t. do what you knew to
he right and your duty as a public OIL
! Ger.
What is The highest duty Of Il public
oficcr? Is it to hunt up the statute and
study its details, ana see if he can con
form 10 the exact letter II it? No. tho
hiehest duty of a public officer is ia
work under the laws Of the State for
the good Of The community. Ia do his
best to bring about The best conditions
that ne can under the law. and there ia
Cumberland county, the judge, the e1ga=
~ attorney. ana the honest shorthand
no man dare gainsay that adjective
they work together to do what is right,
they work together and make i, the
foundation of their administration to
make Portland the splendid city it is,
the cleanest city. the decentest city Of
its size on the whole Atlantic coast.
Could they have worked on any better
lines?
Take the history of Portland as told
by Skillings in the old days when flnat-
icism reigned. when ramrod enforcement
was rampant through the State. when
they were having it as some of you
would like to have it again-but you only
think you want it, after You have got il
you will go back again just as quickly
as You can. Think OF the conditions Skill
lngs told you about, No white-coated
bartender-oh, no! But in their places
women going around with whiskey Sc
creted in their skirts to sell to loafers
ON the streets. No place with Tile floors
oh, no. Not at all! But in The kitchen
that Doughty visftea while the woman
combed the little girls hair. the mar
stood peddling out whiskey out of a hot.
tie TO a neighbor who came in No ban
room where they had faucets from WhieI
they could draw beer-no indeed. but il
| the back yard teams driving hurriedly
| in, and the whole neighborhood. its girls
women and all, coming in to get it.
Those were the ideal conditions which
existed in Portland under the Sturgis
deputies as described by Skillines
couldn't get 1t from anybody else-the
rules of evidence forbade it. But Skill
lings ! could cross-eXamine, and Skill.
lings-honest fanatic that he is TRYING
TO do good in his own way, sometimes
wasting his firna J;,.
tracts around among the members here
an meant We'll, but wasting his time in
his good work-gives you as good n de.
Scription oil those times. and as good a
comparison of them as compared with
these times. as could be given. Do YOU
want them back again?
All, if you were sheriff, any one Of
you, of Cumberland county, would yo,
like to so conduct your Office that yo,
might close every place in the city
where beer was sold, You might not only
close the places that my brother has set.
tied upon, but you might close the so
cial clubs, you might go way UP To In,
seats of the mighty and fix it 50 tina
no citizen in Portland could get an
liquor except in his own homeland yo,
'''No'" 's'li iiihN' iIdl uilItHil AilOtf IN
webb law-and bring about again Tin
time when You had bootieggers on In
streets of Portland. and then you couI,
say: THANK God, ] have done my duty
j have driven Tom Browning and hi
Fat Sullivan out of business, and l nav
put 100 women in il. / have accom-
plish.i something for the agRrandize
nent of the State and the good of hu
man nature. How proud you Woul,
feel when you got through your work
and when you came 10 think, my friend
when you found what honest Pearson
found, the minister sheriff of Cumber
land, who took that place believing hon
cStly that he could secure absolute en-
forcemcnt, and who died in Office
nave no doubt crushed beneath tn
weight of official care and diSappoint
ment-whcn you find what he foun,
mat after constituting that law literall,
you We're bringing about a condition
mat was worse than anything that eye
existed under any other arrangement
would You. as AN honest man, keep i
mp? No, you wouldn't. With the may
or, with the officers of the city, Will
the county attorney, with the court yol
would do what | have known some o.