The Winslow mail., 1913-03-22
The WORKING
OF PROHIBITION

HOHCSL OUCSJ SlllCSTly bcllCVS IudI
the existing laws against the
liquor = traffic, only lack power.
IF we could have greater force
at our command we could abolish
= the strahicin liquor" is the shi-
boleth and war cry Of prohibi-
tionists. Such, too, is the sum-
mon bonum of: philosophy deliv-
cred with great vehemence and
in many words by such leaders as
Rev. E. f. Dinwiddie, Rev Will
bur +. Craft, Mr.. Eugene Chat
in. and q score of others, in their
effort to force the Kenyon bill
through congress. This bill has
for its purpose the placing of the
entire power Of the United States
government in the hands of pro-
hibition constables and spies, in
order that they may demonstrate
that the absolute and known fail
ures of prohibition laws for the
past sixty years are not failures,
and for the further purpose of
showing that prohibition can be
enforced and the liquor traffic
suppressed.
Thisscry and procedure is very
old. 1t is but one more effort to
;s.,Apply the supposed principle
, which Neal Dow forced in the
famous Maine law, and which
eliminated in an Infamous name
for Maine. It proceeds against
the property, as well as the Of
tenders against the law; it pro-
vides most stringent and wick
ed power of seisure, in violation
of the bill Of rights; it provides
!, that the presence of liquor in a
prohibitory territory is prima
.,facie evidence of criminal intent
to break the law; it provides that
every one under suspicion must
:: assume the burden of proof and
establish his innocence, in viola
ton of every known principle of
ifeluity and rule of practice in the
history Of Jurisprudence.
! Such a statute was enacted in
Rhode Island in 1853. Some of
the prohibition arguments used
tS passsthei statute will be found
almost identical with the argu-
ments of today. Said the Hon.
Amos G. Barstaw, at that time,
in an impressioned appeal Of the
Rhode Island legislature: 1--WE
. a"e acting on petition of Is, 600
persons,. of whom 1850 are
adult male citizens; they embrace
the largest part of the moral
worth of this state. These peti-
tions bear the names of your pro-
found college president and pro-
i fessOrs, emminent ministers.
physicians and merchants. They
demand law to suppress the
! r im traffic not to regulate, but
] to suppress it. They ask nothing
:. aii0re and will be content with
nothing less the appetite is not
natural. but acquired. The only
/. way to stop the demand is to cut
off the supply. Our present laws
+ do not and cannot suppress it."
After sixty years of such law,
d lring which time the statute
either slept, or has been enforced
| In feverish spells. we are again
sill hearing the same old argu-
.,nents, and the same old prom
.ises, with the further demand for
more power in the law.
The reader will observe the
principleafwhich run through the
argument. The state must take
con!tlalloqll aof the appetites of its
citiaens just as mother directs
an infant. Then these lappetites
are fSot in the individual, but ac-
quired through the agency of the
liquor seller. and the state must
suppress the traffic in order to
cut off the appetite. Many just
such promises are made today.
j Some, Of these good but woefully
4 4