The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-08-17

/ Editor World News:
The Rev. John Bunyan Lemon. D. d,
| pastor of one OF the leading Baptist
| churches Of Cleveland, Ohio Is a ma
tive Of Virginia, a citizen of Ohio. and
a summer resident in the state OF
Maine. He owns one OF the most de-
! lightful cottages on the Maine coast
and for twelve years has spent his
summer vacation there He knows the
| Maine people and conditions In Maine.
He also knows the conditions In Ohio
/ and in Virginia. The address deliv-
cred by Royal L. CabeH. before the
people of Richmond was sent to DR..
t Lemon by Mr.. John Peter Saul. of
Salem, Va. with request that he
/ make a report on the accuracy OF the
| statements made by Mr.. Cabeli con-
corning the prohibitory State OF Maine.
| The following Is his reply.
/ Dear Mr. Saul;
II ever angels weep. I think 1t must
be that they do when a man like ROYAL
Il. Cabell, once at the head Of the ma
| tomas commissioner OF internal reye-
1 nue. prostitutes himself to be servant
OF the liquor traffic and friend of the
! open saloon, thing cursed OF God
and good citizens everywhere, His
comparisons are like those In the Scrip
lures where Satan IL trying to deceive
the saints. He tells enough truth to
I make his statements plausible and
! then side-tracks the whole thought
into perdition.
/ For Instances he gives certain stats
tics about divorces in Kentucky. Ev
! erybody familiar with statistics knows
that divorces throughout the entire
North. whether tho States are wet or
dry. are much more numerous than in
the South, Why did ne jump over Ma
sons and Dixon's line In that corpar-
isono For no other reason except to
deceive. The difference Is not due.to
the saloon question which he wa sar-
guing. why did he not take wet Cleve-
land for his comparison1 Cleveland is
a saloon city. It would not only have
spoiled his argument but II would
have refuted IT on that sort OF basis.
For in wet Cleveland there are ten
times as many divorces per one thou
sand inhabitants as there are In pro-
hibition Maine. II the saloon Is at the
bottom. as Mr.. Cabell argues. then
Cleveland proves conclusively that
divorces are increased one thousand
per cent where the saloon exists over
and above the prohibition States like
Maine.
Mr. CabeIl must have known very
we'll that~the condition in Maine today
Is nothing like II was when he WAS
commissioner of internal revenue. But
he does not intimate that there ha.
been any change. He assumed that the
people to whom he spoke were ignorant
of the change. and perhaps many OF
them were. And he wanted to leave
them in ignorance That great change
was the reformation brought about by
the Webb-Kenyon bin which passed
congress over the veto OF President
Taft just at the close Of his admin
istration. That bill prevented one
State shipping liquors into another
State that had voted for prohibition.
That was a death blow to the brewers
who by living Just across the line
would ship their wares into a dry State
by express or clandestine carriers.
Since Maine got the protection OF that
law. Maine has wonderfully improved
But Mr.. Cabell says nothing about that,
Before that law was passed the brew
ers would do all in their power to
make the local laws ineffective and
then cry out that prohibition does not
prohibit.
After receiving your letter I had an
interview with a manufacturer who
employs thousands OF operatives. a man
whom ! have known for a number OF
years. known him when he ran large
mills in wet state and when he be-
gan his present manufacturing in
Maine. He answered my questions
frankly. as man to man. and friend to
friend, He avows that in Maine even
before the Webb Kenyon bill was pass
ed. conditions were much better than
In O wet State. But since that bill was
passed. conditions In Maine are one
hundred per cent better among opera
tiyes. He gets more work and better
work out OF his men.
This does not mean that everything
is perfect in Maine. but II means that
when the strong arm Of the law broke
on the liquor traffic tyranny by max
Ing 1t unlawful for a man outside OF
the State to ship liquors into the State,
then the people OF Maine had chance
for the nrst time to try out their own
prohibitory laws. They have only had
their chance for about year and the
improved statistics are not tho figures
that Mr. Cabell used.
Not all the people In Virginia know
that Maine IL sea coast state, with
nshinK and sea-fartng business among
Its chief industries. Millions of tons OF
hsh from the pound mackerei TO
the seven hundred pound sword fish. are
always biting on the Maine coast.
Lobsters, CLAIMS and the making Of
sea faring vessels and Instruments en-
gage the attention OF a host OF work |
men. Summer cottages by tho thou
sand and ten of thousands are strung |
along Its coast for mon with their
families from all parts of the world. |
Halt