Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-09-05
The Devil Pleads FOR Mercy.

We have commented frequently in
the last few months upon the reeogni-
ton Of, and admission b., the liqu =
Interests, that they have seen the
handwriting on the wall and know that
the end is comparatively near. Now
their tone of defiance heard every
where up to within a year, has chang
ed te a whine for mercy; an appeal to
the generosity of public which they
have robbed and looted, deceived and
domineered, depraved and debauched
TO pay them 10 be good. Have you
read real specimen of the oily argu-
ments of paid writer's for the rights"
of traffic that has relentlessly preyed
upon civilization, appealing always to
the passions and appetites of men?
Well here is specimen of the litera-
ture written to please stockholders in
the liquor business and landlords who
derive revenue from the traffic:
d. Clarence Gibboney is president of
the Law and Order Society OF PhiladeI-
phla. twenty-five years of association
With the forces striving for Improvement
m morals and in living conditions in the
big Pennsylvania city havei given him
some interesting ideas on the liquor
question.
Mr.. Gibboney feels that while much has
been accomplished by legislative efforts
ut regulating the liquor business. there
IS growing sentiment among the people
in favor OF putting an end TO that bust
ness altogether. But he argues that If
We are to have nation-w prohibition,
INC people IN ordinary fairness ought to
take steps looking to the purchase of
property made useless by such legislation
Mr.. Gibboney makes an interesting ar
sument In support of the moral and legal
!lght OF people engaged in the liquor
business TO expect something better than
practical confiscation in the event of
sweeping prohibition amendments to the
constitution of the nation or to the con-
stltuuons OF most of the States He
points out that the liquor business has
neen recognized as legal business
through long course of years, and that
the people by accepting large sums of
money as license fees have in effect made
themselves partners in the business If
the people now decide that they want
prohibition. he holds that 1t is up to the
people who have shared in the profits OF
the enterprise 10 bear at least part of
the loss incident to its sudden discontin-
uanee.
This is question to which the Ameri-
can people ought to give serious consid-
Grafton.
Unless all signs fail prohibition is to
play larger part in our national poll
ties during the next decade than it has
ever PLAYED in the past The vets and
the "drys" have made things lively
enough in many of the states, heaven
knows. But it seems very probable that
from now on the fighting will be trans
ferred from the state capitals to Wash
ington.
II the American people finally decide to
try nationwide prohibition; If they make
up their minds, as Mr. .Gibboney suggests
they are about to make up their minds,
that the liquor business means waste and
danger and is inconsistent with business
efficiency and the conservation of human
happiness, no one will question their
right to put these ideas into effect. But
Americans ought to know by this time
that wholesale eonfiseaton of property
is a bad thing not only for the people
whose property is confscated, but for the
larger number Of people who do the con-
fscating.