The Republican journal., 1915-10-07
Hanson in Minneapolis.


Hennepin county, Mimi, was to vote on Oc,
4th on prohibition and among the speaker
called to Minneapolis to speak in the interest
of the vets was E. F. Hanson of this city II
first addressed a wet mass meeting in the audi
torium, Sept. 25th, is thus reported in the Min
neapolis Tribune:
After explaining that he had lived in Main,
all his life except three years in license town
said:
If prohibitionists had told the truth abou
conditions in Maine it would not be necessary
for anyone to come to this city to tell of th,
long train OF evils that follow it's introduction
The object of prohibitionists is the same every
national prohibition"
He then gave synopsis Of Names legisla.
tion for the prevention of the sale of intoxi
eating liquor. commenced ~ years ago, since
which 26 special acts and amendments to thu
law have been tried. There have been 60 years
of prohibitory law, and 81 years of constitu.
tional prohibition during which rum selling
has been classed with murder, arson and simi.
lar crimes. He told of the appointment OF
special constables. Sturgis deputies who are
empowered to supersede sheriffs and of the
removal Of officials. Then he described the
rs of the Maine constitution prohibiting the
manufacture and sale of liquor was passed
upon by the voters. He quoted from the pres
ident of the Christian Civic League to show
that over 1.5OO saloons. shops and tenements
were engaged in selling liquor. While this
article went into the constitution with Al OOO
majority. it stayed there by the small margin
| of 1853.
The prohibition speakers said the issue was
license or no license and that saloons would be
on every orner and prostitutes and rum shops
would spring up like blades of grass. Mr..
| Hvrhn kLoE Co.
of the statutory law would have been affected
| in the least and no saloon could have been es.
tablished without the consent of the people.
The advocates of repeal lost out because thew
were Over-confident.
"Horse loads of liquor arrived by express.
boot leggers, pocket pedders, kitchen bar
rooms and speakeasies came in when the sa
looms went out; there was no protection for
the boys or the homes. even the farmers had
their liquors come by express and have turned
their homes into t:ppling shops where the
moral influence of the home upon the boy is
now of the very worst character.
| "When the voters of Maine have another
opportunity to vote, constitutional prohibition
will be buried by more than 20, 900 votes There
are prohibition sections where men pass TEN.
perance resolutions and drink rum, At one
time S. 600 worth Of liquors was seized in one
hall in Rockland, Me-; Bangor. Me-. never has
recognized the prohibitory law and has scores
of saloons running wide open. They have what
they call the Bangor plan, which means small
fine for the seller. Reform mayors and sheriffs
never get but one term.
"In Portland, Me-, 1924 arrests are made
each year, or one for every II persons; within
13 years drunkenness in the larger cities and
towns has increased As per cent-the popula-
tion about ID per cent
"In Bangor during the past year there was
an arrest for drunkenness equalling one for
every seven persons. while in Minneapolis
have been told arrests are for every 1873 per-
sons. The report of the police matrou of Port
land for 1912, showed that 55l children were
arrested and the increase had been about s5
year.
"The effect of the vile compounds sold as
liquors can be seen in the increase of insanity
Forty years ago the insane numbered more
than 400, today they number thousands. The
stuff they drink make men crazy rather than
drunk. The housewife who wants little
alcohol for mixing some home medicinal prep
aration cannot get it, but the man who wants
whiskey and rum can get all he desires.'
Mr.. Hanson then quoted from recent issues
of papers containing resolutions passed by
ministerial conferences in which it was stated
that the saloons were running wide open and
conditions were pictured in the most undesir-
able light
He predicted that the jitney buses would do
land office business between the twin cities;
ST. Paul would get the money. MINNEAPOLIS
would have pr obibition, he said.
Minneapolis Tribune Sept 20. 1915.
The message of the mayor from Maine was
carried into four more districts of Minneapolis
last night in the fight to keep Hennepin coun-
ty from adopting prohibition.
His name is Edgar F. Hanson and nine times
he has been returned winner in the city cleo
tions of Belfast on the Atlantic seaboard One
term he spent in the State senate and he has
made all his campaigns on the wet and dry IS
sue.
"Old as l am" he said last night as he
wound up meeting at Kistler's hall, 81 defy
any man to step up here before me and call
me liar. l am telling you facts and the story
of the hypocrisy and perfdy that has been
bred in Maine as result of the prohibition
section that we have in our constitution is not
yet half told"
Mr.. Hanson spoke first at the Fifth ward
tool house, where he was succeeded by Rev
Wallace N. Snort of Sioux Falls, S. D. He
was hurried across the river to University
hall where another meeting was listening to
George Christian and Allan P. Cox From
there he went A. o U. W. hall at Irving and
Twentieth avenues north and then to Kistler's
hall
"Al over Maine." the speaker said, 1--WE
have monuments to the colossal folly of that
State in its handling of the liquor business
| There is, in the city of Lewiston. the house of
one poor man that was literally gutted by the
| jimmies and axes of what were known as the
Sturgis deputies looking for liquor We took
up collection and got him new house after
it was over and the old house is there vet, lust
as it was, as a reminder to every passerby. In
| one club in Portland there are rows upon rows
of lockers that have been ripped open and the
| locks torn out. The lockers have been pre-
served in just the condition the Sturgis COM
mission left them as constant reminder of
the oppression Of prohibition.
18th t is the kind of thing you will have
here when your law abiding citizens attempt
to enforce the law that your prohibitionists
are trying to foisr upon you.
1.-The Sturgis commission was the group of
three men selected by Governor Cobb when
he attempted to enforce the law and it did its
work thoroughly, as you may see. but here is
the statement Of Governor Cobb when he left
the office at the end of his term:
"'If prohibition is no better than have
peddled free over the bar
1--WE have been struggling with this problem
for So years now and you are just beginning
Take some heed of our experiences in Maine
"What can we do in Maine? We have no
more redress in such case than we have in
an ordinary case of liquor selling. which, as
| our experience has proven, is absolutely none.
"To show you the depths of degradation to
which our State has fallen I will quote the
police matron of Portland, who stated that in
one year in that city 555 children. little boys
and little girls, were arrested either for
drunkenness or for peddling whisky. Do you
want conditions like that in this city?
"Why, it is pitiful the lengths to which peo-
pie will go in prohibition community to have
/ Fpt