Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1922-11-29
DAILY kENNEBEc JOURNAL WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 49, 1877


ne traffic from all directions is fair
sample Of the conditions under which
Maine has administered prohibition
for many years"
The adoption of national pro-
hibition has brought infinite relief on
one side by stopping the manufacture
and forbidding the transportation,
importation and expectation of all
intoxicants for beverage purposes;
but on another side the passion for
easy money on the part of our near
neighbors on the north, and our more
distant neighbors across the sea, re-
spending to the appetite for booze
among certain classes Of our people,
is causing US infinite trouble, and
multiplying to considerable degree
the normal results Of prohibition.
The present rum-running situation
on sea and land and in the air is
history repeating itself on a national
scale and impresses US who have
fought on the defensive so long that
the United States must prepare for a
never-ending battle to keep herself
from being submerged in a deluge Of
rum from across the sea, or join with
her friends Of other nations in an
aggressive campaign to win World
Prohibition.
But for Maine. isolated as she has
been, ostracised for years so far as
her attitude toward the liquor traffic
is concerned by all her neighbors.
helpless to overcome the handicap Of
federal rules and regulations in re-
gard to mails and interstate COM
merce. no sane person knowing
Names history from the beginning
will question, for a moment that pro-
hibition has been worth to her many
times it's cost.
These handicaps have unQuestion-
ably impeded her progress and made
the battle at times seem dubious.
l. could not be otherwise, but the I'M
conquerable conviction that the pro-
hibitory policy was right and abso-
lutely necessary for the welfare of the
state which inspired the consclences
of our fathers four generations ago
has never been uprooted.
This conviction of the moral
Brightness of the prohibitory policy
has been re-enforced as years passed.
by the growing conviction that pro-
hibition is also an economic asset.
The former poverty stricken condl-
ton of the state, isolated in summer,
and as some one has said, e-olated
in winter gradually gave way under
the reign of prohibition to prosperous
conditions. Maine has never claimed
to be a rich state except as riches
inherent in the character of men and
women, and in the grandeur of her
rugged coast, and the charm of her
inland lakes and rivers. In wealth
of character and scenic beauty she
has no superior.
She has no mines of gold. or silver,
or copper. or precious stones. she
has no coal, and so far as yet discov-
cred no wells of oil, but she has wells
of water. She can supply the world
with the purest water. one spring
of rarest purity has spread the fame
of Names Poland Water to every
civilized nation in she world. She
has limitless water powers convert
ible into electrical energy, light and
neat lOI ttSc NlICl liiC wal VI 49,
mines shall have been exhausted.
Maine has thrift. From the agri-
cultural standpoint. Maine or even
New England is not to be compared
with the rich farm lands of the west;
but, comparing Maine with the rest
of New England, a study of the last
census report reveals the fact that
Maine has a larger percentage of,
farms unencumbered by mortgage
than any other New England state,
larger even than any other of the
twenty one northern states. This
proportion applies also, according to
the latest available statistics. to the
homes throughout the entire state. A
larger percentage of the homes OF
Maine than of any other northern
state are owned by those who live in
them.
Maine, despite the thinness of her
soil, the rigor of her climate, and the
scantiness of her natural resources.
measures up we'll with other states in
financial credit. The last report of
the Bank Commissioner shows that
Maine has more derositors in her
savings institutions than she has
voters, male and female, and that the
average amount to the credit of each
Gepositor is over $500.
The abandoned farms of Maine are
often mentioned to show that pro-
hibition seriously impedes the agri-
cultural development Of the states
The fact is the abandonment of these
billy, rocky, inaccessible farms, after
the lumber is removed, is evidence of
enterprise on the part of the owners,
for these farms may more profitably
be turned back to the production of
lumber for which they are much bet
ter adapted. Lumber is a staple
article and a highly profitable crop
to the country that can wait for it to
grow.
Names slow growth in population
is attributed by some to her persis-
tent hold upon prohibition. 1t is
true Names population has scarcely
doubled in half a century but it
should be noted that the constant
drain Of young blood from the rugged
hills of rural Maine to the attractive
centers of population in other states
means that literally thousands and
tens of thousands of sturdy men and
women, bred and trained under pro-
hibition and loyal to its principles,
scattered over this broad land, have
been brave boosters for prohibition
everywhere. Only God knows how
much this country owes to the pro-
hibition missionaries to other states
that have gone forth during the last
half century from the old pioneer
prohibition state.
GAN NJ