Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1924-03-20


Grange In speeding up enforcement.
The Goal
The goal at which we are aiming
in this country is National Sobriety.
Not the abolition of the saloon and
the promotion of private drinking.
Not the treatment of the booze SELL
er as o criminal and the booze buy
er as q good fellow. Not enforced !
sobriety for the poor and drinking
privileges for the rich. This me-
thod would never yield real pro-
tional sobriety.
The question before this Nation
at the present time is this: Shall
we speed up enforcement on sea
and land promptly secure that obed-
fence to law on the part of patriotic
citizens and that enforcement of law
by constituted officials which will
put us on the road to National So
briefly?
Our National Government can
take one of two courses. 1t can put (
into operation q strong coast guard !
that is capable of driving the hover !
ing rum fleets from our shores or it
can play hide and seek pursuing
rum-running ships sailing l. knots
an hour with 10 knot tubs.
Our Government can equip the |
coast guard with steam and gasoline
launches in sufficient numbers and
with sufficient speed to drive Off the
small boats used for landing liquor
from the rum fleet or it can withhold
this equipment and allow the traffic !
to continue. Our National Govern
ment can equip our Customs De-
partment in this State with men and
means to stop at once 4 large per
centage of rum smuggling across our
border or it can as has been so often
done in the past, excuse the Gus
toms officers from taking any part
in the enforcement of National pro-
hibition.
Our National Government can in
crease the force of Federal agents
under Director May from the little
handful of about one agent for each
county to a force of sufficient size
to be reCkoned with in every part
of the State. This force is ire
mendously effective in proportion TO
it's size and there is no reason on
the score of finances why 1t might
not be doubled as this department
is self supporting.
Whether our National Government
takes one or the other of these
courses: whether it denies or sup
plies men and means to fight this
battle vigorously; whether 1t presses
for 100 per cent enforcement or lies
down on the job makes all the diff
ference between the prompt reaping
of the splendid fruitage of real pro-
hibition, and a long drawn period
of isgusting wrangling over multi
fled prohibition. 1t has been DEM
onstrated in this country beyond the
shadow of a peradventure, during
the PAST four years. that the legiti-
mate fruits of enforced prohibition
are increased health. happiness and
prosperity for millions of our race
and it has been demonstrated with
equal certainty in the State of Maine
from 1890 to 1910 that nullitied pro-
hibition yields dissatisfaction, dis
appointment and disgust and puts
thousands of real friends of Sobriety
in tune with the false and silly wet
propaganda that prohibition can't be
, enforced.
There are many indications that
/ the Congress of the United States
at the present time is choosing the
direct road to national sobriety. l
will mention few. First it recog-
nizes the fact that the 18th Amend
mcnt and the Volstcad Law put the
booze buyer and the booze seller in
the same criminal category. They
are, under the Federal law court.
conspirators to defeat national So
briefly. Second. it is beginning to
recognize the fact that honest and
effective enforcement can not be Sc
cured so long as the enforcement
machinery is subject to partisan
manipulation. Civil service Tor
workers Is coming. Third. The
treaty between this country and
England TO cooperate in the work
of stopping rum smuggling has been
ratified by the Senate. only seven
senators voting against 1t. Fourth:
The National House of Representa-
tives has issued the coast guard APP
preparation bill 304 to so which pro-
vides men and means which Will
meet on more even terms the hover
ing rum fleets. Fifth: The hopeful
prospect that the Customs Depart
ment will soon fully cooperate with
other Federal and State Officers in
all the ports of entry and all along
our Canadian border. Sixth: The
citiZcnrv of the nation Is waking up
rs shown by the Citizenship Con-
ference in Washington last October
at which more than one thousand
sober and sane advocates of the 18th
Amendment came from every section
of our country
That conference broadcasted
the administration of National pro-
hibition. 1t said. I'VE know the leg
itimate fruits of real prohibition
when we see them and we want no
diIly dallying. We must have prompt
. results"
The Washington Conference has
been followed by many State and
regional conferences which have still
further emphasize the popular de-
mand for honest enforcement. Some
of our citizens attended the New
England Conference in Boston IN
January last but Maine needs one or
more such conferences of his own to
rekindle the interest and zeal of the
Cry forces and to speed up enforce
ment.
We seem to have almost forgotten
what 1t meant to ham, string pro-
J hibition instead of enforcing II. A
new generation Of voters has come
to the front since tho nullifcat:on
days when we secured about IL OF
1 per cent of the fruits which real
prohibition IS capable of producing.
In our State the most hopc.d1 Sign
that we are facing the goal ana
joining in the march for National so
briefly Is the general approval. al
though our statute barely whispers
that approval, of the equal criminal
I ity of the buyer with the seller.
Governor Baxter in hundreds Of
addresses throughout the State has
powerfully emphasized the fact that
| the possessor and user of intoxicants
! fny IA