Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1925-07-15

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1925
The three-cent gasoline tax has
arrived. But Sundays automoblle
traffic gave no indication of les
SEEMING of consumption. Ellsworth
auto owners, when they pay the ad-
ditional price for gas, may soothe
their feelings by thinking of it as
contribution toward that cement
road from Bangor to Bar Harbof.
The Portland friends of daylight
saving 5ime are playing true 10
form. They know perfectly well that
daylight saving time is contrary TO
the wishes of a majority of the peo-
ple of Maine, and that the law passed
by the last legislature will be sus-
tanned by the referendum vote. They
got by this year by invoking the
referendum, as the law cannot be-
come effective with the referendum
pending. But they have gone
furt her. and by delay in filing the
referendum petitions, have made it
impossible to get the matter before
the people this year By this subter-
fuge. they obtain another year of
daylight saving time, as the matter
probably will not be voted upon I'M
til the September election of 1926.
Portland is not gaining any friends
for itself or for daylight saving by
these methods.
William ]. Bryan may be legally
right in insisting that the only ques-
ton at issue in the Tennessee trial
is whether Scheolmaster Scopes vio-
lated a law of the state in teaching
evolution, and that expert scientific
testimony should not be admitted.
But if William J. sincerely believes
that this old world of ours was made
in six days, and man in small
fraction of one day, he would COM
mand greater respect if he met and
welcomed the opportunity to put his
belief to the test, instead of lodging
the issue His attitude is in Signltl-
cant contrast to that of the eminent
scientists who have rushed to the de-
fence. Benighted Tennessee, in its
attempt to stfie the theory of evo-
luton under a silly law, has set the
whole world a-howl with it. But
perhaps, as has been suggested, Ten
nessee and, incidentally, Mr.. Bryan,
are merely looking for some free
publicity. In that case, they have
upset their own theory of the origin
of man, and at the same time turned
the COMMONPLACE idea of evolu
ton topsy-turvy, by making mon
keys of all of us.
Brig-Gen. L. c. Andrews, assis-
tant secretary of the treasury, now
head of the dry enforcement forces,
has, with the unqualified approval
of President Coolidge, adopted
system which is generally accepted
as promising the nearest approach to
real enforcement of the prOhibitory
law of any plan yet tried. 1t
throws into the discard the state-di-
rector system, and will substitute,
on August /, a force of twenty-five
division heads corresponding to the
federal judicial districts. 1t is de-
Capitalization, with a view to econ
omy and efficiency, permitting the
use of a smaller force with higher
qualifications. Disregard of state
lines makes it more definitely fed
eral organization. But a howl has
gone up from some states because of
the turning down of the state en-
forcement organizations, and we re-
gret TO note that one of the loudest
bowls comes from Maine. Gen.
Andrews has on his hands the hard
est job of any man in the United
States. He has planned serious
and determined effort toward real
enforcement. He should meet with
encouragement, rather than obsta-
Giles, from every person who believes
in enforcement And yet we find
Maine trying to inject politics into
the matter: we find to our surprise,
Mrs. Quimby, State president of the
w. C. T. T., trying to trig the
wheels of the national enforcement
system Gen. Andrews is right; all
political consideration should be
eliminated Governor Brewster, and
those who are with him in his effort
to save the State enforcement officers
their jobs, are out of step.