Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-05-11


end not by obeying any. Under
governments where the people make
the laws, there can be no excuse for
lawlessnees.
The Law IL the Voice Of America
1.-THE favorite complaint of the law
breaking patrons of the bootleggers is
that prohibition was suddenly put
over by minority against the ma
TONS wishes. Nothing could be less
true. The prohibition movement be-
gan more than half a century ago.
Many organizations carried on the bat
tie during decades of time, and when
the prohibition amendment passed the
Congress of the United States it repre-
scented the deliberate sentiment of the
country after long and thoughtful
consideration of the evil which it was
to end.
Moreover, a survey of the record
clearly indicates that the 18th amend
ment was written into the constitution
as the result of the deliberate act of
a large majority Of our people. It was
the result of the overwhelming senti-
ment off, the country, crystallized, no
double, in part by many of the argu-
ments which grew out Of the necessi-
ties of the war and the waste involved
in the liquor traffic.
The Law Has Not Failed Of IT'S Pur-
pose
eve want no compromise with the
brewers. They wish to open their
breweries again. They wish to get
into the political saddle again. They
are not good sports in defeat and they
have never been honest when they
were in the saddle.
'The people are for the 18th amend
ment and insist that the prohibitory
law cannot be tempered with at the
behest Of lawbreakers, and that no
man who Is not obedientyy keeping the
law 1t fit to demand it's change.
1.-THE failure of the enforcement
service is sometimes claimed to mean
that the 18th amendment has failed.
1t means nothing of the sort. The law
has not failed; the failure lies with
officials, violators and an indifferent
public. The danger Is not In the op-
position of bad men but in the care
lessness and often the deliberate oppo-
sition of people from whom we have a
right to expect support"
What Has Been Accomplished
Rev. Mr.. sDunnack continued with a
summary of, what prohibition has ac-
complished, pointing out that the IL
quor traffic has been made an outlaw,
when once it was dominant, dominat-
ing and intrenched. Prohibition has
removed legalized and organized temp
tation from the pathway of millions
who drank because 1t was near.
Prohibition has eliminated intern
perance as a cause Of poverty. releas-
ing $74,0O0,00o of charity funds for
constructive work." he said. 'It has
removed 177,790 licensed saloons
around which huddled the homes of
families whose revenues were drained
by the liquor leach. 1t had added mill
lions to our savings accounts and bill
lions to new life insurance policies. It
has increased the taxable wealth of
former license cities by increasing the
valuation of former saloon sites. It
has sent throngs of youths and girls
to high schools and colleges by elimi-
mating the liquor drain on the family
purse. Prohibition was not unaided
in creating these benefits, but only q
sober. thrifty and Industrious country
could have wrought these things.
Education for Enforcement
ut is evident that the people need
Of good laws and their honest en-
forcement
IF we go about this work Of agi-
tation and education at once and
with the zeal of early reformers, we
will put behind every honest official
the influence he needs to hearten him
in his work, and at the same time,
and what is more important, teach
every citizen to believe in and obey
the law.
1--WE are face to face with the en-
envy. the battle is on. The contest
Is between the forces that make for
good citizenship and the forces that
destroy the government by and for
the people. This is not a time for
the teachers of good morals in home,
business, society and politics to keep
silent. The public conscience must
be aroused. the people must be
taught that respect for, anr obed-
fence to the law are fundamental in
our State and Nation"
Mr.. Dunnack was introduced by DR..
1. B. Mower who in a few words
League. saying that it has been
founded within the walls of the
church in which the meeting of the
evening was being held.
Previous to the speaking there was
a short recital on the new Purinton
Memorial organ by Horace P. Dag
gett, grandson Of the man in whose
honor the organ was named.
At the close of the meeting the
resolutions as they were drawn up
by the committee were read and they
are as follows:
Christian Civic League Resolutions
Waterville, Maine, May 10, 1926.
Assembled for the annual meeting
on the spot where it was organized
80 years ago, The Christian Civic
League of Maine would reaffirm it's
devotion to the cause of civic right
eousness in all the life of the state
and nation and it's unalterable OPP
position to all that fosters intem-
perance and destroys the moral pros
perisy of the people.
Resolved. That the League re-
joices in the, remarkable progress
made in the lines of it's principal
activity in the better enforcement of
law, the decrease Of drungenness
with increase of prosperity, also In
the 18th amendment to the constitu-
ton of the United States and the
Volstead act for carrying it into eff
feet.
Resolved. That we heartily ap-
prove of the attitude Of the Pres
ident Of the United States in the
matter of law enforcement, and OF
the Governor, Senators and Congress-
men of Maine in the same manner.
Resolved. That the recent debate
in Congress has made plain that
what the country needs Is not a
weakening of the Volstead act, but
the full and, complete carrying out
of its purpose.
Resolved. That the work of the
League is no less important than in
earlier days and that it should Wig
orously go forward in sustaining law
and order and in opposing the forces