Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-08-06
CONFIDENCE THAT'S NOT
MISPLACED

1--WE are In a stiff fight on the pro-
hibition matter. 1t behooves every
one Of US to do the utmost. con-
hdently believe we shall win and
finally annihilate the liquor traf-
&C." This Is a paragraph in a per-
sonal letter received by Mr.. Thomas
c. Ingraham Of this city from the
Rev. Thomas Nicholson. resident
bishop Of the NJ. E. church, Detroit,
Mich, who writes from more init
mate knowledge Of conditions than
most Of US possess.
Bishop Nicholson refers to Mr..
Wheeler Of the Anti-Saloon League,
expressing great confidence and de-
scribing him as a tower Of strength
for the past thirty years, but now
compelled to undergo medical treat
ment and working under difficulties.
Writing Of a recent trip which in
cluded a stop-over in Canada for
several hours the bishop says: Il
went uptown-beer on every hand;
a loud-voiced man standing on the
street two blocks from the depot
shouting, Beer, beer, get your beer
here, beer with a kick and a good
deal more. We stepped into a hotel,
the liquor flowing, women of the
lewd sort smoking cigarettes, the
from all that we saw in our own
country. I have travelled thousands
of miles in the last six months. !
have been in great cities; have been
at probably twenty hotels and sum-
mer resorts this summer; I seldom
or never see drunken man; I see
no open sale of liquor. Everywhere l
go I get overwhelming proof of the
, benefit of prohibition. Nothing cru
der or falser has ever been put out
on the American people than the
propaganda of the vets and the stuff
now said to the American people
through a thousand wet dailies. But
believe the American people have
too much good sense to be deceived
The facts are too plain.
Recently the German government
sent an expert representative to this
country to investigate prohibition.
He was prejudiced against it. but !
have just received a copy of his re-
| port, or the part of it touching this
! question. 1t is an amazing testi-
mony of an official character to the
| benefits of prohibition, and it is hav-
| ing profound impression in Ger
| many. Let us not be deceived, let
| us stand to our guns, we are in the
right. The amount of noise the vets
are making shows how hard they are
hit"
Bishop Nicholson needs but to turn
to the daily news for confirmation
of his conclusion that the vets are
! badly hit. The difficulties attending
smuggling are increasing with every
prospect of becoming more and more
! rigorous. The bootleggers are driven
| to dispensing poisonous liquor. Ex-
: perience shows that it is impossible
to redistill denatured alcohol and
eliminate the poisonous ingredients
| those, who sell this stuff are nc
better and should be treated no diff
'ferently than the law would treat
| dispensers of poisons for indiscrimi
nate use. They are prisoners, MUIR
| derers. All along they have been in
collision with the vilest laWbreakers
and now they are openly allied with
| the lowest specimens of the internal
in crime. The would be drinker to-
day may drink liquor but without
any assurance that at least he is not
! committing slow suicide. Indeed tn,
vets are hard hit, though they may
not be expected to surrender until
bootleggers have been the means OF
poisoning a horde of their fellows.