Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-07-23
F |RF|ELD, MAINE,
IS SHY ON DRINKS
Town Listed 200 Per Cent
Dry" by Visiting Frenchman.
Fails to Aid Thirsty.

FAIRFIELD. Me, July % CN.A.
N. ).-"kairneld, Me, 100 per cent
ory."
mat is the notation NJ. Georges Guy
Valot' director general of the Otdce
National dEtudes sur TAlcool National
BufS2u for the Study OF AlcohoD Of
france, carried back with him on the
LeVlathan after a six-month study of
prohibition in the United States.
Falrneld was the only community
visited by the French investigator
drink.
Monsieur" he would say to 100
persons on the street in each com
munity visited. Il am a Frenchman.
! Where can l wet my whistler"
New Workers told him at the outset
OF his inquiry that there was no place
in America. where he could not get a
drink. But he found no one in Fair
field who could-or would-tell him
where TO wet his whistle Sc he re-
ported 100 per cent dry"
Is IL? A reporter went up the Ken
nebec Valley, 200 miles from Boston
to Fairfield in Somerset County. for
the answer. Here is what he found:
The town has $500 population. The
motorman on the trolley is the chief
prohibition officer. Court is held in
the back room Of Judge A. H. Tot
mans hardware store. The town has
Police Department consisting Of two
chiefs. One is chief days, the other
is chief nights.
Anomalies: Judge Totman. in his
hardware store-cOurt roam. sells bottle
caps and cappers-for root beer, pre-
Sumably. Grocery stores nave pient|
of sales Of malt hops. barley yeast,
brewing equipment, dried cherries,
raisins. Well? Is Fairfield 100 per
cent dry?
Due to efforts of its deputy sheriff.
two chiefs OF police and Municipal
Court trial justice. Fairfield is dry
beyond the average community. Somer-
set County has a dry high sheriff. H
directs all the enforcement and di-
reefs it ably.
The reporter visited stores, made
small purchases. struck up converse
tions with clerks. shoppers, folks on
the street-and finally with the au-
thorities
Up to a few weeks ago you got
anything you wanted" one person told
! him, but they pinched a big bootleg
ger in town and there isn't so much
stuff around now. The fellow they
arrested had everything. And there
is still some stuff around, mostly brew
One man looked suspiciously at the
was a Federal agent who bagged the
towns big bootleggsr a short time ago.
Judge A. H. Totman. in his store on
Main street brought the court docket
out OF the hardware store. He ran over
a few cases to show that there was still
some drinking in the town.
We never charge a man with drunk
enneSs here. he explained. That's a
pretty hard thing to prov. that man
is drum; So I neTer pit that charge
We always charge them Win DE ng I'M
Ger the influence Of liquor"
NJ Va,ot would have been more near
| ~ correct had ~ placed the percentage
a little lower. Hoookea. N j. he rated
100 per cent wet Wate~yille Me, adj
| jointing town 10 Fairfield, he labeled so
per cent wet
Here is the way he rated the cities.
If only person in 100 could direct him
to a spot where he could get drink he
gave that town a go per cent rating,
and 50 on down the line. That accounts
! for the Fairfield 100 PER cent"
| Anyway. no matter how mich he did
! or did not find out about prohibition
| in America he's the Frsnchman who
made Fairfield famous.
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