TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Evening Star, Issue 14633, 1 August 1911, Page 8

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

[Bv AkRASG£MEST.] INTEBESTIXG POSITION* IN MAINE. HOT CONTEST—LOCAL- OPTION v. PROHIBITION. j LICENSE NOT AN ISSUE. | As was pointed out many tunes in this column during ika ecrfciw»*«y i Maine figures 'produced by Air William I Thomson,* the immense anicimt of money j available from outside brewers and hquor j jacrchants and the unfortunate proportion | of pnrchaseable officials in tho United j States has reunited ip poor enforcement of the prohibitory law in parts of Maine, j It was because of this, and because the j Maine police—a proportion cf whom , desire to discredit Prohibition—are ex- , toedir.«r!y quick to arrest people wbo ave ; in the slighiost degree intoxicated, that Mr Thomson was able lo produce the figures be did. 1 It r.ow appears that the liquor people I are using these facts in an appeal to tho j people to substitute Local Option tor State i Prohibition, and so enable those places where there is not a majority favorable to Prohibition to adopt license and nil tho other places to continue under No-licenso. j Tt ia common ground that fully nine- i tenths of the Stare would at once carry ; No-license, oven ii tho State Prohibition , law were changed to a Local Option law. | It is notable that- “the trade," when it i suits them, always become fervent yul- j TOcales of Local Option. Tins is just. ; what hsnpened in Vermont, a. ■neighborhig j Stsi.t<b bat though niuc-tenths of it . promptly adopted No-license, the arrests . for drunkenness tn.o- htoreased about . fourfold stare State Prohibition was | abandoned in favor of Local Optto’.’. DISCONTENT BECAUSE BROHIBI- | TION NOT ACTUAL. I Tt ought to be made plain that there would be very little, discontent in Maine if Prohibition was actual and well enforced, bat no State in the Union has tha power to exclude liquor altogether, as vp have • in New rfeaiaiid.. The Federal law oyer- j nowers the State law ut this point. The' transport companies and bre.-.yers have, of rourse, reduced the facilities for delivering j liquor into the State to an exact sfirncc. It ought also to be again mentioned that, ;■« each city in America jwys its own ! police, judges, paupers, etc., it is thus almost a law to itself, and it is very difficult for any outside authority to ensure enforcement in a place where them does not happen t<> bo an active majority lavorable to enforcement. It of ten happens that thore is a handsome majority for onbircfemeat, but no leader, and the majority allow matters to drift. It is difficult anyhow, as anyone with .expeneax-o will admit, to keep the forws of decency always sufficiently active to keep the forces of evil constantly in check. The two following extracts from totally _ different sources show the forces at- work in Maine to-day and the clever game the brewers ..-ere playing. Of course, i-a New Zealand, where the enforcement of the law in ail parts is vested in a central authority,there i-oukl not arise the- spectacle of a single ,:itv defying a State law, which is so grave a. trouble in the United States in regard to other matters besides Prohibition : - SHALL MAINE SURRENDER V HOWARD LEADING DEFENCE OF NEAL DOW’S LAW. Banger, Maine.—'Special Cotre.-pondt-Tic:* to the ’ A me vie an Advam-e.’; —Clinton N. Howard is rounding out a chain of remarkable meetings, which will vunti-ihute much to the victory for the Prohibition amendment. 'Shall Maine Surrender V G the topic of one of three addresses bo is delivering in the citios of the Old Pine 'tree Slate under the auspices of the Christian Givi-: League. Overflowing houses are .repotted frr.rri half a dozen cities. Mf Howard spoke at a union meeting of all lb© churches in tho city ball at Baugor on Sunday, will sweep the cistern coast, to Calais and East port during the second week, and end. at Rockland on Sunday, dune 13. He is laying -baj.'« conditions as they a;a in this State and on^ tho outaide- He is vaowiag our poop!© that, the presence of liquor qptl its open sale in certain cities of Maine do nob indicate the failure of Prohibition. “We are told,” he exclaims, “that Prohibition is a failure in Bangor. It is not true. W© are told that Portland is now wide open, and that Prohibition is a failure there. The statement is a He. They do not have- Prohibition in those cities. Tf Ute. law is not enforced, it hj not Proiiibitic::; it is anarchy, and anarchy is a failure everywhere, whither in Maine or •jutiido. You thul! not- charge up to Prohibition the failures resulting from anarchy and nullification. Thai is tolerated regulation. and is an example, oi what Maine might exnect ii you have legalised regulation. Prohibition is not a declaration framed into law: that only expresses.tho will cf the people: Prohibition is tho enforcement of the law. Where, tho law is not enforced they do not have .Prohibition. ’’The Twentieth Century Limited would be a faiJbro unless, put into operation. It goes a mile a minute, and leaps daily from New York t.» Chicago only when the laws • •I’ steam and locomotion are- pat into execution. Where that principle has been applied to constitutional Prohibition in Maine it. has driven the liquor traffic from the State, and has produced every one of the beneficent results claimed for it. ■* The euro for anarchy is not more anarchy, or legalised autarchy: the cure is to retain tha dgejxration in your Constitution and the election of a Government that will enforce the law. . . . If Maine, after sixty years of repression and .-oppression of this legalised wrong, shall return to tbs open saloon, of her it may ho said, in language of Holy Writ: ‘lt* has happened unto her according to the true proverb: Tho dog has turned to his own vomit, and the sow that was washed to hs- wallowing in the mire.' • American Advaoco.’ Tie above is hardly :iu- mj'.-L of talk ore, would expect in Maine itself if the Mains law had been a failure. It. is talk con sistent with success wherever the law has been property enforced. # * * * ; * ■» # ’ MAINE. A HOT CO NTEST-—TH E LIN JUT FOR BATTLE UNDERHAND AND SECRET METHODS IN OPERATION—MONEY TO BE POURED OUT FREELY. In th» ‘Tntmnllegi its .'•'latesriian,’ cr Maine, Mr E. G. Bor ion forcibly sots opt .he actual situation in the State'of Maine, and gives an idea of how (hr* better and wore© elements axe taking part ia the approaching contest, lie tay - In the fiist place, I*l it he understood, this is not a, line-nr- of drinkers versus ab-Bt-uners. On the surface, indeed, it scarcely look;: like a bsilie between saloon defenders and opponenls. Dragged in a? » minor iasne> in a sensational upheaval caused-almost entirely by ether issues, the rcrubmiesioo question lauded immediately in the centre of the arena of public discussion, and is now the iastia of the year. Technically, the question to be decided i- whether the Prohibition amendment idiail-ba removed from the Constitution, leaving the prohibitory law in tho statutes. But- everyone knows that if the amendment is repealed the legislature will at once re-peal-statutory Prohibition, and substitute some form of Local Option. So tha real question is: “Shall Prohibition be repealed ond Local Optical substituted Thousands of people in the State have never seen an open saloon, or, at least, are not familiar with its concomitant, evilj. But they do know of the “kitchen bar-room” and the pocket in some parts of the State. Some of these sincerely believe that it would be better to let- such communities have saloons openly and “under strict regulation.” Hie liquor element is lined up solidly For the repeal of the amendmeni, though r.at openly. In Ikct, I think the liquor forces aie playing the shrewdest game tiiey. liave ever played in,any campaign. Gitcmcblv keeping absolutely quiet, professfa" indifference to the outcome, and even pretesting- that they arc iu favor ot the rct . nticn oi ‘prohibitioii. as they “ are citlUng ill' liquor tiny wish uou,” the/ ~re

studiously avoiding the. sharp cleavage lie- j twcon decency and vice, between Prohibi- i tion and a wide-open State, wihich they i know would immediately follow their open entrance into the campaign. Secretly they j avo very busy throwing tho State an wide open ui possible now. to emphasise the j weak points of Prohibition, circulating nice-sounding argument* about the gobd I | qualities of Local Option, introducing be- j 1 fogging issues to confuse the voter ami : I working along every avenue- they cun « i I mand, ’ . ! j A tremendlms eampaigm fund is reported : I ns having Imen raised aiuoug the liquor men j j of other State? to be used in Maine, in- : fluencing nowspnjit-rs, circulating litcrntuio, j land reaching the voter with argument of a ! j mental and* possibly -sometimes, even more j material nature. ‘One thing is certain: j thoir efforts arc- nil, united for the downfall s j of Prohibition, and they are not going to Ibe beaten without a tremendous struggle.— | i Toronto 4 Pioneer.’ j TTHAT “THE TRADE” SAYS: | FOOL- THE PEOPLE WITH “ MODEL j j SALOON “ TALK. j j TKr trade in this section is very much in- I taunted in tho fact that Maine is to vole ; on the repeal of Prohibition in September, j It scents to r.a that this tight in Maine j offers tremendous possibilities to the trade, i | and they should not. fie neglected. 7ho [ i campaign in that Sit?to should bo conducted j lon the very highest- plum-, and the char-j j Hclcf of regulation offered as a substitute j : fnr Prohibition tihonKl hj- of Mich a. nature, i as to appeal to all men of common sense, i If tlm people of Maine arc rimply pro- , | mired open saloon? in the place of the pry- j j scat prohibitory law, a majority is likely ! lo reject, the tivopodtion. Jr.it if tho people ' ar«» offered “model’’ saloon;; that is. ; | silicons under a law that will compel them !to ho conducted propelly, then rite cliaacas ■ • arc that tho amendment will be repealed ! jby tend majority.—‘ Boufort 6 Mine and I ! Spiiit Circuhu.’