A MAINE CITIZEN SPEAKS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14359, 31 October 1908, Page 6

A MAINE CITIZEN SPEAKS

INTERVIEWED IN DUNEDIN,

[Published by Arrangement.]

At the request ol tho No-license party a. gentleman, who will hereafter be referred to as Mr A. H,, Jias consented to express for publication his views upon the eli'ect of prohibition in the State train which he has come. Mr A. 8., being in business, thinks it unwise and unnecessary that his name should bo mado the shuttlecock of the parties, but was quite willing to stato what he knew in the presence of a representative of this journal, and to speak the truth about Maine as he suw it when lie Jived there. Our representative vouches for the fact that Mr A. 15. is a business man in this town, and that he makes the following statements in answer to questions that were submitted to him: —

How Jong were you in Maine, Mr A. 13. ? " I was in Portland city about a year, and in the city of Jlangor about eight months. It is about seven years since I left Maine, but so far as I know matters relating to prohibition and its results have not altered materially since I left there. In fact, the prohibitionists claim that things are hotter now than they were then, and that the enforcement of tho law is more general now than in 1901." A COMPARISON. Can you make any comparison of the drink evil in Portland and in Dunedin'! " Yes. I feel that I can. Although when I first went to Jive in Portland I was just an ordinary citizen, without- any particular bias or knowledge of tho subject, 1 soon eamo to know a good deal about it. No one can live in Portland and not become fully acquainted with all that is going on in connection with prohibition in Maine. The. question is a very ' live ' one, and the papm give it a givat deal of attention."

What does your experience suggest as a fair comparison, then, between Portland and Dunedin as regards drinking and drunkenness?

"Just this, sir, that, although I lived, as I told you, both in Portland and Bangor, I never saw anything in either of these places in tho way of drunkenness to approach even distantly the' Saturday night exhibitions in this town. There is very little public drunkenness of any kind. Both of these places, too, are seaports crowded with a. rough class of fishermen, lumbermen, and seafarers generally, and are therefore much more likely to produce drunken rows and debauchery than Dunedin, which is a quiet place with practically none of this class, about-. Instances of violent or helpless drunkenness are practically unknown in Maine. Those who illegally sell liquor t(i!;b i good caro that their customers do not got- so far, and the police take good caro that persons drinking are arrested long before thoy reach that stage."

THE FIGURES EXPLAINED. Do you consider, as is asserted, that the difference in the number of arr«ts in Portland and Bangor, etc., as compared to Dnnedin, is caused by the difference of the police standards of arrests? " Certainly, I do so consider. From what I have soon here, your police aliow badly drunken men to stagger along the street in scores and never dream of interfering with them unle;s they bccome helpless or annoy tho passers-by. In Portland these men would bo arrested before they had gone 100 yards,. and would be taken to the lock-up awl kept tlioro until sober. I do not believe that- most of these arc punished at all. But as a. precautionary measure and to keep the streets clear of drunkards they are kept there until sober and then let go again. Tliey do not comebefore a court, and eo are not put down as ' convictions,' but as ' arrests ' —a very different thine;."

MILD INEBRIATES ARRESTED. These men, then, who were arrested' in Portland were not necessarily using obscene language or attracting attention, or even causing'an obsruction? "No, certainly not. The fact that prohibition has been in force in Maine for so long has set up a now standard, and oven a mild form of drunkenness is considered an offence against the sobriety of the place and tho harmony of the surroundings. I tell you, sir, that when you havo as little public drunkenness about in vouv town as there is in Portland you will be as strict to stop it ai: its inception and remove such u- degrading spectacle a > a drunken man from your streets before he can be seen by the decent people who are passing along tiiem. When you become as sober as Maine is you will bo able to do as they do and arrest people, bccuuse they have had a glass too much. You couldn't do it now, for you would need a street of t;aols to-hold'them on Saturday night." LUDICROUS FLIGHT OF IMAGINA-

TION. " The attempt to show that New Zea- | land would become more drunken if it followed the example of Maine is about the , most lu<licroius flight of imagination that I have ever met with in my career, and I have mot a few." That, is very interesting, sir; hut are there 'any other points in which Maine has t.h-2 advantage over us? ' " Speaking of the sobriety of the people and the evil results of drink, fcherci are agreat many other points in which that state leaves New Zealand far behind. For instance, take tin young men. Any system, to be successful, must enable the young iiisii to grow lip without contracting t.he drink habit. This is the ortix of tho problem. Anything that, fails here Jails all tlis time. ' The groai bulk of the young: men of Maine are growing up absolutely not knowing the .taste of alcoholic liquor. This is so even in Bangor and Portland, which, <n I said, are seaports with a great many people passing to and fro, and a groat, ninny strangers and tourists continually visiting the plac). I! it. is so there, it is much more so inland. There the drink problem is practically non-existent. In fact, I might stale it as my conclusion, after fairly close observation, that, the degree of siicrcs; of prohibition approximates closely to 111'.' dogroo of difficulty found in obtaining supplier of liquor from, outside. WOL'VEI SEEKING TO DEVOUR. "'Therefore the swrporis aro' .tit? least, satisfactory from a prohibition standpoint, but inland it is almost a complete success in every way. The' movements of tho political machine often make for nullification of the'law iii the larger cities, such as Portland, Lewistown, Bangor, and Rockland, etc. Yet even hero the la\v must, ho classed as a long way in advance of that of any licensed place 1 ever saw. Such trouble iw there is coroes, not train prohibition, but from the liconscd sellers of liquor who stand all round the Ktato like wolves seeking to devour a lamb, ami send innumerable circulars, reminders, ad inducements to popple to try and gc.|. them to buy and sell drink. They spend money like water to get a connection, and otfor every possible inducement to keep it, and then, having starled some people buying liquor, these same brewers fill the whole world with lamentations and grossly-exaggerated reports of tho liquor iro'ubie they themselves luvc created. THE TROUBLE IS LICENSE OUTSIDE.

"If there were-no licensed houses outside of Maine, or if Maine Ikhl the power under the Fedor.il law to prevent liquor entering tlie Stute sit all, there would bo no liquor 1 rouble l . All the trouble conies from the licenses round about, just the same as all the trouble in the New Zealand no-liconso areas .con'ics from the iicenscd places in Duiicdin and elsewhere. The only reliable source of supply is the Hocused person, and with no reliable source of supply the sly grog businca would quickly go ro the dogs, and would not be worth the trouble of entering into." CAN RKCOMMKND IT. From your experience in Portland you would be disposed to sn-y to the citizens of tin's city that prohibition was a good enough thing; foMteiu to try? Certainly I should. The first impression oik gets when one goes to a city in Maine is of a clean, enterprising, moral place. Public order in the streets is absolute. Drunken brawls. aro unknown. There is nothing seen or heard to prevent the peaceful development, of the pcoplo to their highest standard, and the whole surrounding arc prosperous and harmonious to a degree. NO PROFANITY. " There is about prohibition cities a total absence of the smells and signs of drink, the guffaws and profanity which always come from the dooii; of licensed houses wherever 1 have seen them. This absence in itself shows the success of no-license. FRANCES WILLARD BELIEVED IN IT.

" Finally, sir; I have a message to give to the women and to the clean people of this town, and I want to appeal to tlwir commoneense ami their reverence for tho character of one of tho noblest women that ever lived. I refer to Frances Willard. This queen among women is the only one whoso siatue is placed in the Capitol of Washington amongst the great leaders of the American nation. Her life shines liko a star in our history, and every clean-living and honourable American is proud ihat Frances Willard should have been a product of AiMi'icim citizenship. A NOBLE WOMAN. ''Frances Willard, sir, is one of those of whom it might well bo said 'That after •'li" Almighty bad made her He threw away

tlio mould.' In all America it is univer Rally conceded, perhapfi only excepting Abraham Lincoln, that Francos Willard Ims done more io uplift tho American nation, more Io point us to high ideals, iporo io increase our respect and reverence for women, more (o show us the umvorthincss anil degradation of destroying our national lives in the fleehpots of bestial drinking- and intoxication than any other mm or woman who has ever blessed oui people.

AN INSULT TO HER FAME. " Feeling like this, sif, as to Frances Willard, can you blamo me when I say that my blood boils when I read that this— ivliat shall I call him?—this person, who gee? Io Maine should come away and practically say in so many words, 'Frances Willard, who is honoured by the whole American nation, spent her life in telling the American people falsehoods! Frances Willard, tbo noble and tho truo, whoso name is tho very gem of purity, went about endeavouring to induce the American people lo to establish a 'tste of debauchery and drunkenness.'

FRANCES WILLARD KNEW. Yfls, sir, when I remembjr that Francos ii illard went in and out of Maine just as you go in and out. of your office, and Knew it thoroughly in its failures and in lis successes, knew the exact results of tho jaw, hoth good and bad, and yet wentforth and spent her unselfish life and \isited every State, and, so far as she could, every town in tho whole of America to yispi.ro tho women to. rise up and slav the awful curse of the licensed saloon nnd establish prohibition, I scorn tho rubbish talked by tins person. I consider that Mi llionison is in o.n exactly parallel position to a lawyer who knows his client is guilty, but who yet takes his fee and defends him by the method that cornea moat handy to the utmost of his power." ■