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DOES PROHIBITION PROHIBIT?

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 7, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 19.

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DOES PROHIBITION PROHIBIT?

The prohibition sheriff of Portland, Maine, recently lectured in the Auditorium, Chicago, on Washington's birthday, a unique lecture, illustrated as never was lecture before. His object-lessons were his finds, captured from illicit liquor-sellers:—
  1. A sprinkling can from which the liquor can be quickly poured out while the sheriff is trying to get in.
  2. A large brown pitcher kept over a sink full of water, a string from the pitcher extending to the front door, by means of which the pitcher can be tipped over into the sink.
  3. A jug kept in a kitchen bedroom, hidden behind an apparently paralyzed woman.
  4. A tin can holding a gallon of liquor, worn as a woman's bustle, and a hollow cane holding ten drinks. The bustle and the cane worked in company.
  5. A copper tank embedded in a brick wall, three stories up, filled by a pipe from the roof, the drawing faucet in a toilet-room in the basement.
  6. A can labeled “chocolate.”
  7. A box marked “hardware,” holding four gallons. Express companies and railroads brought this into the State; for Maine, like all prohibition territory, must fight the federal government, which sells federal licenses in Maine, also the national liquor business, and all who desire its help as express companies.
  8. A system of faucets, used in a restaurant, connected to a secret room, and so made that the knowing visitor could draw liquor or water at will.
  9. A corner section of a parlor floor over which stood a stand holding a twenty-dollar Bible, but under which was bottled whisky.
When sellers are obliged to resort to such devices, dare not advertise, dare have no visible places of sale; when buyers must sneak into basement toilet-rooms, or follow women's bustles into concealment, it looks very much as if prohibition prohibits.—Woman's Ensign.