p. 717 | Health and Temperance by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 26, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 45.

Health and Temperance.

By Editor

The Results of Prohibition in Maine.

IN the old rum times in Maine a man about thirty-five years of age entered a grogshop to fetch home to his wife and children a miserable inebriate. He appealed to the rumseller not to sell rum to this man. The reply was, "I have a license to sell rum; that is my business. I'll sell to any one who has money to pay for it. I support my family by selling rum." The man retorted, "It's your trade to sell rum, is it? You support your family, do you, by destroying other people's families? and for that you have a license, have you? With God's help, I'll see if we can't change all that." That man was Neal Dow. From that hour the agitation for prohibition was commenced. In 1851 Maine enacted a prohibitory liquor law. It has been on trial in this State long enough to test its efficiency. The success or failure of the law is not a question of opinion; it is a matter of fact. It is too late for men to speculate on this question. Every intelligent man ought to know that prohibition is a grand success. If it were a matter of opinion, we could summon ex-governors, congressmen, ex-attorney-generals, and judges of the supreme court of this State, all of whom have given their opinion, and they all agree that the law has been and is a great success. We do not claim that there is no liquor sold in Maine; but, as ex-Governor Chamberlain says, "The laws against intoxicating liquors are as well executed and obeyed as the laws against profanity, unchastity, and murder."

What are the facts?

In 1830 thirteen distilleries in this State manufactured one million gallons of rum. Now, there is not a distillery or brewery in the State. In 1833 there were five hundred taverns, all but forty of these having open bars. Now, if a hotel proprietor wants to sell liquor he must keep it in a private room, in an out-of-the-way place, where it can be found only by diligent inquiry, sometimes in the second or third story, sometimes in the cellar. In 1830 nearly every grocery store sold intoxicating liquor as freely as molasses. Barrels of rum, whisky and brandy were on tap in the open store. Now, nothing of the kind can be found in any grocery store in this State. In 1832, with a population of 450,000, there were 2,000 places where intoxicating liquors were sold—one grogshop to every 225 of the population. Now, we have about one liquor dealer to every 800 inhabitants. All of these are secret sellers excepting town and city agencies. In the old rum time liquors were displayed in decanters and bottles on the shelves and in the windows of the dealers; now, it is either carried on the person of the seller, or hid away under the floor, in a hole dug in the cellar, in the walls of the building, in the bed-clothing, or in the stable or pig-sty of the man in the business or his kind neighbor.

Then, the saloons were all open; any one could buy all he wanted. Now, the doors are closed, and a watchman is stationed at the door to give the signal of an approaching officer, when the liquor awaiting sale is poured into a tub of dirty water mixed with kerosene oil.

Then, liquor was transported through the State in vessels plainly marked, and directed to living men engaged in the business. Now, it is transported in boxes marked "dry goods," in trunks, in flour barrels, oil barrels, tin cans marked "spirits of turpentine," and directed to persons that have been dead for years, or who never lived in the town to which they are directed.

"In 1832 the sales of liquor amounted to $10,000,000 annually, or $20 for each inhabitant. Now, the enemies of temperance do not claim that the aggregate sales in the State exceed $1,000,000—less than $2 per inhabitant. This is but one-tenth what the sales were forty years ago, and but one-eighth what they are on the average in the remainder of the Union." —Nelson Dingley, M. C.

The effect of the law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor is seen in the sobriety of the people of Maine. In reports of the actual arrests in sixty license cities we find the average number to be twenty-seven to every thousand of the population. In 1882 there were 1,357 arrests for drunkenness in Cumberland County, with a population of 86,360. This county includes Portland, the largest city in the State. In Androscoggin County, with a population of 45,044, there were seventy-five arrests for drunkenness, less than two per thousand inhabitants. This county includes Lewiston, with a very heavy foreign population. In Franklin County, with a population of 18,180, there were two arrests for drunkenness. In Oxford County, with a population of 32,618, there were no arrests for drunkenness. The number of arrests for drunkenness in the entire State in 1882 was 2,652, or four to every thousand of the population.

What do the facts show? That prohibition has not been a failure. If I had room, I would like to exhort, but I must stop.—Rev. W. S. McIntire, President Maine State Temperance Alliance.