| Show DOES BOES prohibition prohibit Ws notice that j ain in some places where the liquor traffic is prohibited by municipal ordinance efforts are being made mad e to introduce the license system it is I 1 s claimed that prohibition does not prohibit and there therefore jore it is better to regulate the business than to allow it to exist surreptitiously the argument is that as it cannot be suppressed it ought to be recognized aind controlled the opponents of prohibition frequently point to its alleged failure in maine itis it is claimed that liquor is ek extensively ten teu smuggled into that statland State aud and that while it is consumed in large quantities no revenue Is derived from ta sale rale and therefore the treasury suffers loss while temperance makes no gain careful examination into the facts dues does not fully bear out this assertion ser tion and a glance below the eurlace of the argument shows that ahat it is nor noc commendable for its depth neal dow the champion of the maine method maintains his old position and though accused of making admissions fatal to his theory and con flicking with former statements 1 clares that prohibition does prohibit in maine and that the law though evaded in some instances is as well executed as an of our statutes his arraignment of the republicans lor for not enacting such additional pains as would render the liquor trade unprofitable and uncomfortable to those who should persist in it and his citation of figures showing the evasions of the law have bave been quoted as evidence that the law is a failure but he be claims nevertheless that the law has been a great success for it has suppressed very every distillery and brewery in the state and though iti it is true that the liquor traffic in maine has not been reduced in twenty years yet the reduction secured in the previous fifteen years was brought to a low point poin and tand has been retained though not increased up to the present says Thus prohibition irmaine has beant profitable in dollars taking a broad view ot of its effects although it may appear to have in immediate revenue that might have accrued from licenses Irien ses but the great and im important octant gall is in the moral effects liquor liquor dealing and liquor drinking are under the ban they are not legalized they are not made respectable by law if unprincipled men pander for money to depraved appetites they do so at a risk which is proportioned to the faithful execution evecuti ou of thelah the law if the liquor consumption is materially diminished ain by prohibition the benefit to the I 1 rois the same ratio for it cannot be denied that crime increases with the consumption cop of intoxicants and that the tide of misery rises a the flood of liquor flows flown the plea that prohibition does not prohibit because some persons peddle intoxicants in spite of ordinances against the traffic appears very shallow when investigated should the law against larceny be repealed because some men steal should burglary be licensed because houses are broken into in defiance of the law because there are arb assassins not notwithstanding the statutes against murder ought the jurisprudence ot of centuries to be changed where is there an enactment that is completely effect effectual nal neal dows assertion that the prohibition law is as well executed execute d as any of the statutes in maine contains the gist of the answer to the objection that prohibition does not prohibit if no law should be passed that cannot be perfectly enforced if ordinances that are not held entirely inviolate should be repealed then every statute and municipal regulation would have to be abolished hd and universal license become the rule if prohibition hibi tion can be made as successful as any othar law or even approximately so it cannot go be fairly assailed ass as ailed on the ground that its it is not effectual our position on this point has been several times defined in those cities of our territory where prohibition is permitted bye by charter barter aud and where the population is sufficiency large to warrant it the liamor traffic can be and ought to be pi or suppressed in plages places baere this is not possible whether by defect of charter or obber other circumstances oi of an overpowering character high license should be maintained to regulate the business as well as possible keep out low resorts sorts and establish such restrictions s will keep the traffic within bounds and produce revenue to pay for the extra police service required by reason of the disturbances of public order which the evil trade occasions this endorsement of high license is only because prohibition under the present condition of our local laws and their administration and of the mixed lat on of our larger cities is in some places impracticable it argues nothing against the general principle of prohibition in purely mormon towns and villages intoxicants should not be and as ar a rule ar are e not purchasable the world would be b belter etter without them even considering the cravings clavings cravi and appetites of so many babul lants if no more liquor was manufactured un on earth the sum of human happiness would be immensely increased the demon of drink Is of ef satans gatans army he will count more victims than any other devil in the whole cohort of seducing spirits all the crimes in the catalogue and most of the diseases that nave have dragged down to death so many millions of the human family may be found on the list of his bis agencies and triumphs the blue blazes of alcohol are like the fires of the lowest hell and its fumes ure are the vapors of the internal infernal pit the spirit that inebriates has its uses but they are not for human beverages let prohibition have a fair chance and it will prohibit |
