An Official's Opinion

Wliile U. S. Inspector Newberger was in the city last Thursday, be ptoked tip a Codrier and read the letter of "TaxPayer" therein, purporting to give the opinión of several of Maine's eminent citlzen8 on the suecess of prouibition in Maine. Then he went to ehatting witli several newspaper men there present, and a Free Press reporter took down liis main points, which were as follows : He had just come from lona where he had been arranirin tor free delivery in the offices of that state. Witli his In. structions came statements of the reve nues of the postoffices tor the pust three yeiirs, generally showing a deireasc, and inquirinjr the eMM. "' My answer," said the inspector, "after talking with the baukers and business men has invariably been prohibition. Why, any n amber of second and third class postoltices in Iowa show a fnllin{ off in revenuen. Koek IslanU, which is just across the river from Iowa, shows au increased revenue of twenty per cent. during the last ycar." "Cliariton," continned the cliatty inspector, "is a jrood-sized Icnvn in soath Central Iowa, is a place where no saloon can be openel. The drug stores sell miv iMtoxieatinjr drink a man wants, and aíl the people have to do to obtain whisky is to 8lgn a statement that they are tioubled witli general disabiüty. ltijfht oppoaite the depot is a liirge building witli the sign ' Liquors lor Siile or (Julmary. Mechanical or Sacramental I'urposes.' Wlien I was there a niiniber of traveling men wetit in and one aked for liquor tur ineclianical puiposes. As he didn't lonk like a mechanic it w.is refaced. He tiirncd :ind asked me what he should say. I said, 'Teil him you want lt tor lubiiCHtin;.' parpose.' ' Veil,' said the proprietor, 'IÍTOU wants hun to lubrícale with, jou gets him." "Iu Lemark, Ia., before prohibition, everj' business house was occupied and good business rooms op the main street broaght $800 a yeur rent. Just such a room, 130 l'eetdeep, on the main thoroughfare, the government pays a rental of' $125 a year for. The lease was made withiti the past six months. I, myself, counted twenty - one vacant business' rooms. " Marshalltown, one of tlie most enterprising and active towns In America, lias lost not less than 3,000 populntion In the last twoyears. Substantial business men, with wtioin I talked, laid t entirclv to proliibition. The saine state of affaiis exists at Waterloo, De9 Moines aud a nuruber of otlier towna I can mention." Pickingr up the American Almanac and the l'ostofflce Department report of 1885, the Inspector continued, "I'd like to cali your attention to jut a few figures. The receipts of the l'ostofflce Department are accepted universally as a thermometer of h'nancial growth and prosperity of a community. Compare Maine with Mich igan and Indiana. In area Maine is 22,000,000 acres, Indiana 23,000,000, and Michigan 37,000,000. In popnlatinn Maine bas 650,000, Michigan 1,700,000 and Indiana 2,220,000. Maine was settled a hundred years before the other two etates, bilt with very puritunical notions. The total gross receipts of tlie postofflce8 in 1885 were : In Maine f JIO In Indiana 707(i i Iu Michigan i ooukw "But these thrifty Maiue frenllomen, who have made so much by pruhlbition! succeed very well in gettinj; fat out of tlieir ueighbors. They have ten Government buildings for postofflce, Michigan three aud Indiana two. Yet the expenses of the offices, with the rent igred In Maine. is forty-four per cent. of the grogs receipt8, wuile in Michigan the expenses are thirty-nine per cent. In ten years between 1870 and 1880 Maine increased 3.51 per cent. in populution and Michigan 38.24 per cent. "Now, personally, I am a tr-mperate man, I don't averajre over two glnsses of beer a month, but I have to look all over the towns I visit and I cannut lielp forrainif the conclusions I have K'ven you. At last the Lenawee couiity superiiitandems of the poor have begun the loug threatened suit against the Washtenaw county superintendent for the keeping of the Kittredge familj', the history of which has been given in the Cocrier. Summons was returnable at Manchester Monday, and Prosecuting Attorney Norris and County Superintendent Green went over there and acljourued the suit until the 28th day of April. The question involved is slmply this. Does a pauper ever gain a settlement (retidenoe) uuder tlie poor law? The Calumet and Hecla Mining Co. will divide f500,000 surplus on the lltli day of April next, makin $-2,h:0,000 this company lias paid In dividends since the organization. Several of our clUzent are Interested in thls company, and will take thcir "lump of su-far" with relish.