Absurdities Of Prohibition

Sixty years or so ago, when the Essex Jaw erawled into Maine, surely, a-s I bare said, it was a virtuous and an Arcadian state. At present, whcther it is more températe than any of its sister etates, whether there is less immorality, drunkenness and crime therelh than in any other state in the union, the eitizens of Maine are not fond of expressing an opinión, and doubtless the less said tlu', better ! It i to be added, moreover, that the Essex county letterwriters who tlms builded total prohibjtiom fi-om the sale of wines, ales, and other vinous or malt liqour, but one solely from the sale or ardent spirits, and oï thls only a mild restriction (a sort of "jug-law".)- that is, that spirits should be sold only to prevent tbe public drinking in rumshops and bar-rooms, and the public tpctaclï of inioxioation and brawling whieJa .o oïten resulted (and tliat wliat they sought is desirable today, as desirable as then, nobody can ïiy . Jïut the idea that a gentleman wlio desired to use ardent spirits could not flrst purcliase tliem, it is simple justiee to the writers oí the letters fco say, dicFnot present itseli to tliein at all. Wlien the matter got iuto the Maine legislatura, however, whether because' the distinction between wines and liquors was too subtle or ïrom other oauses, that distmction disappeared. As the pure and simple prohibition of the sale of ;iu. liquor, even oí Soineetic manufacturcii eider, it becamie a law ; the prohibition lias shice been written lnto the ooiistitution of Maine itseli, until tliat stato has become a commonwealth of law-breakers not only but of constitution-breakers, for the law againsi selling has beoome a law againet inanufatturing, and so agaiii-st puithasing. And all these la vs Jiave been written in the oonstituticra of the state itself, and the citizens go on buying, and purehaalag, with a pretense of Burrepitii krusnese tliat, oomic as it all is, keeps buyer, seller, retaller, and purchaser alike in breaeh of the statutes in saecula saeculorum ' - Appleton Morgan, in Popular Science Monthly.