Prohibition Success In Maine

The question as to whether "Prohibition prohibits" ought to have a rest. There bas been nothing but bold assertion f rom the enemies of prohibí tion ; they havn't given a partiële of evidence. Thk Rkgistsr, on the other hand, gave Prof. Henry C. Adam3's letter in regard to Iowa, which amounted to a demonstratiou that the prohibitory law is reasonably well enforced there and is constantly growing ia favor. Xo one has undertaken to answer it. Tuk Usgistkr prints a concluf-ive letter in regard to Maine. About Feb. 1, a prominent citizen of Ann Arbor wrote to an acqnaintanee in Gardiner, Maine, Dr. Í-. Gilmore, asking him sorae straight questions in regard to the enforcement of the prohibitory law in that state, and the replies are given below. They are worth a dozen statements from men who have been in the state or.ly a day or two: 1. Id the fitst place the great mass of the people of Maine do not regard pruhibition as a failure in this state. There has been uo change ia seviümen t on this matter since the passage of the amendment of the state constituüon iorever prohibitiug the sale of liquors In Maine. 2. It is net trae that there is no restraint upon the sale of llquora in the large citles of Maine. The fact is that there are no open bars. The trafflc is driven into secret places and they are frequently raided by the pólice. There I drankennb3 in our cities, but far less than In cities where license prevails, as any temperante man who trarels will assert. S. Prominent prohibitionists do not declare prohibition a fallure, but their universal verdict is that prohibition does prohibit. 4. The law is not disregarded and the sale of intoxlcantsisnotunrestricied. Itis true that there are violations of the law, as there are of the statutes against larceny, incest and murder, but high iicense would not remedy this evil. In high li cense times there are men who would sell without license for the sake of protpective gains. 5. The fact that a school-boy was drank in school is no evidence that prohibition Is a fallure There are men vile enough to give liquor to boys for the sake of making them drunk ; for the purposeof injuring tlie temperance cau.e. There are párente so low in moráis as to let their children drink wiih them. If the tale of liquor to the boy could have been traced to the stller under high license it could just as well have been traced under prohibition, and the seller made to suffer the aeverest penalty of the law. 6. Frohibition in Maine nas been a sucetss. In nine tentlis of the towns in the state no liquor is sold. In none- not even Portland or Bangor- is it sold openly. The law has not been a failure but a blessing. Our peopie consider the traffic disreputable now. High license would give it the sanction of law, and gire it a showing of respectability.