Susan B. Anthony Speeches & Writings File "Maine Law" 1853 April 17/53 Maine Law Delivered first at Egypt Monroe Court--April 17.th 1853 The commencement of the Temperance Reform dates far back in the nineteenth Century. - The year 1808 witnessed the organization of the first Temperance Society, and during the intervening forty five years, the good work thus begun, has been slowly but surely progressing - Its earliest advocates, Billy J.Clark and Rev. Lebbeus Armstrong, of Moreau, Saratoga County deemed it necessary to banish distilled liquors only, thus, wine, Cider and Beer were continued the every day beverages of those truly noble men and their followers.- Hundreds and thousands of the drunken of the race gladly sought redemption from 2 their thralldom to Rum, and adopted the Pledge which required Abstinence from Distilled Liquors only. - It soon became evident, that though the pledges of their converts were kept inviolate, still were there large proportions of their numbers found among the drunken. The idea of Total Abstinence was first advanced in the year 1811, at Litchfield Ct. by Dr. Lyman Beecher. The Society of which he was a member, appointed a committee to report what could be done to stay the progress of Intemperance, - The report was made, & after lamenting the wide spread danger, discouragingly said there seemed to be no feasible 3 remedy. The Dr moved that the Com. be discharged, & that another be appointed to report instanter, a remedy for Intemperance - he was made Chairman & reported resolutions at once, recommending to all Christians & good men, the immediate & entire abandonment of all intoxicating Liquors- the report was adopted, & here, it is believed, was the first step taken in the great history of Total Abstinence. Long years elapsed though, before this new doctrine [of Total Abstinence] found favor with any considerable number of those who professed to be both good men & Christians. At length, however, experience proved that of the few who could be induced 4 induced to abide faithfully by their pledge, none were to be found, among the Drunken. On Apr 5th 1840 the glorious Washingtonian dispensation was ushered in, & now did the Temperance Army wax strong. Thousands & hundreds of thousands of the wretched victims of Intemperance were rescued & gathered into one mighty phalanx, -The heart of the Philanthropist was [now] filled with hope, -his eager eye stretched forward into the future, & saw the happy *Time demonstrated, that though Total Abstinence is the only sure remedy, the existence of the Liquor Traffic prevented its universal application 5. day when drunkenness should no longer be known in our land. For long years did the friends of Temperance now labor for the accomplishment of this great object, in the full assurance that entire success would be their final reward [x But, oh all too soon [?] demonstration through] Total Abstinence [would] the shall let that this effectual remedy, the existence of the Liquor traffic precluded the [?] For [?] yet [?] adapt [?] its universal [?] been applied] -- large numbers of the reformed were ever & anow being precipitated into the fearful vortex of Intemperance again, & the youth of our land, by being tempted at every turn & corner of our streets by the licensed rum seller, were seduced to form habits of 6 insobriety. As fast as one generation of Drunkards had been [induced] persuaded to leave their cups, another was seen coming on the stage of action, which called equally for the labors of the Philanthropist. Moral Suasion had wrought a great & glorious change still drunkenness was no stranger in our country. [Something more must be done, the whole remedy of Intemperance had not yet been found.] Very many of the Friends began to see & feel that to endeavor to persuade men not to drink of the poison, while the laws of our land authorized its sale as a beverage, was at best an unphilosophical work, & one which, though ever 7 so untiringly prosecuted, would never secure the desired end. They now saw, that if they would work effectively, they must strike at the root of the evil, at the Liquor Traffic. Attempts were made to regulate the sale of Liquors. The Law required the man who should be licensed to engage in the traffic to be possessed of a good moral character also that he should annually pay into the public treasury a [paltry] stated sum of money. Thus do the laws of our state [& many others] cause [them] it to receive a bribe, Judas like, & give into the hands of the Rumseller the innocent and unwary [to would that like Judas the State being ?ght] 8 [give back return the "price of blood" & go hang themselves itself - that it might no more be guilty of Crucifying afresh the Son of God] -- All efforts to regulate the traffic have of course proved ineffectual, for how is it possible to regulate an evil so as to prevent the natural consequences of that evil. The great idea of which the present crisis in the Temperance Reform, witnesses the embodiment, is contained in the involuntary petition [of every] which goes out from almost, every true soul, "give us the Maine Law," "Give us the Maine Law," & what is the Maine Law," It is a law that reaches the very 9 summit level of the entire prohibition & annihilation of the Liquor Traffic -- It was in Maine, that this idea first assumed the form of Law -- For seven long years did the Friends of Temperance struggle to convince the masses that any subject which interests the people is a political question. -- Strange that people cannot, more readily be made to feel, that a traffic which involves the nation in such an immense expenditure of wealth, such an untold amount of physical and mental suffering & degradation, should be, preeminently, the great Political question of the day -- The annual loss 10 sustained in the United States, by the Liquor Traffic, amounts to $300,000,000. - There is no question surely, that so immediately & [extensively] directly affects the pecuniary prosperity of our people- [How do] Three fourths of the taxes paid by our citizens into the governmental treasury are appropriated for the maintenance of pauperism & crime, which are the immediate result of Intemperance. Nine tenths of our criminals & helpless poor, are made such by our legalized system of Rum-selling - It is also estimated that nine tenths of the idiocy & insanity of our land are the effect of intemperance, the legitimate offspring of the Liquor Traffic. What question of Political economy, my friends, is there, that involves 11 consequences so startling; what question of religion, of morals of social wretchedness & woe (if we except that of American Slavery) can compare with the Liquor Traffic. How do the questions, [which seem to be of such momentous importance to our law makers], of a productive Tarriff, the creation or destruction of a Bank, the reduction of Postage, the enlargement of a canal - the construction or consolidation of a Rail Road, the regulation of tolls on salt & other commodities, which seem to be of such momentous importance to our law makers, sink into utter insignificance, when placed along side of the monstrous injustice, oppression & crime produced by the Liquor 12 Traffic. On the 2nd of June 185[0]1, the Maine Law was ratified & written upon the Statute Books of that glorious far east state, & the name of Neal Dow, the originator & first executer of that Law, will find a place among the "household words" of generations yet unborn. The immediate result of this Law were beneficent beyond the expectations of its most sanguine friends. Pauperism & crime were found to decrease in a very short time from 50 to 75 percent. The Policemen of the larger towns & cities of the state, had comparatively nothing to do, the poor houses, jails, workhouses, penitentiaries, & state prisons received no additions to the numbers of their occupants A Liquor Law has been recently passed in Indiana, which effects a Divorce between the Curse & the State, which dissolves the unholy Copartnership. No money is taken by the state, but those who sell Rum are responsible, & the wives or families, of Drunken Men, may sue & collect damages of the retailers, -- & though nothing but entire prohibition can ever stay the ravages of the traffic, still, even the Indianna Law is one step gained, -- inasmuch as it admits the wrong, & recognizes the direct responsibility of the retailer -- 10 pants, -- indeed many of them during the past year have been left tenantless, & are being appropriated to other and better purposes -- Rhode Island, [Minesota], Massachusetts & Vermont & Michigan have each adopted a Liquor Law similar to that of Maine -- The results in each of these states, [are, as glorious,] though robbed of their novelty, are as glorious as are those of Maine [their sister state]. [Michigan has passed a Maine Law Bill, submitting it to the vote of the people] -- Indianna -- -- Scarce a legislature throughout these United States but has been petitioned by its constituents during the past winter, to give to them a Law that shall entirely prohibit the manufacture & sale of Intoxicating Liquors as a beverage, — Hundreds of thousands 14 of the men and women of our own state have sent up to the legislative Halls their earnest prayer, their united demand for a Maine Law - & why may not we of the Empire State, have this law inscribed upon our Statute Books? - The answer is obvious, it is because our legislators [?] are not the representives of the whole people. - They are but the tools & slaves, the mercenaries of fretted monopolies-noble exceptions, there are, I know, but the fate of all great moral questions when submitted to that body, too plainly shows that by far the greater proportion of them are governed by no regard for the best interests of the [who] people. How long must this state of 15 things [continue] exist--? I answer, so long as those, who profess to love the Temperance Cause, & who avow themselves in favor of the entire prohibition of the accursed Liquor Traffic shall continue to vote for men to fill the various offices of government who are any other than known Total Abstinence, Maine Law Men, -- Very many of our would be good Temperance Friends are continually crying, Don't carry Temperance into Politics — If you do, you kill the Cause -- It would seem, that if these men were not blinded by ignorance or selfishness, they could but discover, that the question had long ago become 16 acquainted with the Ballot Box-- While they have been consoling themselves with the idea, that their temperance vows should in no way interfere with their religion or their politics -- the enemy has stolen a march upon us, & we now reap the deplorable consequences -- in that, so many of those who are accepted as teachers of righteousness, are like "Dumb Dogs" as regards the duty of the Christian voter -- -- in that the Rum influence elects such large majorities of our officers, & thus so completely governs the Legislation of our Country -- In this our friends have but reestablished 17 the truth of the old adage "No Cross, No Crown" -- while they have been smothly & pleasantly floating with the ebbings & flowings of the Political tide, strangers have come in & possessed themselves of our beautiful inheritance, -- robbed us of our cattle on a thousand hills, -- despoiled us of our happy homes, -- beggared our children, -- & made us outcasts & aliens in the land of our fathers. -- But who is this enemy, who would put the day far off, when the Maine Law shall be written upon the Statute Books of our state -- Is it the wretched drunkard with bloated face & bleared eyes who has bartered his 18 houses & lands for rum, - who has exchanged his neat, comfortable dwelling, surrounded by luxurious yards & gardens, for a ricketty hovel that gives entrance to every rude blast, - who has caused the ruddy cheek and happy smiles of the affectionate wife of his promising youth, to give place to the sunken eye, pallid face & troubled, care worn, sorrow stricken expression, - who, unless rescued by some mighty power, will bequeath to his unfortunate children, no legacy save [the reproach of being] of unspeakable shame and degradation which [are] is the certain portion of the Drunkards offspring? — No! though this miserable creature may be guilty of untold & 19 unnumbered vices & crimes, the sin of opposing the entire prohibition of Rumselling may not be charged upon his head, - The poor Drunkard says, "Give us the Maine Law" for while rum is allowed to tempt me on every side, I have not the moral strength to pass it by; but must stop and slake my burning thirst, though I know full well, that in so doing, I but add new fuel to these horrid, internal fires, that have well nigh consumed the last vestige of my once noble manhood -- Who then is the enemy? It is selfish man! He who would wring from his 20 neighbor, his very hearts life blood, drop by drop, & sell it back to him again, if by that means, he could but enrich his own coffers Show me the voter who opposes the Maine Law, & I will show you a man who fears his monied interests will suffer, whose very hearts core has been eaten into by the spiderous cancer of selfishness,- Though I fully believe Supreme Selfishness to he the real ground of objection to the Maine Law. I will for a moment glance at a few of the ostensible ones which are ever day presented to 21 us. We are told that all contracts of bargain or sale, free of fraud, between man & man, are valid, therefore men have the right to sell intoxicating liquors. Also that men have a right to do what they please with their own personal property, and that therefore they have a right to manufacture or import spirits or wine. And, again, we are told, that in this free country, men have the right to eat & drink what they please as they have to wear such costume as they choose, hence, a prohibitory law would infringe upon individual rights, since it would rob a man of his inalienable right to drink, hot toddy, gin- 22 sling and Brandy smashes. There are many instances where law imposes restraints upon contracting parties, even though both be agreed. A contract of marriage, while a former contract of like character continues in force, is null & void it is even reckoned a crime. A man may not sell obscene books and pictures. Diseased Pork or Beef & there have been times when the municipal authorities of our cities, prohibited the honest farmer from selling Veal, Mutton, or Beef by the quarter, within the limits of the corporation - & in Cholera times our city law makers 23 have strictly forbidden the sale of green corn, cabbage, cucumbers and other articles of food, that they thought predisposed the community to the ravages of that terrible Epidemic. Law also presumes to regulate the carriage of passengers. Will not allow a a Cabman or Hackman to charge other than a specified sum. It seems too to have something to do with Banks, Insurance companies, building of roads and bridges, &c. A man may not in all cases do what he pleases, he may not build a house of wood within a certain distance of the centre of a city, he may not establish a powder manufactory, or keep a He may not even keep a dog if the life of a neighbor's sheep is endangered thereby, & this summer in our city no man is allowed to keep a pig on his own premises. 24 powder magazine in any place where the public safety might be endangered. He may not convert his property into gambling or counterfeiting [in?ements] & whenever such are found in his possession, law seizes them and destroys them. [Law allows] [Recent [Cann?] [no man to manufacture utensils or prosecute a business that results only in mischief to society.] Law even steps in to restrain the man who attempts to take his own life, or so conducts himself as to cause the people to believe [him despoiled of his sanity] him insane. We find plenty of precedents in our constitutional law, for the prohibitory enactment relative to 25 the manufacture & sale of intoxicating liquors -- All [such] objections are found weak & groundless, when viewed in the light of reason, [&] of humanity -- of common sense -- -- They are at war with both the letter & the spirit of our Statutes -- -- Government has strictly forbidden the sale or gift of liquors to the Indians of our Country; & whoever heard one of these Anti Maine Law Men declaiming against the injustice of that act, or expressing words of sympathy with the poor red man of the forest, that he was thus cruelly robbed of his right to drink fire water -- Friends the enactment of a prohibitory law [will be] is in strict 26 harmony with the constitutional government of our country - Since the year 1646, the Liquor Traffic has seen a subject of Legislation - Laws have been made in every state in the Union, restricting the sale of Liquors to a [by the] certain privileged few -- now if Law has a right to prohibit the larger portion of community from engaging in the traffic, has it not also, that of the smaller - & if one man may be allowed to sell, why not all? If the Traffic, [by the few,] be essential to the well being of society, why not allow a fair & equal chance to all for Competition, as in the various trades & business pursuits [departments of Mercantile business] 27 However much these wicked objectors may prate about , robbing men of their rights, violating the constitution etc. They know full well that the traffic is productive of evil, evil only & that continually they feel in their inmost souls that justice, humanity & God demand the entire & immediate annihilation of the whole accursed, infernal legalized system of Rum Selling. Arguments, with men who have thus determined to gratify their own sordid passions, even though it be at the expense of the comforts, happiness of the whole world, are vain, worse than vain, The 28 hearts of such are forever closed to the calls of humanity. [&] Nothing but the cold fingers of the iron law has power to [the] penetrate their souls, & stay their hands [from] in this work of Death. - The object of a just government is said to be to protect the weak against the strong. The safety of the People is the supreme Law. - Is the government of the Empire state founded in justice & are the "weak protected against the strong"? - Who so weak, I ask, as the wretched victim of intemperance, he who would barter the last comfort, the last necessary of life, to allay his insatiable burning [thirst for] X Who more need the protecting arm of the law thrown around them than the thousands & tens of thousands of the youth of our land, who are just stepping upon the public arena of life, - who are going out from the watchful guardianship of parents & friends, who have hitherto restrained them from the paths of vice. - And, lastly, I ask, if the property holder should not be protected by Law, from exorbitant taxation for the purpose of defraying the expenses of criminals & helpless poor, made such by the legalized business of Rum Selling - To feel that the Drunkard is weak, wee need only to become acquainted with the Physiological effects of Alcohol upon his mental & physical system - His brain is hardened & thereby disqualified to perform its higher & nobler functions - he resolves & re-resolves & in 9 cases out of 10 he dies the same - His stomach is diseased, even to putridity, by the continial irritation inflicted upon it - His nervous system is destroyed, he has left as little control over his hands as his appetite - He even presents himself to us the same pitiable uncontrollable, irrereclaimable object of loathing & disgust - Surely, Law should shield such weak ones, [from] & cease to empower the vilest of the vile to lay snares to entrap them & rob them of their last vestige [spark] of manhood, [their last] What would you think of the parent who would place before a child any sort of drink or eatable, telling it that a little of [which] either would do [them] it no harm - that they were pleasant to the taste, but that an excess of either would cause disobedience to parental commands - & then when the child had tasted again & again until it had attained to the forbidden excess, [the] [parent] & refuses to yield obedience to the parents wishes - that parent holds him accountable for the disobedience and inflicts punishment therefore - Would you not say that that parent, was the one whom God would accountable for all the shortcomings of the child? Well, now, the Drunkard is nothing more, than a grown up child - [They should be his guardian & suffer the results] The Law should be his guardian, & those who make the Law, the ones to be held [suffer] [the] responsible & suffer [the] the penalties for crimes & misdemeanors he may perpetrate. How differently do our Laws act - they license & traffic the sure result of which is to dethrone reason, put a man into a condition in which he is liable to commit every known crime in the dark catalogue & then when he shall chance to violate the Law he must suffer the penalty - if he commit murder, he must be hanged by the neck - How many are the instances we hear of, where men & women are punished for the crimes they commit while in a state of drunkenness, & how do we feel our hearts blood stirred within us, as we trace his guilt back to [the] its true source & that in this Democratic Country, is to the voter, the man who gives his approval to the elevation of any person to any office, whatsoever who will not do all in his power to break up this accursed system of Rumselling - That our government is unjust to the wife of the Drunkard is also easily proven - In the first place it fails to protect woman as [it does] well as man, from the temptation of becoming Drunkards. - If there are not as many women Drunkards, as there are men, it is only because their indoor employments, prevent them from, coming as much in contact with the temptation as does he & secondly 29 longings for Alcoholic stimulus? Who, more weak that the unfortunate wives & children of the miserable, outcast drunkard. The Law in its magnanimity, presupposes every woman to have a male protector, who will provide for all her wants. It gives to the husbands, the right to all property jointly acquired; the right to the personal earnings of the wife, as well as to those of all children under age; - & Society, seeming to take the spirit of the law as its precedent, has excluded woman from all of the most lucrative industrial & professional pursuits, leaving to her only those of teaching, sewing and domestic service. And even in these three business avocations, she receives but one third or 30 at most, but one half the amount of wages, [as does] that are paid to the man who possesses no greater skill. When the husband & father becomes a besotted drunkard, & ceases to provide for his family, the wife, seeing nothing but starvation & want in store for herself & helpless little ones, has recourse to her needle, hoping thereby to put off the day when they must eat the bread of chairity. She toils incessantly -- The first rays of the morning light find her at her work-- through the long hours of the day, & late into the night, she plies her task-- & yet with this patient unremitted perseverance, she finds herself unable to earn scarce enough to keep body & soul together-- 2 s. & 6 pence or 3 shillings 31 a day is the amount of her earnings, out of this scanty pittance, of 15 or 18 shillings a week - that wretched wife and mother must meet the demands of house rent, food & clothing, lights & fuel, & more than probable, those of the beastly creature the law calls her husband. Thirdly - Our laws, after making man the protector & maintainer of woman, - giving to him the right of ownership to her person, her [share of] property, her stinted wages & her children, & licensing the sale of intoxicating liquors, thereby exposing her to the horrible fate of a "Drunkard's Wife", a Drunkard's Mother, a Drunkard's Daughter makes her condition still more 32 hopeless, by excluding her from having a voice in putting an end to a traffic that so frequently robs her of her legal protector & supporter - that so frequently transforms those nearest & dearest to her by the ties of affection & nature, into breathing pestilences, - walking Charnel houses - & if a woman be unmarried or a widow, & by untiring industry & strictest economy secures to herself a home & purse of her own, the law then steps in & taxes [compels] her little property for the support of the liquor traffic that [most] wicked & atrocious system of legalized wrong & oppression than, which, but [?] more heinous can be had on the face of the globe [always excepting the one other of our] 33 A friend of mine in Rochester, a widow with one child, owns a snug little house & lot, by close application to business she barely is enabled to support herself & child comfortably, & it is only by dint of the strictest economy that she finds herself prepared to meet the annual demand of the Tax gatherer - which, I think ranges near $16.00. Last year, the statistics of our city showed the whole expense of Pauperism & Crime to be $24,000 - three fourths of which were directly traceable to intemperance. This widow, is an intelligent, common sense sort of woman - think you, those hard earned $16.00 are cheerfully put 34 into the City Treasury, when she knows that 12 of them are to go to the support of the Liquor Traffic, to the existence of which , she has never given her consent? I tell you a woman, thus situated can but be made to feel that a government that subjects any portion of its citizens to Taxation without representation - is unjust - Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed - As regards the failure of government to protect the youth of our Land - The reports of our Houses of Refuge, Penitentiaries, Jails & State Prisons, show a vast majority of youthful 35 criminals, there through intemperance in themselves, or from vicious natures transmitted by drunken parents. There is evidence that our youth are weak, & that our laws have a work to do, in removing from their pathway all such temptations to vice & crime, as lie within its immediate province. The wonder, now, is not that so many of the young fall victims to intemperance & crime, but that any should escape the deadly miasma that wells up from the myriads of legalized dens, [where that every where] which ever meet them, as they walk up & down the streets of our Cities & Villages 36 But a few days since a young lad in our City, got into a dispute with one of his associates, the affray terminated in his giving his mate a stab, with a weapon he carried about him, that felled him to the earth, a dead boy. This lad is a murderer, & by the Law is convicted of man slaughter, & sentenced to drag out a wretched existence in the State Prison. Now, Friends, I cannot look upon that lad as alone guilty of that murder. Every voter who has done nothing to remove from [the] his pathway [of that lad], all influences that tend to degrade, & dehumanize 37 the race, has a share in the guilt of that boy, just so sure as God holds us responsible & accountable beings. We are told that in the sight of God "sins of omission are no less offensive than are those of commission." I do not suppose that a prohibitive law, thoroughly executed would put an end to all intemperance, vice & crime, but experience in the State of Maine proves that it would to the greater proportion of it. Though this law will not have the power to transform the gross natures of human beings, into pure & spiritual ones, still it will afford a sort of stepping stone, a point from 38 which all aspirants to a higher & truer life, can [take] make the first sure advance in the ascending scale of human progress. Justice, then, to the youth of our land demands a Maine Law. And lastly the honest property holder, who, by his words or his vote has never given his consent to the existence of continuance of the Liquor Traffic needs protection. His property is equally taxed with that of the importer, manufacturer & lender, together with those who vote for the continueance of the traffic. & what I have said of the proportion of those taxes 39 [in theory which are] expended for the support of the Liquor Traffic in Rochester, is pretty generally true of every town & county in the State. Now, if our government had the first claim to justice, would it not at least, like Indianna, compel the trafficers to pay the cost of the trade. & then, too, friends, the cost, of crushed spirits, blighted hopes, idiotic children, murdered relatives, sons suspended by the hangmans rope, to be met by dollars & cents. In Oneida Co. on the 7th [?] (March 1853) A man was found dead in a school house, about 14 miles from his home, he had been intemperate for many years. & during the 40 last six months, had scarce seen a sober hour - Unable to procure the poison near home, he had taken with him three bottles, & gone to a neighboring village to procure his usual supply - but not to return - two of the bottles were found empty - the third still full. Think you the wife or Mother of that man, would feel that ten, 50, or 100 dollars would pay [them] her, for the injury done to the manhood of the last one, or for the withering agonies, inflicted upon her own spirit - The recent occurrence in Decatur, where a Mr - Keeler first murdered his wife & then took his own life, is another damage, not to be repaid by money - 41 both were of good parentage, the latter an only son Judge Keeler - , both were well educated, intelligent, industrious & wealthy - & as a general rule the utmost affection & confidence prevailed between the - the husband was subject to excessive drinking, which continued sometimes for weeks together - rendering him almost insane- At these times, he was jealous of his wife, & treated her in a most barbarous manner- At the time of this occurrence, he had been drinking about a week, [when, as] his father was about to leave home on a three weeks journey & took him one side & expostulated with him about his course, told 42 him he would die a miserable drunkard - When the Judge returned to his home, no one bade him come in, all was still, & when that father had effected an entrance into his house, the first object that met his eyes was the corpse of his daughter stretched upon the floor - she had been shot through the heart - & as he stepped along he saw, in another room, his son, cold in death, but with countenance distorted & convulsed, as if great agony had been his, Upon [exami??] that, horrified father came to the conclusion that the son, after finding that he had murdered his wife, destroyed his own by opium - 43 Think you that wealth untold, can give to that bereaved Father the comfort, the peace, the joy that might have been his, but for this abominable, accursed Liquor Traffic"? -- One more fact & I will have done -- A newly married pair, at the South, had lived together [but] a short time happily. Soon the husband began to drink, & in two years he became a miserable drunkard, - One night he returned home at a late hour, & found his wife in a flood of tears - With an oath he commanded her to dry her cheeks. She could not. - she ventured to remonstrate - he 44 rose in fury & struck her to the floor - With a sharp knife he gashed her flesh, & leaving her half dead, he fled - In the morning, friends came in & found the wife insensible, & her babe playing in the purple blood, & when they uttered exclamations of horror, the child held up its little hands covered with its mothers blood, & wept - Friends, does the responsibility of the Rumseller meet such damages as these - will [they] it give back to that orphaned child it's mother - ah, No! - No! And, now will not every man, woman, & child cry out, give us the Maine Law. 45 Down with the Liquor Traffic Voters, Now is the time to commence your work of preparation for the next election. Now is your time to organize your "Leagues," (heven bless their originator), to see to it that the present law be fully enforced, that the right sort of Maine Law men are nominated & voted for, until a majority of Temperance Men shall be sent to Albany, who will enact the Law; & then see to it, that the Law so long fought for, & so valiantly won be as gloriously sustained. Transcribed and reviewed by volunteers participating in the By The People project at crowd.loc.gov.