Henry S. Clubb, The Maine Liquor Law: Its Origin, History, and Results, Including A Life of Hon. Neal Dow (New York: Published for the Maine Law Statistical Society, by Fowler and Wells, 1856). Clubb was secretary of the Maine Law Statistical Society.
RESULTS OF PROHIBITION IN MASSACHUSETTS.
P.221: The cause of prohibition has long agitated the State of
Massachusetts. Various experiments have been tried in legislation,
such as restricting the sale of intoxicating liquor to large quantities
or to a wholesale trade, so as to prevent the dram-drinking which
was doing so much to destroy the character of the inhabitants
as well as the lives of the talented and ingenious men and women
of this highly gifted State. But all these attempts at partial
prohibition failed to remove the traffic. There were some parts
of the State, however, as will be seen, where the temperance feeling
has long prevailed to the extent of refusing licenses. . . .
In 1852 a bill, similar to that of Maine,
passed the Leg-[p.222]islature and became law. It was being gradually
enforced throughout the State until 1854, when the Supreme Court
of the State . . . pronounced some clauses of the law unconstitutional.
This defect, it is believed, has been remedied in the law approved
April 20, 1855.
. . . . . .
No better proof of the thorough prohibitory character of the Legislature
and Executive of this Commonwealth [controlled by the Know-Nothings
who won every seat in the legislature in 1854] can be furnished
than the fact that they have recently enacted a law far more stringent
in its provisions than the former. . . . This shows there is
a strong majority in the State who are in favor of complete prohibition.
. . .[p.223] The traffic in the cities, as well as the country
towns, is now doomed to its deserved annihilation.
STATEMENTS OF THE REV. T. N. [SIC] HIGGINSON.
The one foundation of the law is its supposed usefulness to the
community. This alone has induced the labor and sacrifice which
it has called forth. But the law is a mere machine an admirable
machine, but a machine still. It can not execute itself; and where
its friends are remiss, or its foes overpoweringly strong, it
can not do its work. The expected results do not follow, and hence
the law appears ineffectual, and becomes unpopular. . . . Towns
like Lowell and Springfield, where the law has been enforced with
energy, stand more favorably to it than at the time of its passage;
while it has lost favor only in places like Boston, Charlestown,
Newburyport, and Roxbury, where the public and private influences
have combined to prevent a fair experiment being tried.
The influence of the present determined inaction of the Boston city government . . . has been widely felt through a large part of the state. It has lent the authority of a great city to a system of bold evasion, and done much to relax the consciences of public officers generally. . . .[p.224] The spread of Boston example is not so bad as the spread of Boston rum. . . . from the great fountain of sin in Boston every railroad forms a conduit, by which the contraband article finds its level in many a country hovel, parlor, or bar-room. . . . With the line of Worcester County this influence stops; and hence in the four western counties the operation of the law has been most efficient and most popular.
. . . It is one of the merits of this law that a few resolute men, sustained by the moral sentiment of the better part of the community, can in most places insure its execution. . . .We caution the friends of good order . . . [to] form themselves into a vigilance committee to sustain the public authorities, if desired; or if not, to do the work in their own way, provided they can find a single reliable justice and constable. We are acquainted with one town in Worcester County where a committee of twelve citizens has held weekly meetings ever since the law took effect. They have made, or caused to be made, five seizures, of which four have been successful, and the fifth is still pending; and the trade in intoxicating drinks may, for the first time, be considered as suppressed in that town. We commend that example to the friends of temperance generally, believing that the law will be best enforced where private energy is greatest, and that it will be most popular where it is best enforced.
. . . The unlawful trade has been in some cases many cases annihilated; in many cases it has been only driven into secret retreats. But what a blessing is even this! How many does it save from the beginnings of vice, which is most attractive only when it becomes reputable. No law can annihilate sin, but only diminish it by making it disgraceful. Law has not suppressed licentiousness or gambling; it has not even suppressed theft and murder. . . . The friends of the Temperance Law only claim that it is doing its work as rapidly and thoroughly as can reasonably be demanded of any law which has a moral purpose in view; and it is only more important than these other laws, because it lies at the foundation of them all. Its results are not more numerous; they are only as numerous, and far more valuable. [from Address of the Massachusetts State Temperance Society, January 21, 1853]
[P.252] WORCESTER
COUNTY
. . . Perhaps there is no more difficult class to control than
the Germans, and next to them the Irish, who form combinations
among their respective countrymen to evade the law, and to defeat
the ends of justice by either refusing to give evidence or swearing
falsely. This is the case in many parts of Worcester County; but
the more stringent law just passed is expected to reach even these
difficult cases. In other respects the law has been pretty well
enforced in this county, and even the evasions alluded to are
carried on privately, and do not assume the character of public
sales.
[p. 255]WORCESTER
CITY [from Rev. T. W. Higginson, Unitarian,
formerly President of the Worcester Carson League]
We have chosen a new city government [in December 1854 the Know-Nothings
won complete control], which seem [sic] to be more active in suppressing
the liquor traffic than its immediate predecessors.
The Carson League, under the date of October
2, 1854, has reported, as a result of their labors, the following
cases:
Convictions, 25 single sales, fines and costs . $562 51
5 common sellers " " "
" 549 56
$1,112 07
Cases continued 15 single sales (if convicted), say . $200
- 7 common sellers (if convicted) 750
$2,062 07
Add to the above the fees paid by liquor-dealers
to their counsel in these cases, which probably vary from $10
to $20, and we have a total sum, from $2,800 to $3,000, as the
cost to these violators of law. Nearly all this work was done
by the Carson League, in about four months, at a cost of about
$300 to the members; and the only reason by they have not
done more (except for the temporary absence of their agent, Mr.
Stowell)* has been that
they had no more money to spend. . . .Several houses have
been entirely broken up, including one of the most notorious for
rumselling, gambling, and gross licentiousness. . . . .The first
operations of the League created a terror among the liquor-dealers,
leading to a whole system of concealment. Those who are dissatisfied
with the mode in which evidence has been obtained, are not probably
[sic] aware that the choice lay between that evidence and none.
If they are aware of it, they must decide for themselves the
question, whether to leave the liquor traffic unchecked, or to
have purchases made, for the purpose of obtaining testimony. The
simple fact is, that the Carson League is a voluntary police,
and no police operation could proceed a day without resorting
to such means as are here employed. It was very unwillingly that
the officers of the League were convinced of this; but being convinced,
there was but one course to pursue, and they have pursued it.
But they have taken as much care as possible to employ no agents
without careful inquiry into their habits and purposes; and it
is believed that [p.256] no one has been employed who has not
acted under a sincere desire to serve the cause of temperance.
[February 24, 1855]