authorities, and did generally send their stock of liquors out of
the State. The open sale of liquors came instantly to an end
throughout all our territory, and where it continued, it was done
secretly, as other things are done in violation of law. The
manufacture of intoxicating liquors was entirely stopped, so that
in all the State there was absolutely none produced, except cider,
which might be made and used for vinegar.

The effect of this policy of prohibition to the liquor traffic was
speedily visible in our work-houses, jails and houses of
corrections. The jail of Cumberland County, the most populous of
the State, had been badly over-crowded, but within four months of
the enactment of the law there were but five prisoners in it, three
of whom were liquor-sellers, put in for violation of the law. The
jails of Penobscot; Kennebec, Franklin, Oxford and York were
absolutely empty. The inmates of the work-houses were greatly
reduced in number, and in some of the smaller towns pauperism
ceased entirely.

But, during all this time, in every part of the country, reports
were industriously circulated that the law was inoperative for
good, and that liquors were sold in Maine as freely and in as large
quantities as before the law. These false statements were
industriously and persistently made everywhere by those interested
in the liquor trade, and by those impelled by appetite or passion.
It is sufficient for me to say here that the Maine Law, from the
first, has been as faithfully executed as our other criminal laws
have been, though there has been, at certain times, and in certain
localities, considerable complicity with the violators of it, on
the part of many officers of the law, so that the Legislature has
at last provided heavy penalties for the punishment of prosecuting
officers, justices of the peace and judges of municipal and police
courts, in case of failure in their duty. I am glad to be able to
say that the judges of our higher courts have, from the first, been
true to their duty in the administration of this law, as of all
others.

In much the larger part of Maine, in all the rural districts, in
the villages and smaller towns, the liquor traffic is absolutely
unknown; no such thing as a liquor-shop exists there, either open