522 



MAINE. 



The following table will show what the but- 

 ter-factories of the State did during the year 

 ending July 1, 1886 : 



Live-Stock. A census of the State was taken 

 for 1886, with the following result: 



Manufacturing. The following table shows 

 the value of the lumber-products of the State 

 in 1885 and 1886 : 



Political. The Republican State Convention 

 met at Lewiston on June 9, and nominated 

 Joseph R. Bod well for Governor. The follow- 

 ing are the chief declarations of the platform : 



That the Morrison tariff bill reported from a Demo- 

 cratic Committee of Ways and Means, and supported 

 by the great body of the Democratic members of Con- 

 gress, aims with apparently special malevolence to 

 injure the material interests of Maine. By its pro- 

 visions all the manufactures of Maine are deprived of 

 a protective duty ; the farm-products of Canada are 

 to be admitted to free competition with the farm- 

 products of Maine ; the lumber of Canada to free 

 competition with the lumber of Maine ; the fisher- 

 men of Nova Scotia are put on a better basis than the 

 fishermen of Maine ; and as a fitting climax the ship- 

 building interest of Maine is to be broken down by 

 admitting foreign-built ships to American registry 

 free of all charge or duty. In short, so far as Maine 

 is concerned, the Morrison tariff bill aims to promote 

 foreign interests instead of home interests. We 

 therefore denounce the action of the Democratic State 

 Convention in approving this bill as traitorous to the 

 leading interests of the State. 



That the Democratic representatives in Congress 

 who propose to surrender the free market of the 

 United States to Canadian fishermen, while Canada 

 prohibits American fishermen obtaining in their wa- 

 ters reciprocal privileges, are guilty of an act which 

 is at once illogical and unpatriotic; an act which 

 must have originated in sectional malice or have been 

 the offspring of ignorance. If consummated, it would 

 certainly result in the total destruction of the fishery 

 interest of the United States on the Atlantic coast. 



That in the judgment of this convention, no manu- 



facturing establishment in Maine should extend the 

 length of a day's labor beyond ten hours. 



That this convention recommends that the next 

 legislature of the State shall enact a law prescribing 

 fifteen years as the earliest age at which children may 

 be regularly employed in factories, or some kindred 

 law calculated to guard and protect youth of tender 

 years. 



That we commend to the next Legislature a careful 

 revision of the labor system in the State Prison, to 

 the end that the labor of the convicts be so adjusted 

 as not to come in competition with the honest calling 

 of any citizen of the State. 



That the Eepublicans of Maine now, as heretofore, 

 indorse and approve the law for the prohibition of 

 the sale of intoxicating liquors. The law and its sev- 

 eral amendments were enacted by [Republican legis- 

 lators, and this convention now declare, in answer to 

 misrepresentations in many quarters, that the general 

 effect of the prohibitory law has been beneficent and 

 has proved in a marked degree helpful to the cause of 

 temperance in Maine. It has largely reduced the 

 consumption of alcoholic liquors, and has in many 

 ways contributed to the moral and material welfare 

 of the State. 



That the Eepublicans of Maine, having cordially 

 and in good faith contributed through their senators 

 and representatives to the enactment of the civil-serv- 

 ice law, sincerely regret that under a Democratic ad- 

 ministration of the Government its efficiency has been 

 greatly impaired, and that its destruction is now 

 menaced by a bill pending in the Democratic House, 

 reported from a Democratic committee. 



The Democratic State Convention was held 

 in Bangor on June 2. Clark S. Edwards was 

 nominated for Governor. The Prohibition 

 State Convention met at Portland on June 16, 

 and nominated Aaron Clark for Governor. 

 The following is an abstract of the platform: 



We express our gratitude to God for the progress 

 thus far made in this reform, and we tender 

 thanks to the citizens of Maine, including the W. (J. 

 T. U., who aided in securing a constitutional prohi- 

 bition of the liquor-traffic, temperance text-books in 

 our schools, and such laws against the sale of alco- 

 holic beverages as we now possess. The impressions 

 of thousands of candid observers in every part of the 

 State, the records of our courts, the deposits in the 

 savings-banks of Maine as compared with other States. 

 the small proportion of taxes collected by the United 

 States authorities for the sale of liquor in Maine, the 

 total destruction of the manufacture of alcoholic 

 drinks in the State, and the vast increase of sentiment 

 in favor of total abstinence, may fairly show that 

 Maine leads in this reform, and is a quarter of a cent- 

 ury ahead of license States. 



It affirms that both parties contain a new element, 

 which will not allow the enforcement of the prohibi- 

 tory law, and that such a law ought to be enforced, 

 while it is part of the organic law of the State. In 

 the principal cities of the State there is no impartial 

 enforcement of the law. The Republican party re- 

 gards the work thus far accomplished as its utmost 

 effort for prohibition. The Eepublican party is afraid 

 to enforce the law. The vote for prohibition is not 

 simply local, but its influence will be wide ; and en- 

 courage States now struggling for prohibition. We 

 aim at the application of Christian principles to poli- 

 tics, the doing away with vituperation in political 

 contests, the abolition of polygamy, the better con- 

 dition of Indians, and of the colored people at the 

 South. 



The State election, which occurred on 

 13th of September, resulted in the success of 

 the Republican ticket. The vote was as fol- 

 lows: Republican, 68,891; Democratic, 56,272; 

 Prohibition, 3,873 ; scattering, 17. Four Re- 



