Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/319

Rh MAINE 299 hemlock, and fir, although some oak is found along the coast, and other hard wood growth in the highlands of the Aroostook. The white cedar is common, especially in the low lands in the east and north-east. The hackmatack or black larch appears in the same localities. White and red oak, rock (or sugar) maple, white maple, white and yellow birch, white and brown ash, beech, cherry, basswood (linden), and poplar are the common deciduous trees. Chestnut and walnut are rare, and are found only near the south-west border. The majestic mast pine the heraldic emblem of Maine, which has given it the sobriquet the &quot; Pine Tree State &quot; is fast receding before the demands ruits. of commerce. Of fruit trees the chief is the apple. The plum, cherry, and pear are also natural. The peach thrives only in the south-west border. Species of grape, gooseberry, and currant are native, and others are cultivated with advantage. The blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry grow wild in profusion throughout the State. limate. The climate of Maine, while on the whole cooler than might be expected from its mean latitude of 45 N., cannot be considered severe or unfavourable to health. The summer heats are tempered by the sea and the cool north winds. The winter cold has a constancy which makes it less severely felt than the changing temperature of more southern places. The air is also more dry and pure owing to the snow surface. The average winter temperature is about 20, and remains pretty steadily below the freezing-point throughout the State for at least three months. By reason of the tides and the prevailing off-shore winds, which break up and drive off the ice, many of the harbours are unobstructed the winter through. The summers are short, giving something less than five months between frosts, even in the southern portion, but the heat sometimes rises for a few days to 100 Fahr. The average summer heat is 62 5 Fahr. The lakes and forests of Maine attract great numbers of summer tourists, and the sea-coast is fast becoming lined with the cottages of sum mer residents from all parts of the country. lealth. The soil is well-drained, and the surface swept by sea breezes and winds from the forests and mountains of the north-west, which tend to banish malarious disease. The principal form of disease is phthisis or disease of the respiratory organs, the ratio of deaths therefrom being a little over 27 per cent, of the entire mortality. This has been called the &quot;scourge of New England&quot;; but in Old England the death-rate from this class of diseases is only a fraction less 26 &quot;6 per cent. Wminis- The old United States district court for Maine, constituted in ration. 1779, remains ; and Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island constitute the first district of the United States circuit court. The officers of these courts are a judge, district attorney, marshal, clerk, and reporter. Maine is also a district for the col lection of United States internal revenue. There are seven United States forts in Maine, only one of which, Fort Preble, Portland, is fully garrisoned ; and the United States navy yard, often called Portsmouth navy yard, is in Kittery, Maine. Maine has two senators and four representatives in Congress, and six votes in the electoral college for choosing the president. Tho government of Maine rests on a constitution adopted in 1820, which closely resembles that of the other New England States. It is most liberal in respect to suffrage, every male citizen twenty-one years of age and upwards resident in the State for three months, except paupers, persons under guardianship, and Indians not taxed, being allowed to vote. The governor and legislature are chosen every two years, and the legislative sessions are also biennial. A council chosen by the legislature on joint ballot advises and assists the governor in the appointment of State officers, management of Stnte institutions and lands, granting pardons, and other duties with which they may be charged by the legislature. The judiciary consists of a supreme court of eight members at a salary of $3000, with a reporter of decisions, appointed by the governor and council for seven years ; the superior courts for Cumberland and Kennebec counties, whose judges are appointed in the same way ; as also trial justices for the several counties with jurisdiction in minor cases ; justices of the peace for the county, who are authorized to solemnize marriage, with other prescribed duties ; and municipal and police judges. Each county elects judges of probate and insolvency, and registers of the same, a county attorney, clerk of court, sheriff, and county commissioners. The^ enrolled militia numbers 97,320. The present system keeps Militia. up an elite corps consisting of two regiments of volunteer infantry and one battery of light artillery, with two regiments of reserve infantry. Much pains is taken in the discipline and character of this small corps, and membership in it is regarded as honourable. The entire State militia is by existing orders constituted into one division under the command of a major-general, who is elected by concurrent ballot of the two houses of the legislature. Various reformatory, sanitary, and benevolent institutions are Reforma- supported wholly or in part by the State. The State prison, with tory and an average of one hundred and forty-six convicts, is managed on benevo- the &quot; hard labour &quot;and the &quot;silent&quot; system, at an annual expense i en t of $30,000, which in some years is cancelled by the proceeds of the institu- convicts labour, chiefly employed in carriage and harness making, tions. The hospital for the insane is an extensive establishment, with upwards of four hundred inmates and an increasing demand for more accommodation. The annual appropriation for State beneficiaries here is $40,000. An annual appropriation ($14,000) is made for the education of the deaf and dumb and the blind, and also ($1200) for the care of idiotic and feeble-minded persons in institutions out of the State. The remnants of two tribes of Indians still exist in Maine, with Indians. which the State is in public relations, the Penobscots, numbering about six hundred, and the Passamaquoddies, numbering five hun dred. The former have their chief gathering place on the islands in the Penobscot river, and the latter on the shores of Passama- quoddy Bay and the St Croix river. Though classed usually as civilized, they are still virtually in tribal relations. Their status is determined by a series of treaties from early times, which are a curious mixture of notions of international rights and of wardship. The public policy which has culminated in the well-known pro- Maine hibitory &quot;Maine Law&quot; began with the &quot;Act to restrict the sale of liquor intoxicating liquors,&quot; passed in August 1846. This was followed law. in 1851 by an &quot;Act for the suppression of drinking houses and tippling shops,&quot; and by thirty-nine other statutes directed against liquor selling, drunkenness, and the habit of drinking in the com munity. The manufacture for sale of any intoxicating liquors, except cider, is forbidden. The sale of such liquor by the manu facturer is punished by imprisonment for two months and a fine of $100. Unadulterated cider in quantities of 5 gallons and upwards may lawfully be sold. No person is allowed to sell any intoxicating liquors, including wine, ale, porter, strong beer, lager beer, and all other malt liquors, also cider for tippling purposes, on a penalty for a first offence of $30 and costs, or imprisonment for thirty days ; for a second offence $20 and costs and imprisonment for thirty days ; third offence $20 and costs and imprisonment for ninety days. A common seller on conviction is punished for a first offence by fine of $100 and costs, or imprisonment for three months ; for a second and subsequent offences $200 and costs, and four months imprisonment. A person convicted of keeping a drinking house or tippling shop is punished by fine of $100 and costs, or imprisonment for three months, for a first offence, and the same with six months additional imprisonment for every subsequent conviction. Any one injured in person, property, means of support, or otherwise by an intoxicated person may bring an action for damages against the person who sold the liquor ; and the owner or lessee of the building where it was sold is jointly liable if cognizant of such use. Any person convicted of being intoxicated in the streets or in any house, or of disturbing the public peace or that of his own or any family, is punished by a fine of $10, or thirty days imprisonment, and for the second offence $20 or ninety days. All intoxicating liquors kept for sale and the vessels containing them are contraband, and forfeited to the towns where seized, and are there to be destroyed. _ To pro vide for the necessary sale of such liquors a State commissioner is appointed by the governor and council to furnish to the municipal officers of towns pure, unadulterated intoxicating liquors to be sold for medicinal, mechanical, and manufacturing purposes. He is put under $10,000 bond, and is allowed 7 per cent, commission on his sales. Municipal officers may purchase what they deem necessary of such liquors, and appoint an agent to sell them for such purposes as have been named, and no other. This agent is forbidden to sell to any minor, soldier, Indian, or intoxicated person, or to any person of whose intemperate habits he has been notified by such person s relations or by the municipal officers. It is made the special duty of sheriffs and county attorneys to enforce the provisions of the laws relating to the sale of intoxicating liquors. The history of this legislation is that of laws generally which are enacted rather from the high moral ends which they propose than from the sincere and settled judgment of the legislators, and which do not represent the average moral sentiment actually prevailing among the people in whose name they are enacted and are to be enforced. It was inevitable that towards an issue like this political parties should take an attitude not always sincere. The Maine law