A Reader.
Answer.—The answer to your second question would fill one or two columns of our paper, and we must, therefore, refer you to the Secretary of State, Madison, Wis. The following is a list of the present State officers:
| Governor, J. M. Rusk | $5,000 |
| Lieutenant Governor, S. S. Fifield | 1,000 |
| Secretary of State, E. G. Timme | 5,000 |
| Treasurer, E. C. McFetridge | 5,000 |
| Attorney General, L. F. Frisby | 3,000 |
| Adjutant General, C. P. Chapman | 500 |
| Superintendent Public Schools, Robert Graham | 1,200 |
| Secretary Agricultural Society, C. Babbitt | 2,000 |
| Commissioners of Lands, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and Attorney General, ex-officio | |
| Insurance Commissioner, P. L. Spooner, Jr | 3,000 |
| Railroad Commissioner, N. P. Hanger | 3,000 |
| State Librarian, J. R. Berryman | 1,500 |
| Chief Justice, Orsamus Cole | 5,000 |
| Associate Justices, W. P. Lyon, H. S. Orton, David Taylor, and J. B. Cassady, each | 5,000 |
| Clerk, Clarence Kellogg, $5 per day and fees. |
The terms of the first four officers named, and of the Superintendent of Public Schools, began Jan. 2, 1882, and will end Jan. 7, 1885; the Adjutant General is appointed by the Governor, as is also the State Librarian; the Secretary of the State Agricultural society is elected by the board; the term of the Insurance Commissioners began Jan. 5, 1882, and will end Jan. 5, 1885. Your first question has been answered recently as well as we can do it.
MAINE LIQUOR LAW.
Mt. Ayr, Iowa.
Please tell us what the Maine liquor law is, and its effects. Are the Prohibitionists generally satisfied with the law?
M. J. Donahoe.
Answer.—The “Maine law,” briefly stated, is this: The sale of all intoxicating liquors shall be controlled exclusively by a special agent, appointed by the State; and he shall superintend their lawful sale for medicinal, mechanical, and manufacturing purposes. All other persons are prohibited from selling any liquors, except unadulterated cider and wine, and from manufacturing for unlawful sale. The authorized commissioner, violating the law, shall be fined not less than $30, and imprisoned for not more than three months. A common seller shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $250, with imprisonment for from three to four months. Any one receiving injury from an intoxicated person may sue the one who sold the liquor. The lessee or owner of the saloon is also liable. As to the effect of the law, we quote from the address of Governor Dingley to the Legislature, in 1875: “The statistics (in the Attorney General’s report) show that during the past year, in the Supreme Court alone, there have been 276 convictions, 41 commitments to jail, and $30,898 collected in fines under these laws—more of each than in any other year, and four times as many convictions and ten times as many fines as in 1866, when the general enforcement of these laws was resumed after the close of the war. It is significant, also, that during these nine or ten years of gradually increasing efficiency in the enforcement of the laws against dram-shops, the number of convicts in the State Prison has fallen off more than one-fourth.” Governor Sidney Perham, in his message to the Legislature in 1872, says; “The present law, when it is enforced, is, so far as I can judge, as effective in the suppression of the traffic as are other criminal laws against the crimes they are intended to prevent.” And Governor Chamberlain, in his message of 1870, said; “The laws against intoxicating liquors are as well executed and obeyed as the laws against profanity, unchastity, and murder.” These are a few of the testimonies given to the efficiency of the Maine law. As a rule prohibitionists are satisfied with the efficiency, but not the sufficiency, of the legislation. Still the cause of temperance has been greatly aided by the Maine legislation, and the progress has probably been as great as could be expected.