The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-12-23
A FIGHT ON PROHIBITION.
The ELL 10 Repeal the GarnWcli PRO
hibitioa Ell Defeated in the Sen
ate--.The Appropriations.

The bill reported by the judiciary commit
tee to repeal tile Rarnwen County FroElbi-
tory Act, came up for its second reading, sen,
ator Smythe said that it had been lntroducrd
nt the request of the Senator from l~}arnwel!.
The Prohibitory Act had been passed by TINS
body at the instance OF the former senator
(Dr' Lnrtigue) but that gentleman had appear
cd before the judiciary committee TO- state
that the law had failed and to ask lr us re,
peal. nr,,.
ed his argument on the ineilicary of the law.
There were good people on each side. lie
himself had been little interested in the mat
ter, and was no partishn,. but he mad becn
compelled to take this position. The county
Was distracted, the law vas fiagrantly vio!at-
I'd and the administration of justice was cog
ged. What had more effect on his mlild IMAM
ANYTHING else vas an inspection OF the BOOKS
of tie United States internal revenue depart
ment. 1t appeared from these records that in
lSS}, before Prohibition had been dccreed. the
United States issued licenses to twtntT:thrcc
whisk ey dealers in BarnWell County. In ISL,
after the county has been maize dry by Net
of the Legislature, twenty eight United Stlt2S
licenses were ISSUED, and in the seven months
since last May the issue had Increased to thir-
weight. 1t was estimated that only one
laird of the whiSkey sellers had United
States licenses. This was the condition of the
county. He referred to the failure OF the CT
forts to punish Illicit liquor selling.
Senator Moody made Il red-hO: speech in IA
ror of Prohibition, defended it in BarnWeI!
County. praised it IN his W ana prsolc,ea
l. l lVlb R' ~ " NNA
glowing in his pictures CT the peace OF iro-
hibition."
Senator Youmans said that tie presence
here of opposing delegations numbering tweI-
ty.five each would indicate What sort OF
.'ipeace" Prohibition had given Barnwe;l.
senator Howell made Il long argument
against the bill. He read statements ana pc
titions from various town councils and other
aggrcgatlons OF citizens maintaining mat the
law had not been a failure. He declared that
II Of the IS holders of United States licenses
AL o,it III ono u 11yErn1 tJ,nt tho
voice of the people. as expressed by $50 votes
out :, 200 cast at the special election on Prohi-
bition, should not be reversed. 1t would be
very unwise to repeal a law which had done
so much good.
In answer to a question from Senator How
ell, Senator Youmans said that Prohibition
had benefited the morals and order OF the
town of Allcndalc, but merchants said 1T had
cut down trade one-half and decreased the
value OF real estate.
Senator Moody entered upon a very. glow
ing and emotional sketch of Prohibition, in
the course of which he said, in answer to an
inquiry from Senator Slnythe, that he would
most gladly vote for Prohibition for the
whole State.
words Of the bill the vote resulted:
Yeas-Bell. Bobo, C1ker, Earle: Field, How
ell, Leitner, Mccall. Maxwell, Mondy, Munro,
Williams and WingarI-lS.
NayS-Benbow,, Eiemann, Back, Euist,
Byrd, Ciybnrn, liar, Mauldin, Moore of An
OtrSOl, IOole vi l1thlpUtll, 1 ttlNiS'tt
Smythe. Todd, Wallace, Woodw ard and You
mans-l6.
Senator Earle moved to reconsider the vote
last hal and table the motion TO reconsider.
The vote on this was IS yeas, 10 nays, Senator
BenbOw not voting.
The defeat of the bill was something Of a
surprise. 1t can be attributed TO TIE desire OF
several "Anti' Senators to let the existing or
der of things continue without legislative
1neddling. The lobby was full Of Barnwcll
committee men during the fight. The Prohl-
bitionists are overjoycd at their success.
TINKERING AT II APPROPRIATION
1t was half | o'clock when the appro.
rriation bill was reached.
Mr.. Pope was first on the floor, specs in one
hand and an amendment in the other, the OBJ
jective point of his attack in this instance he
ing the College. He moved to reduce the Col
legc appropriation from So 900 to 81 ,0gl.
Col. SimOntOn moved u table the amend
ment, which motion was adopted by u large
majority.
Mr.. Hemphill moved to amend the bill by
inserting alter the appropriation Of $500 for
the State Agricultural Society u proriso that
no gambling, rafting or games of chance be
lowed Oh the grounds.
NJ. Haskell said he didn't object to the
amendment, but he had the assurance Of the
society that they had taken steps to prevent q
recurrence of the evils complained OF. The
amendment WAS olODtpl.