The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-01-08
The Press and Banner
ABBEVILLE. =. Q.
Wednesday, Jan. 8, 1890.
Some Talk About Prohibition.

Some Talk About Prohibition.
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Is very
pronounced in It's criticism OF the act OIL our
Representatives IN the General Assembly
whereby the prohibtory law of this county
was repealed.
or course, If the members Of either House
had interposed objection, the Legislature
would not have enacted n law which Is pure
Iy local. and which Is SO contrary TO the re-
Gently declared wishes OF the people.
In discussing the license question, ana tht
violation OF the prohibitory law, certain facts
should not be forgotten.
/. That there are large number OF citizens
who conscientiou believe there Is no mora
wrong In opening places for the sale of whis
key.
2. That the saloon influence in every
town Is more powerful than the influence
OF all the churches within the radius where
saloons may be chartered.
8. That the money influence of the whiS'
key trade Is perhaps not surpassed by tue IL
nancial power OF any other Branch OF pusi
ness. Even the voice of those who oppose the
saloon is often hushed by reason Of the react
ing influence which prohibition sentiments
carried TO extreme, would bring 10 Dei''
against them in business way.
4. The chief and radical crying evil con
nected with the license system lies In the iac
that the town receives the license fees. Ihcs'
fees are, so TO speak, q kind OF sllent'-pu
none the less powerful-appeal TO seil-inter
est, in the warping of moral principle, anC
in the smotherlng of conscientious principles
The poor man is told that the commutattol
for road duty will be one or two dollars less l.
we have licensed bars, and he IS quieted-tht
bars can't hurt him individually. The same
man would resent with great force and indlg
nifty, the direct offer of bribe Of one or two
dollars, but nevertheless the silent anu intan
pible dollar does the work none the less eilec
lively.
The same silent appeal Is made TO the prop
erty owner. II his taxes arc high, he feels tha
the town ought to have the license fces-hc II
sure whiskey will be sold anyhow.
"DRY" TOWN COUNCIL.
A majority of the members Of the present
town council, we believe, are opposed to j.
censed bars-in other words, it is dry
council But they feel as II they have not hat
:aat moral support, which they should re
CelVe-8nu 80 We ustNC again. ifSS''S~ ''>''' -
Abbeville.
WHY THE pRoHIBIToRY LAW WAS REPEALED
In the first place. some of our mem
bers in the General Assembly may no
favor prohibition. While in former years
II took yards of petitions to induce the mem
bers of the General Assembly to allow Tho
people 10 exercise their right to vote on tht
subject, vet petition from gentleman Of tho
village is OF sufficient influence to repeal The
Law. although d counter petition was also SEN
from the same place.
WHY THE pRoHIBIToRY LAW WAS NOT ES
FORCED.
The temperance people of the county are, II
great measure, to blame for the violation q
The prohibitory law in the fact they have
made ne effort to have II enforced. Livery la"
must remain dead letter unless there is ain
pie provision for Its enforcement The law a'
1t stood. practically made it nobody's business
to see that it was not violated. In
stead OF repeating the law, we needed faith
full effort to enforce the provisions of the pro
hlbitory enactment.
THE WAY TO ENFORCE THE LAW.
To enforce the law, we iced an officer whose
business 1t shall be 10 ferret ont md punish
offenders, Just as the General Government
looks to the enforcement of the law against
selling tobacco and whiskcy without license
We neod q law which shall hold the town
council responsible for It's enforcement, and
punishable for neglect of official duty.
We need law which will punish any man
for having In his possession United States
license 10 sell whiskey in Il town where the
State laws forbid its sale. The fact Of having
such United States license should be consider
ed as sufficient evidence of a violation Of the
prohib!tory law, and should he punishable.
The most corrupt and the most shameful
practice connected with the license system
should be abolished-that is, the putting OF
the license fees into the treasury Of the town
granting the license.
Does any one suppose that petition would
have ever gone from the town of Abbeville
praying for the overthrow of the Will of the
people, II the license fees are paid into the
treasury OF the county. where they justly and
properly belong?
COMMON ERROR.
On all occasions we hear from anti prohibi,
tlonlsts that the country people have no right
to interfere with the town affairs. That is
true enough in a matter of purely a local con.
Germ. but we submit, when applied to the sale
Of whiskey, q moro preposterous or more ab
surd proposition was never made 10 an
intelligent public. Every citizen OF Alb
beville county Is interested in every
foot of its territory, and besides this, il
the country people think we ure debauchins
the male members Of their families, or setting
temptation in the way OF weak brethren, they
not only have right to protest against the
evil, but 1t is their bounden duty to do what.
ever they can TO abate 1t.
AN INJUSTICE.
Various OF the Colleges In this State claim
exemption from the same influence of the
lot Of humanity. AS we understand, they de-
sire and do have rs far as possible, their stu
dents exempted from all temptation to drunk.
enness. That OF itself is all right. No man
on the face Of the earth more readily asSents
consent to the removal of whiSkey from the
Colleges than does the Iress and Banner We
feel proud to know that the students of any
College are far removed from the presence of
whiskey. But we do not understand why one
mans son is more sacred than another. The
may 60 10 College, and he will be shielded and
carefully guarded from temptation. But, on
the other hand, the struggling youth who