The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-04-22
A NOVEL EXPERIMENT.

South CaroIina'S New Liquor Law-what
1t Provides-A Fair Test Demanded.
PITTSBURGH Commercial Gdsette.
The workings OF South Cardinals
lately adopted liquor law will be
watched with interest not only by all
her sister states, but by every civilized
nation in existence. 1t is for this con.
tinent an entirely new mothod OF state
dealing with the drink question. and
the result Of the experiment must be
positive success or complete failure.
The enactment is decidedly irou-clad.
All bar-rooms are declared public nuis-
ances and must be treated as such by
the officers Of tho law. The keeper OF
nuisance OF this character and tho DILL
GERS who neglect to abate it are liable
to tine and imprisonment. All intoxi-
eating liquors consumed within the
state must be dispensed originally from
state dispensRry, and the official dis
penser must be a total abstainer. lie
shall sell to county boards OF control
liquor which has been pronounced by
the chemist OF the South Carolina col
lego entirely free from adulteration. In
dividuals wishing to purchase liquor
from the county dispenser must pre-
sent written application and may DO
refused il it appears that the applicant
is q drunkard, minor or stranger. The
state dispenser is an appointee OF tho
governor, and the county dispensers arc
appointed by the state commissioners
and hnnnl ~ ,nNEr1l Tho 1n,v 4
that all officials engaged in the work OF
dispensing liquors under tho new sys.
TEN shall DO men OF excellent character,
and the county dispenser must receive
the endorsement OF q majority OF the
freehold voters oil town or city in
which he lives. Dispensers are salaried
officers, and theontireprofto thosale OF
liquor at each county dispensary is
equally divided between the county
and the municipal corporation inwhich
the disponsary is located. Sunday other
restrictions and provisions render the
law one OF the most complete in Con-
struction ever placed upon the statute
books OF any state. Whatever may be
claimed for the law it IS doubtful ii this
wholesale engagement OF the state as
such in the liquor business will have a
moral effect favorable to the cause of
temperance in that state. 1t is doubt
full also whether the requirements Of
the law in regard to the moral Charac.
ter OF dispensers will be generally com.
piled with. II it should not be, tho
position OF dispenser would afford
almost unlimited opportunities for
mischief. Under the restrictions
placed upon the liquor traffic
the temptation to engage in Illicit han.
ding OF such goods, especially in The
border counties, will be well nigh ire
sistIble. The new arrangement can
scarcely be kept out Of the realm OF pol
tics, and once there, corruption is GER
tain to creep in. That under some
what similar arrangement the evils OF
intemperanco have been modified to
some extent in Sweden and Norway by
no means insuros the success OF the plan
in South Carolina, rs tho very great
difference in the character OF tho popu.
lation OF tho districts compared must
be considered. However, as South Car.
DINA has chosen to make the expert.
ment with the eyes OF the world upon
her, tho test should DO an honest one
and the actual rosultshould be honestly
announced.