The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1893-12-26
Legislative Letter.
COLUMBIA, S. c., !
Dec. %. 1893.


The General Assembly adjourned at
IL o'clock or Whereabouts to-day after
the usual all might, ding dong, drowsy
session during which fifteen or twenty
members in the lower house and'half n
dozen Senators "hulled out" laws as
small boys hull c~hinquepins in Septem-
Der.
Everybody is glad, " the public
printer and a few especially fond of the
per diem feature, that it is over. Since
The 18th of November one community
in particular and thousands of people
intelligent as we'll as patriotic have
stood in fear and trembling at what the
legislature in it's mad career of refawn
would do next. 1t is n fact that many
people realize the utterly destructive
and regardless tendencies of rcfawn
and they hail with delight the cessation
of the l~awmaking panic. They know
what it means to business n feel that
in the intervals between sessions.
The State is comparatively safe from
the mischievous hand of the dictator
upon whom the majority of our people
SO mistakenly dote.
| must demur to the opinion express
ed by some of my brethren of the anti
Tillman press that the session of the
Legislature accomplished little and that
the little was all bad. On the other
hand [ believe that q great deal was
effected and that while in the main it
was of a kind to cause the State to
blush hereafter there wore few meas
ures enacted which will surely make
for the common good. The worst, most
~discouraging and, I sorrow to say it.
most noticeable feature in the-delib.
'~erations-was that some spirit of NAL
evidence of white men to work white
men which was a stranger in South
Carolina until the star of Tillman be-
gan to rise. 1t was as plain as it has
always been that a class of shrcwd,
artful and impudent politicians appre-
ciate that there are honOrs and emolu-
ments in store for their ilk Just so long
as they can keep alive dissension and
mutterings of discomfort. 1t was part
~ for that unworthy purpose that q
continuous assault was maintained on
Charleston. That live old town was
b~eleagured and prosecuted by her nat,
ural friends with the same logged and
annoying p~ertenacity that she has
formerly been compelled to suffer from
her direst foes. If it was not the same
kind OF warfare 1t nevertheless seemed
to be distinguished for narrow spite fan
more malignant and contemplate.
In very truth I believe that the leg.
1slature did the state good service in
the passage of the new dispensary act
it was remedial procedure of the high.
est order. Such a law the IN il
goes into fancied operation will put
every free South Carolinian on guard.
1t so ruthlessly and openly attempts to
fitch freedom and invade the rights
that the eyes OF the people will be
opened. They cannot hide from them
selves that it is a half concealed and
reckless plot to engraft upon our insti-
buttons q monopoly of trade in liquor
whose managers and servants and at
taches gloat in the prospect of gaining
complete and lasting mastery of our
political machinery. Think of it. Dis
pensaries placed, if the county boards
OF control wish it, in all incorporated
owns. What does it mean and where
will it end? Fifty dispensaries are now
established, perhaps in a year there
Will be five times or ten times the num-
Der with more, more, more to follow
An army Of dispensaries and dispense
~ clerks. Members of the county
boards go forth with their friends on
election day in bands like the locusts
of Proverbial lore. Millions of money
in it. Money to be earned and pilfcred
inside and the barrels of distillers and
brewers outside bidding for a pull with
the administration" Country people
able to get drunk at every flag sta
ton and hamlet within one and
three or five miles Of their doors in
stead of only at the Court House as in
the old barroom days. In the mean
time a p%ittancc in revenue going to the
State to support ''girls' colleges" while
the public conscience in thereby hard
ened and scared. Must it not all even
tuatc in corruption, foul degradation
and moral ruin to the people unless
they rouse themselves to the situation
and begin to fight this insidious foe
already Herculcan in its unnatural in
FAINT strength. | do not e~xaggeratc
the picture. 1t is not time vet to
charge corruption. Chief Dispenser
TraXlor appears and doubtless is an
honest man. AS yet the state traffic is
relatively small and inconsequential.
In a few days now it will take on q
larger, an enormous growth. If the
people who become interested i'm the
scheme prove able to withstand its
temptation and in tire course of a few
years are not depraved Their the record
of human frailty for sixty centuries
will have beer belied and to say the
least the Devil of ~Covetousncss may be
considered as chained.
Again, / believe that the legislature
did well in the passage OF the county
government bill. THE ADVERTISER
has for a long time advocated this law
and believes now as before that it will