St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-06-30
The STATE SALOONS.
The State Of South Carolina
Is Now in the Beverage
Business.
A Description Of the Novel
Device to Promote Tenn
perance.
Gov. Tillman Will Officiate in
the Capacity Of Chief
Bartender.
The Dispensers Swear They
Will Not Furnish Goods
to DrunkardS.

COLUMBIA, S. c.. June 29.-Three
times in the last century the state
of South Carolina has attracted the at
tention of the world by originating bold
and unique experiments in govern
ment.
Back in the '30s she startled the
Union with her sensational attempt at
notification. Thirty years later she
led in the fatal secession movement.
Today, after the lapse of another three
decades, the state is about to inaug-
urate the most novel departure in liquor
legislation this country has ever known.
On July the Evans dispensary law,
enacted at the last session of the gen.
eraI assembly, goes into operation. By
the provisions of this remarkable
measure, for the first time in the his
tory of the American Union, the
state assumes the functions of the
rumseller. "Dispensaries" will take
he place of the saloons. The bartender
will make way for the "0fficial dis
penser." The corner grocery with bar
room attachment, the club sldeboardS.
and even the festive cocktail itself will
be no more. In their places will be the
state saloon and Strlight whisky. The
LIQUOR traffic will contine, but instead of
regulating it the commonwealth will
conduct it.
1t goes without saying that the
passage of a law as radical as this has
agitated the Palmetto state from end to
end. For months it has been the fore
most topic of discussion liz the press
and from the pulpit. around the fire.
side, at market and at meeting place.
Foryears the prohibition movement
has been growing in South Carolina.
During Gov. Ben sTillman's first adj
ministration the prohibition leader was
Representative l.. ID. Childs, of Column
bia, through whose efforts the Childs
bill, an ironclad prohibition measure,
came very near being made law.
Rebuffed by the Legislature. the pro-
hibitIonists determined to appeal to the
people. They procured from the state
Democratic executive committee the
privilege of placing on the day of the
general election at the polls an extra
box, in which the people were to record
themselves as for or against prohibition
legislation.
When the votes were counted those in
lIlC lIIlldGiNO WClO iutS Clr Al iiiS liza
iority, and in most cases the representa-
tives elected held themselves as bound
to vote accordingly in the legislature.
Early in the session bill to prohibit
the sale and manufacture of liquors i'll
the state was introduced. This bill was
overloaded and spun out to unreaSOna-
BILE length, but it passed the house by a
large majority.
Then the storm broke. There we're
indications that the passage of the bill
by the senate and its approval Dy the
governor would seriously damage the
Tlllman administration. The governor
had the devil in front and the deep sea
in the rear. The reform legislators
wanted prohibition and they didn't
want it. They were anxious to do
something to satisfy their constituents
who demanded such legislation, but at
heart they diStruSted its wisdom.
In this dilemma the dispenSary bill
was devised. 1t seems that in the town
of Athens, Ga, after series OF local
option battles, in which the two factions
were alternately victorious, plan was
hit upon whereby the bar rooms were
closed and the municipality sold or
dispensed" the liquor.
Larry CAN'T. then editor of the Column
bia Register, the Tillman organ, had re-
Gently come to the state from Athens,
and he is said to have informed Gov.
Tillman of the operations of the dispen-
sary there. With that cue,the governor
called together his advisers, and the
Evans bill, so-called after Senator
Gary Evans. of AikenSiwho offered it as
a substitute for the original prohibition
measure, was devised.
The States Big Barroom.
The state dispensary, from which the
county dispensaries are to be supplied,
is in Columbia, in the famous old Agri-
cultural hall, one block from the state
house.
The big cellars of the dispen sary are
now stored with some six carloads OF
bottles and TASKS, which fill the rear,
while at the front are the wine rooms,
also literally stocked.
Or the first floor is an immense pile
of barrels filled with whisky. Near
these are three mammoth casks. of
capacity Of $4,000 gallons each. When
the work of bottling begins the barrels
are taken up stairs on an elevator. placed
over a tank, the bungs taken out, and
the whisky allowed to flow through
pipes into the casks. After this the
bottles and TASKS are filed therefrom
by machinery. corked by machinery,
and sealed and labeled by girls and
boys. Twenty women and fifty or sixty
boys are employed in this work.
The dispensary is amply provided
with apparatus for washing, drying and
corking bottles, the machinery being
run 10y twelve-horse-power engine.
The dispensary will begin operations
with a stock valued at S3d0,000. The
appropriation is only one-siXth that
amount, but there is no trouble in pro-
curing credit. This amount is aIpor-
toned as follows:
Rye and bourbon, 100000; corn, S50,-
0G0; beer. $4,000; wines, 25,G00; gin,
rum, champagne. $4,000; equipment,
$4,000; brandies, $4,000; older grades
of whisky to mix in blending with the
commoner grades Of rye aud bourbon,
$4,000. All the liquors received is of
the most tender age, not a barrel OF 1t
being made prior to May l.
The state commissioner is D. Ii.
TraXler, OF Timmonsville, successful
merchant, whose wife is one of the fore
most workers in the prohibition cause.
Gov. Tillman declares that the state
will clear half million dollars by the
experiment the first year. 1t is posi-
BILE, however, that when July comes
there will be very few dispensaries in
operation. The law requires that in
yr1pv TIT t-uoId tho edre of a common VISITING