The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-29

I which exist here, calling attention 10 the
abuses which have arisen, and asking leg
. islatiOn to restore to the state the rights
of which the supreme court 5 decision has
robbed it, and the enactment of such laws
as will throw the necessary restrictions
around receiverships. Since the last de
cision of the court the situation has be
come intOlerable.
THE DISPENSARY LAW.
The governors discussion of the dis
pensnry law is interesting. He
says that the act was hurriedly
prepared, with no time to dis
cuss it, and was a compromise between
the prohibitiOnlsts and the temperance
people, who were skeptical as to the prac-
tica bility of a prohibition law. This
hurry in its preparation and enactment
left il with many crudities and omissions.
The governor says that, considering the
change in the purpose of the act, and the
lack of time to debate and digest its
various provisions, it is wonderful that it
has thus far stood the test of the tempest
of litigation which it has ocCasioned.
In the state the dispensary law says
the governor, has been, and still is the
one absorbing, never-ending topic of dis
CussiOn, and it has produced some cOmical
alignments and alliances in the efforts to
Obstruct and defeatit. Newspapers which
have always fought prohibition, and
those known as the organs Of the whisky
ring, have suddenly become strong advO-
Gates Of prohibition PrOhibitionists who
are so radical in their views that the I'M
charitable call them 'cranks," have been
found shoulder to shoulder with bar
keepers and whisky dealers in opposing
it and while many eminent divines have
lent it their aid and Endorsement, others
are bitter in its denunciation. The
whisky men are more bitter in their OPP
position to 1t than they have ever been
towards prohibition
ALL IN ONE CHANNEL.
All the legal whisky traffic has been
turned into one channel flowing to Column
bia, the central distributing point. Agri-
cultural Hall large twostory building
with cellar, thus making three stories
1877 feet by 80 feet, has been turned into a
bottling works 1t is only a question of
time when the erection of much larger
quarters on the railroad will be necessa-
ry tifty-fOur employees. working ten hours
each every day are kept busy bottling,
and we find ii almost impossible to keep
the local dispensaries in stock, and that,
too, when l think it safe to say that not
more than one-half the liquor being drunk
in the state at this time has passed
through the dispensary.'
The dispensary has been more than
! self-sustaining, and the net profits to the
state for the first four months have been
S32, 1876 The gross sales to consumers
have been $3.50, O4356: total expense of
state dispeusary, 81, 56636; of
county dlsp ans3ries. $3.50. The
three principal items of ex-
| pense are freights bottles and the
| constabulary. During the month of July
| Twenty-Five dispensaries were running
| in August thirty September forty
seven; in October fifty-one One has
been discontinued, leaving fifty in opera
ton. The number of clerks to dispensers
! and assistants is twenty-four The salar-
! les of those local officers have been fixed
! by the state board and range from 81 ,OOO
| to $500 per annum. Where the magni-
| tude of the business requires it the dis
! penser is given one or more assistants,
! but in no case is the salary more than
! 81 900
! 1t is safe to say, says the governor, that
| If the towns cease their unreasonable and
senseless opposition, and three-fourths of
the liquor, which, under any conditions
will be consumed by the state, shall pass
through the dispensary, the revenue of
the towns will not be decreased from
what it was formerly that the counties
will receive as such, and the state will
receive a revenue equal, at least to both
of these.
| The governor presents table showing
/ blldb lIuLl ItpOIlS ItttlNtu liOIl thirty
| three towns there were 2S1 arrests for
! drunkenness during the first three months
! of the running Of the dispensary, as
! against 57 for the same period in 1892
and 13l during September of the dispen-
sary year, as against 23l the year pre-
| Yious.
THE CRY OF BLOOD MONEY.
Some fanatical people cry aloud against
! the iniquity of government sharing in
| the "blood money as they term it, the
tears of women and children, whose faith
! ers, husbands or brothers are addicted to
| the use of whisky. Men who are com
! PEELED to GO in the daylight and get what
| liquor from government officer and then
| go elsewhere to consume il, will be likely
| to go home and be within the restrain
! ing influence of that charmed circle
The governor suggests that it might be
! best to except domestic wines from the
! general operation of the law. He SAYS
| that owing to the crude methods of manu-
| facture there is small demand for these
wines. He says, too, that il would be
| misfortune to have the growing of grapes
and the manufacture of wine, an industry
| just beginning to take root along the
| Piedmont and in other parts of the state.
| destroyed by the dispensary law as it
! will be unless this suggestion is adopted
The governor says he is inclined
/ " III lin lIldl IL W III Ut5 Ill lilt INTEREST
| temperance to except beer from the dis
| peusary law altogether upon certain con
| ditiOns, TO wit: require licenses under
/ such stringent regulations as will ensure
| only men of probity and good character
obtaining them. Put the beer seller I'M
| der a Sl0000-bond for the strict observ-
/ ance of the law; the conditions of the
band to be such that whenever satisfac-
| tory proof has been adduced that he has
/ sold anything else than beer or broken
/ the law in the least particular, the bond
| shall be forfeited in the most speedy and
/ sure manner that the law can devise. The
beer saloon can be closed at any time the
| general assembly may sec proper
/ The governor asserts that there is no
| remedy for the condition of affairs in
/ Charleston and Columbia but to provide
for system of metropolitan police to be
appointed by commission. He SAYS the
/ police stand idly by and see the law bro
ken every day, and when constable ar
rives in town they spot him and report it
/ to those who run Illicit saloons He
asked the mayor of Charleston to have
the police aid him. but he declined on the
ground that the duty had been imposed
on the state cOnstables. OF the 1900
spent for constables, nearly half was
/ spent in Charleston. The governor says
that either the metropolitan police should
be established or the board of control
/ should have the power TO designate such