The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-02-15


profess to regulate, it is claimed that a
positive good is secured by it, for which
Prohibitionists have been long work
ing, namely, the closing of the saloon
and its congener, the club room, with
its barroom appendage; that underthe
provisions of this Act it is really in
the power of the majority who voted for
prohibition to say to what extent the
dispensary system shall prevail, and
that the general effect of the Act will
be considerable ''step" toward ulti-
mate prohibition.
1T is WRONG IN THE SIGHT OF GOD.
Moreover let US not forget that our
prohibition movement derives whatever
of force it possesses from the moral
principle that the manufacture and sale
of intoxicants for beverage purposes, in
view of the evils which flow therefrom,
is wrong in the sight of God, aud fear
fully demoralizing to man, and there
fore any law which provides for such
traffic mustof necessity be opposed pro-
hibition. Itmakes no difference wheth-
er the State sanctions the sale by licens
ing the citizen to engage therein, or, as
in the caseof this law, takes the sale into
its own hands. When the State does
this it compromises principle of right
and perverts the purposes of prohibi-
tive legislation, and both principle and
consistency constrain me TO condemn
it..
To what extent, then, do the claims
above stated commend the dispensary
law to the cooperation or support of
prohibitiopists? Ifis true that most of
the provisions of the dispensary law are
taken from the Roper bill without
change, and that thus many of the fea-
lures of the bill framed by your COM
mittee have now the force of law, but
it is also true of the dispensary law that
it makes the sale of liquor as beverage
by the State practically without limita
ton as to use and quantity in order
that the profits therefrom, blood money
as it is, shall go to enrich the revenue
of the State and counties.
It seems to me, therefore, that the
duty of all true prohibitionists will be,
first, to use their influence to prevent
the establishment of dispensaries by
refusing themselves and inducing 9th
ers to refuse to sign the petitions which
are necessary to their establishment
under Section of the Act. The result
OF this course, if successful, will be to
give US real prohibition-no dispensary
no legal sales of intoxicants.
If the dispensary part of the Evans
experiment fails to 60 into operation it
will be because the people who are to
ask for it do not choose to do so, and
this was certainly contemplated by the
authors Of the scheme when they pro-
vided that the dispensers could only be
appointed on "a petition signed by
majority of the freehold voters of the
incorporated town or city in which the
permit is to be issued" Now if these
voters are not to exercise their choice
in this matter, why this provision?
And if they are expected to use their
judgment in the matter, where is the
occasion for Governor Tillman's recent
ly published reflections on them for so
doing, and his implied threat that pro-
hibitionists will regret their refusal to
establish these dispensaries?
The step toward prohibition which
the prohibitionists can see in the dis
pensary law is the possible power which
it gives them to prohibit the dispensa-
ry, which they can do, if in sufficient
numbers they refrain from asking for
it.
BOW TO PROHIBIT-DON'T SIGN.