The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-08-20
ed States Constitution the right to
,pTOh;hit liuuOr traffic ,

ed States Constitution the right +,
prohibit liquor traffic
: 81 want him to answer these ques
tions," Gov. ST. John concluded, land
wonder how a man can come here
, and plead before God and man fol
giving this damnable business the re-
cognition of State"
There was applause for the Governo,
as he ceased. but it soon lost itself in
the enthusiasm which greeted Senator
I1llman as he walked toward the front
OF the stage. The spectators shouted
and applauded, and for several min
utes the Senator was unable to begin
his speech.
Il am glad to be here" he said
particularly as have been slandered
and lied on more than any man south
of Mason and Dixon's line. From what
you have heard and read of me, sup
pose yOn conceive me to be something
between an anarchist and an idiot
want you to take look at me and
see If am as black devil as L have
been painted.
"Gov. ST. John and 1 are here to
discuss in a friendly way an abstract
question of government. L endorse
every word that Gov. Larrabee wrote
about the liquor traffic. 1t causes
morencrime, pauperism ahd vice than
anything else in the world"
Senator Tillman here read an ex-
tract from Gov. Larrabee's speech. AS
he took his glasses from his pocket he
said:
II have to were these things, you
see, because l have got only one eye,
and have to carry the other old thing
around without seeing anything
through it.
"But Gov. ST. John makes a mis-
take" he continued, "when he con-
founds the saloon with the dispensary
They are not at all the same. | do
not find in anything that he has said
! more than more assertions in proof Cf
prohibition. The question is, is prohi
oition the best method of promoting
temperance reform?
What is temperance 1t is m0der-
alton in the use of the pleasures of life.
What is reform? O, the sins that
| have been committed in the name of
| that word. To the crank it is his spec
ialism, but it is generally accepted
to mean a. nIaklng over for the better.
The question is, how can we teach men
to use intOXicants temperately
Gov. ST. John is Mortified at the re-
suits OF intoXication, but he forgets
that we are aself-governiIg people, and
must have the permission of fifty per
cent. of the people before it can be de-
SioSu UudU uSu nave uOb Gllo rig III W
drink whisky when they want to. He
says there is no licensing in the Bible.
81 fail to find a single instance in
which drinking is prohibited there.
Certainly 1t is not prohibited in Mosaic
law. Men for thousands of years have
indulged in the use of intoxicants.
Ever since they learned that alcohol
could be produced by fermentation.
They feel in their hearts that they
have right to drink, and YOU cannot
convince them otherwise.
Until you get men to belive that
they are better as hypocrites and liars
never persu them that they have
not right to drink. Ii this prohibit
ton had been as great and wise
thing as its followers claim, it would
have been the law of the-whole land
instead OF the exception"
Senator Tillman talked some more
about his d!spensary, and the chair
man reminded him that his twenty
minutes was drawing to an end.
" AS proof that the law has failed
wherever it was tried" he concluded,
you can see that it was necessary,
even when sincere and conscientious
men were trying to enforce the law,
for the States to go back to licensing.
iOWb puIS d ClduSc LII lOS \'ODSOlUuJlOn
forbidding the sale Of liquor except for
medicinal, pharmaceutical and me-
chanical purposes.
What q stretch was given to the
meaning of those words. | know from
my own experience in enforcing the
law how impossible it was to prevent
the evasion of these laws. My expo
rience has taught me that the law must
depend on the governed for its enforce
ment.
'If you have not got a public opin-
ion with you the law can never be en-
forced. Where can you get the jurors,
the prosecutors and the witnesses when
the feeling of the public is so against
them? 1t Is only when the feeling
that the saloon must go is strong
enough to support the speak-easy and
drug store that they win be accepted
as substitutes.
"The United States Government de-
mands u tax from the people who sell
whiskey, and who can deny that there
is license to sell it. How can the
idea of prohibition be obtained when
there is no means of enforcing it This
Is self-gOverning country.
Unless law rests In the will of the
people there Is no power to enforce it,
The Supreme Court says the power
does not lie with any citizen to sell Ii
quor contrary to the police power OF
the State, but this relates to the sell
ing, and not to the drinking"
Gov. ST. John now read some statis-
tics showing how Kansas had increased
in wealth since prohibition became
law there, and how much the govern
ors and other State otficirs, who were
once opposed to it, had to say in favor
of the conditions that exist now.
"Why, in the town / live in," he
said, There are 1000 people, and we
have only one policeman. Formerly
we had 1000 people with two police
men before the prohibition came in.
1--WE haven't had fight on the
street in fifteen years, and everybody
attends to his own business. On last
Grand Army day in Kansas there were
10000 men gathered together. Not
one was drunk. That couldn't have
happened in any State except Kan
saS."
When Gov. ST. John was told his ten
minutes had expired lie took little
more to show how much richer Kansas
was with prohibition than South Caro-
lima with its dispensary.
More in sorrow than anger Sen
atOr Tillman said he regretted very