The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1895-01-29
SAM JONES ON DIsPENsAR1Es
What He Thinks About Them--He Has
Been Studying the System in South
Carolina---He Pronounces the
Plan as Better Than the
Omen Saloon.
Open Saloon.

Plan as Better Than the
Open Saloon.
The good people of Georgia, Tennes-
see and other States are now demand
ing of their legislatures such laws as,
in their judgement, will conduce to the
restriction or determination of the
whiskey traffic within the borders of
these States. The legislature of Geor-
gia has under discussion now bill to
turn the liquor traffic over to dispen-
saries, and seems to be hanging fire a
little.
It has always astonished me that
when legislation against this, the worst
enemy of God and man, is proposed,
how some men will stand up in re-
spectacle audience and ask for time to
deliberate and time to ponder and time
to discuss a question that any man
with sense enough to go in out of
shower of rain could settle by walking
the streets of Atlanta, Ga, or Nash
vile, Tenn, from 2 o'clock in the morn
ing till 10 o'clock at night and watch
the ingress and egress of saloons and
determine in moments time that the
open saloon is the open gateway to
hell.
have no patience with the ''wise
statesmen" and Conservative poll
ticians" who want to mature their
thought and act in the best interest of
humanity whenever temperance legis
tion is suggested by their compeers.
have just returned from hurried
trip through South Carolina. spent
one day and a night in Sumter. In
company with one of the pastors in the
city I visited dispensary. I went
through it. 1 saw it.
The dispensary of Sumter is a nice
store room in the centre of the city,
with all the bottles and demijohns
labeled and sealed sitting upon the
shelves. AT the front door of the dis
pensary there is a place cut off with
pickets, something like an insurance
or real estate office, about ten feet
square. This is the only part of the
building the public can enter. Liquor
is sold by the dispensary keeper, from
haIf-pint bottles to four gallons and
three quarts to any individual. Itope1s
at seven in the morning and closes at
six in the evening. There is no loafing
or drinking, or treating within the dis
pensary.
AS bad as this may be, it is thou
sand per cent. better than the open
saloon with its hangers on, with it's
young men going to destruction and
then old buns making it their rendez
vous. am no advocate of the dispen,
sary. 1 have fought whiskey in all it's
forms for fifteen years. I fight under
a black flag. show no quarters to,
nor ask any quarters of, the whiskey
traffic. 1t has left it's scar on me. 1t
has invaded the precincts of the homes
of my loved ones and made some oi
them wear the stripes.
am conscious of the power of the
whiskey traffic. I know how parties
and politicians tremble when the whis
key traffic shakes it's fist. know itE
power to lobby. know its power tc
7 buy. Whenever and wherever any
State in the Union shall have an un
purchasable and unbulldozable legis
lature, then we shall have laws for tht
protection of home and we will gel
. such legislation as will retire the whis
key traffic, or exterminate it.
know it is source of revenue *
the States, cities, towns, but it is {
most solemn fact that whiskey hal
never paid it's way anywhere. It takes
more to police it, to control it $50 called
to punish it's offences and it's criminall
. than it ever paid in revenues to any
3 State or to any com immunity.
{ know that the closing Of the saloor
3 dispensary does not shut off the whis
! key traffic. It is an Internal species o.
lawlessness and the crowd who traffic
in liquor will sell liquor until they arr
In hell a,frying, but we must acknowl
l edge the fact that wherever blind tigers
1 live they are reflection upon every
3 sworn officer and disgrace to tht
. prosecuting attorneys, grand juror
/ and judges whose duty it is to arraigr
3 and punish them.
Wherever you find blind tigers yoU
3 Will find that perjury camps all around
t them, and verify believe that any
; man who will buy and drink blind
? tiger liquor will swear to lie in any
3 court as black as perdition itself,
We may talk of election laws and
t fair elections and all that sort of a thing
+ but nine-tenths of the debaucherv ot