The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-02-12
A Protest from Pious People and Tie
Preachers.

P~FcaclerSs
COLUMBIA, s. O., February 4.-The
Gospel Temperance Union Of this State,
which is said to have at its back -four
hundred ministers Of the Gospel" has
taken up the fight forthe re vised dispen--
sary law. The members to-day received
circulars setting forth the reason why the
Union wanted the ~dispensary law so
amended as to prohibit revenue and the
sale of liquor for secramental, medicinal
and scientific purposes only. The petit
ton reads:
The memorial of the Gospel Temper
ance Union of South Carolina respectfully
presents to the General Assembly OF
South Carolina that it is an organization
composed OF" citizens of the State, having
for It's object the suppression Of the liquor
traffic. In pursuance of this object the
executive committee Of this organization
have prepared q bill TO amend certain Sec
lions Of the existing d%ispensary law;
which is now before both Houses Of the
General Assembly for your consideration,
These amendments propose to elimi-
nate any profit further than necessary 70
enforce the same; and further eliminate
the %dispensary of Intoxicating liquors as
a beverage, SO that they shall be only
sold for medicinal, mechanical, and sac
ramental uses.
These amendments represent the wishes
of the Gospel Temperance Union OF
South Carolina and the Christian senti-
ment of the State.
We make this appeal for their adoption
for the reasons following:
l. These amendments are such as Will
put the. dispensary law in lasting favor
with the best and most law-abiding pee
pie of our State.
2. The law,.as amended, will have the
hearty support in its enforcement of the
conscientious citizens and lovers Of So
briefly.
8. IL will allay the discomfort of Prohi-
bitionists and others If intoxicating IL
quors are no longer sold as a beverage,
as there are many who think the State
has no right to sell it as a beverage.
4. II such amendments are adopted as
will unite the good people Of the State i n
giving their moral support to the enforce
ment Of the law the Illicit sales will ne
cessarily, be decreased. sch changes
will in nj wise affect the provisions OF
the act regarding its enforcement, all
such provisions remaining in full effect.
S. The sale: of liquors will then be as
much or more under the control of the
State than it could possibly be otherwise,
inasmuch as good or better men could be
secured to act as officers in the dispen-
sary, and no church could refuse to keep
q member in good standing who held
such an Office, which ia not the case now,
6. AS the Act now stands we find the
State with q law under which no consist
emit church member can accept an Office,
and an institution Of the State upon
when he cannot invoke Code blessing.
Z. The law, in its present shape, Is par.
ticularly objectionable, because it pro-
vides that the State shall do that which
the Church has said cannot be done with
out sin.
s. 1t humiliates, debases and destroys
public conscience in receiving for educa-
ton hush money-the price of the eternal
ruin of immortal souls; such money as
the Series and Pharisees who purchased
the Saviour's blood refused to receive
which returned to them by Judas is
CARROT.
9. It is further Objectionable because it
gives the gloss of responsibility to a traffic
that uIndermines society, demoralizes its
victims, impoverishes its citizens and be-
comes responsible for q great majority Of
the crimes and the constant ipfraction of
the laws Of the State.
10. The sale of intoxicating liquors as g
beverage by individuals or by the State,
never being right, no good man can con.
sistently do other than protest against any
legal approval ofthe same.
I'll. The ~dispensary law makes every
citizen 3 stakeholder, sharing in the pro-
fits If there be any, and in the liabilities,
which are certain. See Habakuk, 2:l2,
Is, "Woe to him that giveth his neighbor
drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and
makest him drunken also. Woe to him
that buildest q town with blood and;
estsblisheth q city by iniquity." This
being true, the State has covered with
shame all Of her citizens, instead of pro-
tecting them from such dishonor asa true
mother would her children.
IL. The present law antagoniZe5 the
church, good society, makes criminals
and law-breakers of her citizens, as no
man filled with liquor Is any longer q
law-abiding citizen, but is q fit subject
for arrest for drunkenness, if not for dis.
orderly conduct, and for crimes he Is
very liable to commit.
ID. These amendments suggested are
not political or partisan in their nature;
they are the demands made by the great
Christian Church Of our State, which
can not be silent without sic, and which,
In the name of her communicates and by
her Gospel Temperance Union, appeal
for deliverance from the hnholy alliance
into which she, as q part of the States
citizenship, has been forced to participate.
IA. This appeal ia also made by the
Gospel Temperance Union In the name
Of the 400i ministers Of the Gospel, who
have written the executive committee
that it is their wish to have said amend
rlents made to the present law.
Is. Lastly, gentlemen, we urge upon
you in the name of our God and of our
fallen and helpless brothers victimized
by strong drink, with broken wills, ina
BILE to take advantage Of q Keely cure and
anxious to be delivered; and then we
invoke you, in the name of their broken
hearted and impoverished families, to
grant our appeal, thus removing "the
most prolific sources Of misery and crime
and the greatest hindrance to the progress
of the cause Of Christ" doing what we
think is right, and failing to do which
would be wrong, and forever tarnish The
good name Of our State and fix, perhaps
forever, the greatest Imaginable curse
with the divine sentence of "woe" upon
the citizens thereof. Respectfully,
D. l.. BoozER, President.
IT,. LAMoTTE, Secretary.
Bills have been introduced in both
Houses to carry out the Unions idea.-
SpecinZ tn Mems and Courier.