The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1896-02-12
Temperance Movement.

Editor Cotton Plant: By your invita-
ton given to any 80 to do, I have been
moved to write a few lines in reply to
your editorial on the special temperance
movement now in its fermentive stage by
members Of the various Christian
churches. It might be supposed by those
who have no other sources of information
that this movement Is confined to the NJ.
E. Church, South, as you mention no
| other churches in connection with it.
The fact is that all the churches are ak
pected to- concentrate their strength
| against tho whiskey traffic; and, in my
| opinion, now is the time in this State to
do 80 and the churches have not only
the right, but it is their bounden duty to
push the temperance reform, both as to
use and sale of spirituous liquors.
I was a friend of the Dispensary system
as q means to an end, and that was to
| curtail the evils OF the whiskey traffic.
and especially az a decoy duck by which
| prohibition might this wise easily be
| secured. We can make the present Dis
pensary law almost as'good as prohibition
| by atrictly enforcing its requirements in
the Dispensaries themselves, which is not
done, as you know, by the present al
ministrstion. This is the first object
WulCu suo VI CSOuI lhoSOulOlC udS III Wow
To make the Dispensary worth much
as an agent tending to mitigate the evils
| OF the whiskey traffic, the administration
of it must be in the hands Of friends of
prohibition. To place it in such hands
Is one of the objects of the temperance
movement. I have always c%ontende1
| that the Dispensary system would be 4
| failure so far Az temperance is concerned
unless its main object be to cause as lit
| tie whiskey to be sold outside or inside
the Dispensaries as possible. There
| should be hung up in every Dispensary
in this State a sign reading thus "Touct
not, handle not the unclean thingv' II
the Dispensary law were administered
with this spirit it would be almost as.
good as enforced prohibition. 1t is to
have the law thus enforced that the
present movement in the churches is
made.
The way the Dispensary law is now en-
forced and regarded by the adminiatra-
ton of the law tends more to popularize
the drinking ~ofintnXicants thar anything
| else the State could do. There is much
OF this spirit showed in the State: tit
matters not how much whiskey you
| drink, 30 you get it from ths Dispen-
| ~saries." This has Justly alarmed the
churches and all friends of temperance,
| and we'll they may be alarmed; for the
danger Is appalling. The organizations
| proposed by the churches to counteract
| this spirit are nothing more than common
| rallying points of true Christians to SUBJ
vert a common enemy--the greatest
| enemy of Christian morals that could
possibly find c%ountenance by q Christian
| State.
What you say about the church-the
M. E. Church-being a temperance soci-
| ETY. without additional organization is
true, but it's work can be rendered more
effectual by concentrated effort of the
special friends Of temperance in the
churches to accomplish reforms In whis-
key selling and wbiskey drinking. One
of your objections to the present move
ment Is met by simply referring you to
what you will grant: That it was a good
thing to concentrate the efforts of the
Democrats in what you recognize as the
Reform movement or organization. The
other material objection which you urge
to the temperance movement Is that it
| will prepare the way for the old barroom
system. I feel certain you know that we
can never have the old barroom system
again until there is an amendment to the
| Constitution It will take a t%wo-thirds
| vote of the State to make such an amend
| "SUL duO = GILL oolO bdO NJ IOLl-
perance, many Of whom are friends OF the
Dispe1sary law, can prevent such an
| amendment.
The friends of temperance cannot lose
anything for their cause by organizing to
have the law regulating the sale o%fliquors
in the Dispensaries strictly enforced and
even fighting for strict prohibition, and
| all lovers of morality should lend their
energies to forward the good work.
But you seem to think there are poll
| tics in the movement. Well, ifthere are,
is it anything more than what happens to
| any and every good movement? The
devil will SOW his tares in every good
| field that is opened up to Christian
husbandry; but is that any argument
against opening the fields and planting
the seed !? There were politics in the
| Reform movement, as I do now verify
believe, (though I was one of the first
among the Reformers, and shall continue
to the last among the Reformers, and BY,
| the Reformers now I mean the masses of
| the poor people,) there were politics in
| this grand movement of the people, but
Is that any reason why it should not have
arisen?
The time has come for Christian people
to arise and assert their rights in matters
| of legislation, and I hail with delight the
present movement to which you object.
The Dispensary law needs watching by
| friends Of Christian morality otherwi>e
it will become a greater evil than open
barrooms and they see and realize this.
It can be made indeed a stepping-stone
to prohibition without the least danger
of barrooms being forced upon them, and
the good people are going to soc that it is
| done. Very respectfully.
g. WALTON WHITMAN.
%Jonesville, S. C..