The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-08-02
WORKS LIKE A CHARM.
EFFECTS OF SOUTH CAROLINA's
DISPENSARY LAW.
With Governor John Gary
Evans-0rder Promoted, Intern
perance Decreased and Revenues
Added To-A Plan For Other States
to Consider.

COLUMBIA, S. c., July 6-South
Carolina in law is neither a prohibition
nor temperance state, but it is i'm
possible for an observant stranger here
not to be impressed by the good order
that everywhere prevails, as we'll as by
the difficulty he will encounter in get
ting his matutinal cocktail from any
other than its legal source of supply.
whisky may be purchased by the
pint, gallon or barrel, yet from the
s'aaboard to the mountains you will
not find an open barroom. Even the
druggists fight shy of a doctors pre-
scrlpt1on that has the smell of toddy
about it. You must get what you
want from official headquarters.
The state is the boss barkeeper 1t
furnishes all the liquor sold and reg
ulates the price. County officials are
the clerks, and college professor does
the ng-chemically, of course-to
determine the amount of liquid deviltry
contained in the various quantities OF
the liquor sent out.
AT the executive mansion the other
evening | asked Governor Evans for
an explanation of such an anomalous
condition Of affairs in a state which
one of his predecessors had made ia
nous by his frequent reminder TO the
governor Of North Carolina that its
a long time between drinks
It's not difficult matter to under
stand he replied. The whisky prob
lem stared us in the face, as it has
done every progressive state in the
Union, and some solution of it seemed
imperative. Prohibition was out of the
question. That is a utopian idea and
will remain so, in my judgment, as
long as the national government re-
CARDS whisky as a legitimate article of
commerce. You may punish men for
destroying life, limb or the property
of others, but you cannot legislate the
taste for whisky out of an old topper
any more than you can jealousy out of
the human heart.
The question arose, therefore, as to
the best manner in which the drink
ing habit could be regulated and its
cause removed. In other words, how
could we prevent, first, the habit from
being formed by the young citizen;
second, how could we check drunken
ness and its concurrent evils, and
finally, how could we satisfy the thirst
of the old topper without killing him
and keep him within reasonable
bounds?
I'VE solved it by passing an act, now
known as the dispensary law, which
brought the manufacture, importation
and sale of liquor directly under the
control of the state. This was in 1892.
but it has had a hard road to travel
ever since. The courts have fought it
with their decisions and the people with
their rifles and shotguns. At first it
was experimental and crude We were
blowing up new ground, and we made
mistakes. Now, however, 1 venture to
say that if the question of its repeal
were submitted tc the people the vast
majority, speaking through the bal
lot box, would utter an emphatic No
But l have heard" said the writer
that 1T interferes with the personal
liberty of citizens
"Only in one sense replied the gov
namely, that by closing the
barrooms and restricting the sale of
liquor to the public dispensaries. a
young man cannct. get into saloon,
get staggering drunk and disgrace
himself On the oElter hand, any per-
son in good standing, without regard
to COLOR may buy from the public dis
Densary all the whisky he Graves, and
he will have the official assurance that
it has been analysed and is chemically
pure. But ne MUST Drink IL III pr
waite.
Most outside dealers recognize the
value of this Endorsement by the state,
and the best manufacturers in the
country compete for our custom. -
But is not this private drinking de-
to both races?" inquired
the writer.
MY answer is that since the passage
of the law crime has decreased so per
cent. Again, the temptations offered
to the youth of the state by the saloons
have been removed. Billiards, pool and
faro banks have gone, and tie barkeep-
er no longer has his accustomed pull
before and during elections
What becomes OF the fund that ac-
crues to the state from its sale of this
liquor?" was asked.
1T educates our children. Since the
beginning of the operations of the dis
pensary law its net profits to the state
amounted to nearly $244,000 By a wise
provision OF the new constitution the
income from this source, after the pay
ment of the constabulary and of eX-
penses in the enforcement OF the law,
must be applied to the school fund-a
handsome contribution OF nearly $780,
300 a year for educational purposes, to
raise which the people would other
wise be taxed