The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-10-28
THE DISPENSARY REPORT
The Legislative Committee Recon-
mends Reduction OF Stock and
Other Changes inthe Management.

The Legislative Committee Recon-.
mends IL Reduction of Stock and
Other Changes inthe Management.
The Legislative examining commit
tee has made its quarterly report on
the State dispensary to the Governor,
and attention Is called TO several mat
ters OF more or less interest. Tho re-
port is as follows:
COLUMBIA, S. c., Oct. 20, 1897.
TO His'lIxccliency W. Il. Eilcrbe, Gov
SIR: The committee met on Monday,
Oct. IS, and proceeded to examine the
the books and financial transactions OF
the State dispcnsary for the quarter
ending Sept. 80, 1897.
The stock .! liquors. and supplies on
| hand WAS tn ken on Oct. | by Mr.. j. b.
| Douthit, representing the board of con
troll, and MIR. !. p. Thomas, IT., repro
senting this committee. The amounts
Of the various inventories taken appear
upon the statement Of the assets and
liabilities hereto attached. All the
stock and supplies were actually ex-
hibited and counted and valued except
certain goods In transit, invoices OF
| VII ioil had been received by tho book
keeper and entered upon his books dur
ing the month Of September. The orig.
lnal invoices Of these goods, to wit:
36O barrels OF whiskcy and 50 cases of
whlskey were exhibited, amounting to
$50, 291.OS. These goods were counted
as on hand and included in tho inven-
tory.
The balance sheet Of the State dis
penSary for the quarter ending Sept.
80, 1877, and the statement OF assets
and liabilities, and. tho statement of
profits and losses were checked by the
books. We append to this report copies
OF these statements and also copy Of the
cash statement for the quarter. There
appears upon the statement Of assets
and liabilities under the head of "un-
earned profits" &i5, OBI Il. This item
consists of the estimated profits on
goods shipped TO the county dispensers
and unsold. 1t has been the habit for
sometime to estimate these unearned
profits and make an entry OF them. We
recommend that the practice OF csti-
mating the uncarned profits be abOl-
ished, for the reason that the same are
uncertain and misleading.
We have examined the original in
voices of all liquors and supplies pur-
chased during the past quarter and
also all vouchers for disbursements
made We find the books and entries
therein correct, according TO the record
and data furnished u.s.. The State
treasurer report shows on Sept. 30th,
1897, balance Of cash 1n State treasury
amounting to 1878, ,530.G1. According to
the cash book OF the State dispensary
the BALANCE Of cash amounted on that
day to $69, S73.24. There was, therefore,
on'thatdsy IS, ,657.37 more in the State
treasury than was called for by the
books of the State dispcnsary. The.
warrants drawn prior to Oct. and Aap>|
paid amounts to 1861 33, According to
itemfzed list furnished us by the book
keeper. Yhis makes the difference be-
pycen the State treasurer and the State
dispensary $6.0l. At our last report
this difference was $1G Of. This amount
ls. now reduced to $G. OF by the payment
of warrant No. 39, drawn in April,
io90, which warrant has heretofore
been accounted for. q,
We hsve. examined the matter OF in.
surance ON local dispcnsarics and find
that the amount OF insurance runs from
10 to 20 per cent. Of the stock on hand
If the policy OF insuring local :dispen-
saries is to be followed, then, in our
opinion, the insurance is inadequate
and should be increased.
we lnd that the present law rcquiI cs
that all dispensers give 81 uniform bond
OF vi, 900. We find that some OF these
dispensers carry over $1,000 in stock,
and in many cases the bonds Of So, 900
Is totally inadequate. We, therefore,
recon- mend: that the amount of the
bond required be increased in those
cases where large stocks are carried.
We find that the stock Of merchan-
disc At the State dispcnsary and in the
hands OF local dispcnsarics on Oct. |
was over $350, 900. In our opinion the
business OF the dispensary could be as
protitably and as economically con-
ductcd with large decrease ia the
stock. If this policy were pursued the
profits to the school fund would be
realized much quicker
RESPECTFULLY submitted,
ALTAMoNT. MOSES, Senator.
JNO. u. THOMAS,
G.. r. ID. BURNS,
|. Mem bers of Houso