The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1897-07-20
THE POSITION or THE STATE.

THE POSITION OF THE STATE.
Governor Ellerbe Will Seize All
Liquors Where Original Packages
are Broken.
The Columbia Register, in noting
the fact that an original package store
was raided in Florence and It's contents
contiscated by the constablcs, saws
This was the second closure OF the kind
since Judge SimontOn's decision and
indicates determination on the part
OF the State to close up these places
on the least violation of the law as laid
down by Judge Simouton. In this
particular case it appears that the
dealer was closed up on mere tech
nlcality. He was regularly an agent
o! foreign firm, but it appears that
his hall pint measures were not half
plnts according to the dispensary mea-
surement and he was arrested He
was selling in what he called balf
pints, but because they were not up to
the us lal dispensary measurement the
dealer was arrested for violating the
law. From this it is seen that the
State Is going to take advantage of
every possible loopholc and make it
as troublesome as possible to every
vi lSi iudi pdthdBc ucdlcr.
The Governor stated in this connec-
tion that he would certainly order
seized all liquors found in any place
where the original package had been
broken, and by original package he
said he meant the box or other cover
ing in which the bottles came. He
said that he certainly did not intend
that liquor should be brought into the
State and sold unless in original pack
ages, and by that term he means that
certain quantity in II bottle cannot
be taken out Of Il package and sold.
In other words the Governor holds
that each bottle of liquor must be
shipped into the State separately in
orGer TO constitute an original pack
age. lie goes further than that and
says that II bottles are shipped by the
cor load packed in saw-dust or paper or
any other packing that it must be sold
that way else the original package is
broken.
this idea is carried out then the
original package people are not going
TO have any pic mic and the dispensary
VIII have little serious opposition. Thus
1T Will be seen that every possible
techncality will be taken advantage
OF By the State in order to uphold the
monopoly OF the business. 1t is even
held that the order of Judge Simon
ton in the case OF Moore is only a
temporary Injunction, that being all
that was asked for in the complaint,
and that, therefore, the State has
another chance of having the whole
:ling reopened before Judge Simon
ton with the cOnsl qucnt delay which
always attends the settlement Of any
case. 1T is not likely that such IL point
~ II Il e "A
be Il foolish waste OF time and money,
but like Il drowning man every straw
Is being grabbed at by the tate.
While the original package estab.
lishmcnts are sure to decrease the
profits OF the dispensary, yet the
figures show that the decrease has not
been so serious as yet, and taking them
as crltcriOns as yet the dispcnsary
officials are inclined to believe that
ohe business is not to be seriously in
tcrfcred with. For instance it is
pointed out that the business has not
only not decrcas ID since the first de-
cision of Judge Simonton, but has ac-
tually been greater. Taking the
month OF June the showing is that for
this month in 1897. 7,O34 crates OF
liquor were shipped out as against
O,6So Tor the same month in 1896, being
e oiiiO OiCbCc III laVOf Ol Jno present
month OF $40 cases.
Ia the matter of beer the shipments
were 333 and 1913, a difference in fa. Or
o; the month for this year Of 20 bar
rels. Taking the first eleven days OF
the present month the showing is n
shipment of 3,60l cases OF liquor for
1896, as against 1861 for the same
period OF 1897, being an increase OF
sixty-thrce cases. For the eleven DAYS
OF the month in 1896 the beer sales
were 2O2 barrels as against 2lS for the
same time in 1897, an Increase OF six
teen barrels.
These figures are taken by the Off.
cials to be evidence OF the fact that the
original package business is not going
to seriously hurt the dispensary. The
comparison for the year 1897 Is for q
period when the cOnstables were en-
joined, and when in Charleston partic.
ularly, the original package stores
were in active operation. Taking this
as a criterion the officials are OF the
opinion that the dispcnsary will be
able to hold its own. Upon these fig
ures they base the opinion that the de.
cision is not going to materially injury
the dispensary. However the eviden,
intention OF the State to take advant
age OF every point, no matter how
technical and far-reaching it may be
shows that the State does not welcome
the competition and that 1T will do al
it can to break 1T up.