The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-05-26
CAN'T Asks Questions About the
Liquor Machine.

The following is from an editorial in
the Piedmont Headlight of last week:
1t has been frequently charged, and we
believe that a rigid investigation of the
books will bear out the statement, that
during the Traxler regime not one dollar
was turned into the State treasury in the
way of rebates. The past year some S4l,-
600 were collected in rebates, n the
to $780, 900, or more.
Now, we demand to know, and the
people also demand to know, why we're
not those rebates collected, and ifcollected
what has become of the money? If officers
connected with the d~ispensary appropri-
ated this large sum to their own use, then
they should be prosecuted and sent to the
penitentiary. On tho other hand ; If the
rebates were not demanded from the
liquor dealers, then it shows criminal
carelessness on the part OF those public
officers whose duty it was to look after
them. In managing the public business
men should bring to bear the same sagaci-
ty and care as if it was his own affair.
During the period that Commissioner
Traxler was in charge of the State dis
pensary there must have been at least
S1OO, 900 lost to the State and it's people in
rebates alone. Why were they not COL
lected? and if collected, what has become
of the money? Who got it This matter
of rebates involves more than all the
blind tiger liquor and other property
seized in our State since the dispensary
wv went into force and yet while we
hear a great hue and cry raised about a
few boxes of cheap cigars and cans OF
peaches, Jath-like. stiffness prevails
touchingt matter of rebates. There is
no use stopping the spiggot aud opening
the bung hold.
And a matter equally as serious ls the
high price paid for cheap liquors by
Traxler-compared with what the same
goods are now bought for. We are in
~formed--and an inspection of the books
will show whether or not it is true-that
the present board is buying X, XXX and
xxx rye whiskey at from $500 to 81 100
q car load less than Commissioner Traxler
paid for the Identical class of goods and
bought from the anne houses. The bus
mess of the State dispensary amounts to
about one million of dollars a year, and
frequently ten car loads or more are
bought at one time. Now, don't you see
what a leak there is that has been stopped?
There is no telling how much money the
State lost during those years by over
charges This is another matter that
should be Investigated to the bottom, and
then let ex Commissioner Traxlcr explain
why he felt called upon to pay such q high
price. If we are not mistaken, whiskey
is not any cheaper now than when Mr..
Trailer was paying those enormous
prices. 1t will be easy to arrive at the
facts, for every purchase is recorded and
the price paid given on the books.
Taking the rebates and that overcharge
for whiskey the tax payers Of South Car
DINA must have lost something like a
| quarter of a million dollars during Com
| missioner Traxler's administration. Here
is something to be investigated, and 1t
| should take precedence over those cigars
and peaches.
And another thing that should be
looked into: It is a we'll known fact that
| the corn whiskey sold to the country
people by the dispensary-and they are
the principal patrons Of the business-is
only too often as vile a detection as eyer
passed down the throat Of nan. And mo-
only this, but two prices are charged tor
those mean liquors. The consequence is
that a man will not buy dispensary corn
if be can find q blind tiger and moonshine
whiskey. But we can perhaps explain
this drench sold to the gullible farmers.
! A few months ago Dan Tomkins, secre.
, tary of State, in the presence of seyeral
parties, stated to the senior editor ofthe
| Headlight that once the dispensary ran
out of corn whiskey and the people began
to clamor for it. In order to satisfy them
some corn whiskey was manufactured at
the %dispensary and shipped out to the
county dispensers. A short time after
wards some reformer from Lexington
county 1--WE think IL was from lexington
sent Governor Tillman q bottle Of that
manufactured whiskey with a letter OF
} protest, and the governor placed it on a
shelf in the State House. A few morn
! ings after some man came in and asked
Mr.. Tompkins where he could get a drink.
He was given the bottle described, and
after swallowing a big dram remarked
that it was extra fine stuff. B. B. Evans
says that he also heard Mr.. Tompkirs
tell and recite this shameful confession as
q good Joke.