The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-05-16
TILLMAN BACKS HIS LAW.
NE DEFENDS THE DIsPENsARY SYS-
TyM AGAINST CRITICISM.
uc Tslis or tho GREAT social and Moral REFORMS
winch He Thinks 1Bin Scheme E1as Made Kr-
rcctiVr-south Cnroiinn'n Consumption OF
MhI.LcN Decreased RtftY Per Cent.

W,aIIiSoToN, May 16.-In consideration Of the
nr,.cnt assaults upon South Cardinals dispen.
sary system. Senator Tillman was asked u day
or two ago TO give a statement OF the develop.
ment and justification OF the law from his point
OF view. He said;
"The prohibition sentiment. always strong in
South Carolina, had been growing stronger. and
I, seemed a political necessity in 1892 that some
thin, should DO done to recognize II. Accord
,nvly. In August Of that year, in order TO prevent
=. split in the new Democracy of the State. boxes
verc placed at the primaries and voters were
asked to vote on tho question Of prohibition or
40 prohibition. Strictly speaking, It was not an
IN issue. but an abstract proposition merely.
Prohibition received a little short of 40.o0o-no
rrohibition received a little under 8 10000 (which,
ron SEQ, was q majority Of about 10000 for pro-
bibltion,-and some 10000 voters did not vote at
III. This was a sufficient cue for tho General
Assembly which mot that fall, and a stringent
prohibition BILL, containing what seemed to the
Prohibition leaders to be the best features OF
tho Maine, Iowa, and Kansas laws was put in
n BIO amended somewhat and TO pass the House
,,sily. II did not roach the Senate until a week
beroro adjournment. had pointed out as Gov
crnor the impossibilities of enforcing prohibit
ton, and had spoken Of the dispensary system
then and still in operation in Athens, Ca, as n
possible model for us. Tho consequence was
that Senator John Gary Evans Of Aiken, later
Governor, introduced n dispensary bill proposed
hy myself, with the House prohibition measure
as basis. which was substituted for the House
bill. 1t was rushed through, the House had no
time to amend it, and naturally It possessed
many defects; but 1t has worked better than its
most s~anguine supporters could have believed.
THE State buys and owns all liquors until
they are sold to the consumer. All persons are
forbidden to traffic in any kind Of distilled or
malt liquors, but the State 10 authorized to
establish dispensaries for their sale. A State
Board of Control supervises the business, a chief
dispenser purchases the supplies of liquor and
fls the acquisitions of local dispensers in the
various counties. These county dispensaries
remain open from g A. NJ. to 8 p. NJ. every day
except Sundays and legal holidays, liquor 10 sold
in packages of one-half a pint to five gallons,
and beer is sold in pint bottles. All bottles
are supposed to have the palm etto tree blown
in them and to bear a label with the seal
and the motto Of the State upon It. Liquor
cannot be sold to minors or habitual drunkards,
and the package must not be opened upon the
premises where II Is bought. II a stranger de.
tires to buy liquor or beer, he must be identified
by some responsible local person. He fills out
sn application, giving his age and residence.
end stating the amount which he desires to pur-
chase. without designating the use to which he
intends to put 1t. A person can purchase dis
titled liquor only once n day, but he can buy beer
as many times as he likes in a given day. The
D.spenssry law contains all the safeguards
against the Illicit sale of liquor which the Prohi-
titionists have been able to hit upon in forty
years, and we have learned many others from cx-
perience. Those who want liquor, or who need II,
can get 1t, as free American citizens. There Ii
Lo %pretence at performing impossibilities."
Just how did you find the la W to work r.
Well, it went into effect July /, 1893. The
night before, every bar in the State had closed its
doors. or course, we had been planning for
months to manage SO important q business, but
no one had any idea Of Its magnitude. All of the
legal whiskey traffic Of the State WAS turned to
the capital as q source Of supply. In Columbia
abig hall, 1876 by IS feet and three stories high.
was made the location for the State Dispensary.
Fifty or sixty employees. working ten hours a
day, were kept busy bottling liquor which the
State Chemist had examined and approved. or
course, great quantities Of liquor had been put
IN stock beforehand, and naturally many trains
brought into the State. after the law was
enforced. much contraband liquor. But, crude
'sthe law was, and hard as was the opposition of
The liquor dealers and their friends on the one
hand and Of the crank Prohihitionists on the
other, 1t was admitted to he an almost instant
success. The State Dispensary was soon found
'eb more than self-sustaining. In July twenty
nine dispensarics were opened and running; in
August, thirty-eight; in September, forty-seven;
In October, %ffty-one. The salaries of local Off
Gers ranged from $500 to 81 900 a year. The
cheapest grade of whiskey was sold at 90 a
gallon. In seventeen of our chief towns $40 ar
rests for drunkenness were reported in July
ind August, 80, and only 2s3 in July and Au-
gust, SO. In September, 90, these same towns
reported $50 arrests for drunkenness. and in
September, '93, only 126."
Other results which might perhaps be called
social must have been noticeable Z"
Yes, sir" Mr.. Tillman replied. "A pure ar.
tic!e was guaranteed. and the consumer got full
measure OF standard strength. There was no
CONSIDERATION of personal profit, and hence no
ihuucement to force sales. The bottle was not
ophed on the premises and hence treating was
impossible and the liquor was sold only in the
daytime. Moreover, the appetizlng adjuncts of
he' sugar, lemons. &C.. were absent. The liquor
was sold for cash only, there were no weekly
aaay' ana no took his wages home. There were
Two other great social, improvements. Tho
dives found their business AppSrac tio SIi yS %ipsa o ana
snd the local political rings which usually con.
shorn OF the power usually welded by the saloon.
tteepers; The legislature builded better than it
es "e " so tbpp fi tSs 81 bj IlagG 1Ic was not made high
~ aiso low enough so that the State made no
sreal proht, and what there was went to tho rc.
niiSGt,99 as of ,i the general tax. The profits Of tho
,ould give the money to his family. The nrodt
now goes TO the free school fund. In the old
Siyss At my home at Edgefeld Court House there
So9in be gathered on the sale days in January
s ~ r ,eo r u perhaps eight hundred or a thou
mat anywhere from fifty to two hundred of thGo
IGn you'd go home drunk. On my return to
.tgfneid after the Dispensary law was in on.
,a@tlon attended, one OF these sales. It vast
Teen any where.' """ 70
tho enf5s mms5 h o9 been great opposition to
Il, mere was, indeed. Some citizens in the
nnnS opposed It because their taxes had boen
r"rSnsed by the failure OF license money. Of
iE" ono the liquor deslers and their friends ali
IpVn TO see " fail: Hard as this opposition was,
ill., MntHgonisin, of the old State Officers and
Il ii""pIGG sriends, who had been turned out Of power
W.. y M now regime, was twice as hard; but that
A. Yurely political, and In the face Of the bene.
ei,ye results - or the law all these have been
e,c,r.oo9 SAID that drunkenness had been de-
'""ySea IN South Carolina so per cent"
IA lfb, cir hII1 / nnl