The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1897-07-21
9maessbn gutelIiaeMeee.
Senator Mayfleld's Temperance Bill.

Senator Mayfleld's Temperance Bill.
In the course Of the last session of
the general assembly of the State
Senator s. G. May6eld introduced in
the Senate a bill entitled "a bill to
forbid and prohibit the importation
and transportation, manufacture and
sale of alcoholic liquors and beverages
in this State, and tc grant local option
to the counties Of the State"
The bill seems to us, after a careful
persual, to be an effort to combine the
desirable features of prohibition, local
option, high license and ~dispensary
regulations. First, there is prohibi-
ton throughout the State, except as
the bill provides. 1t is assumed that
prohibition is the proper attitude of
the State toward the liquor traffic.
But if a county thinks that the sale
of liquors under such stringent regu-
lations as the bill provides may be
carried on with safety license may be
taken out. The manufacturer of alco-
holic liquors and beverages is required
to pay an annual registration fee Of
twenty-five dollars. No mandatory
shall be allowed except upon petition
of the township in which the manu-
factory is to be located.
The bill seeks to eliminate as far as
possible the social features of the
drink habit, adopting in this respect
the regulations at present in force in
the ~dispensary. A strict enforcement
of such provisions will go far towards
a mitigation of the e..ils Of the drink
habit, and conduce in no small degree
to the interests of temperance. Games
and the attractions of the saloon do
much to promote drunkenness and
social degradation.
If a county wishes to have q liccn-
scd vendor Of alcoholic liquors, one
fourth of the qualified voters of such
county as certified to by the county
board of registration must petition for
an election to decide whether or not
such license shall be granted. Only
by a majority vote may liquor be
allowed to be sold in a county. The
person licensed must be approved by
the county board Of commissioners,
and must pay to the secretary of State
the sum of FIVE hundred dollars, in
addition to giving a bond with good
securities for the faithful performance
of his duties. Furthermore, the coun-
ty board of commissioners AMI the
municipal authorities may charge such
fee for license as they please, from a
nominal sum up to any amount, to be
divided equally between the county
and the municipal government. I'm.
der this arrangement the States fee of
five hundred dollars might be the only
charge amounting to anything, while
on the other hand it might be the
least considerable Of the two license
charges. Provision is made for heavy
fines and penalties upon those that
violate the laws in this matter.
The State prohibition feature Of the
bill will be pleasing to all earnest ad-
vocates of temperance. The bill puts
the State out of the liquor business,
and If it is to exist, the responsibility
for its existence falls upon the people
of the county who petition for the
sale Of it. The State permits it when
a county by a majority vote asks for
such a favor. Of course it might hap
pen that many counties would vote
for the sale Of liquor. If they do so,
this only means that prohibition would
in all probability be incfactuali in such
counties. The bill means, therefore,
prohibition to the extent that prohi-
bition is practicable.
For orr part, we long to sec a better
settlement Of the liquor question in
our State. OF course there are diff
culties in the way of local option.
When We have dry and wet counties
side by side, the dry counties are more
liable to absorb moisture than the wet
counties are to become dry. In the
present depraved condition Of human
nature wetness is more contagious
than dryness. Still when the good
people see that prohibition in a county
is a benefit morally, socially and in
dustrially they are immensely encour-
aged. We trust something better
than the ~dispensary is ahead.
In the vigorous and perhaps not
very elegant language of Senator May
field: "The ~dispcnsary is doomed.
Mismanagement, stealing, rebates and
other scandals have dragged it down
until it is now a stencil; besides, the
federal courts have punched a hole in
the side of its structure that it is
bound to 60 down." The great pana.
cea of the temperance evil has been
anything but a blessing to US and a
real remedy. We are fully persuaded
that the public Generalization that
has resulted from the establishment
Of the d~ispensary has more than over
balanced the good that may have been
derived from it's influence upon private
life. We cannot afford to adopt any
temperance measure (the ~dispensary
was never a temperance measure but
from the first an industrial State en-
tcrprise) that debauches the public
and strikes at the roots Of civic virtue,
hoping that Notwithstanding the pub.