The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-01-28


tho fair In Columbia, they were closed,
and but few drunken men could be
found in the city, though tho crowd |
was immense. Tho State can afford |
to lOso profit on such occasions, but
under no system of license has 1t over
been possible to shut the bars. Private
greed Is not to be controlled and here
in lies the great merit Of tho system.
Then the closing of the dispensaries
ing by forbidding tho scaled packages
being opened on the premises. These
threo features are the ones which
mako the dispensary law popular in
spite Of shortages" in dispensers
accounts and "rebates," whether real
or imaginary. Let us try, then, to
perfect the system and punish disbOn.
est dispensers rather than try the old
plan which we know is less conducive
to sobriety and good morals.
Now, in regard to the administration
OF the law and the prevention of fraud
and stealagc, feel suro that an in
vestigation will show that q great deal
has been said about "rebates receiv-
ed by the officers charged with the
execution Of tho dispensary law that
has little foundation but should the
contrary be shown | feel that q system
can he devised or is already in forco
which will free the law from criticism
on that score. My experience In tho
comptroller generals Office satifics mo
that the business can be conducted In
such way as to prevent stealing, or
detect and punish it if the dispensers
or other Cfficors connected with tho
dispensary attempt it. There Is no
guards can not be devised rs will pro-
tect tho States interest as thoroughly
as In the collection and disbursement
OF taxes and other public money. Tho
disponsary has become q part Of the
fixed policy Of tho State and "a long as
our present constitution remains intact
it .is the duty Of the Governor to SEQ
that the laws governing it are enforc-
ed, and it Is the duty Of all law-abiding
citizens to labor for the samo end, or
at least to submit to the provisions OF
the law
believe the dispensary comes near.
er to the solution of the liquor problem
than any other scheme yet propos-
ed by man. 1t may be necessary to
modify the law, but constant changes
are to be deplored. Tho dispensers
should be honest men, selected with.
out regard to party affiliations, and
when convicted of crime should be
handled like other criminals. The
chief dispenser, the board Of control
and all the higher officials shonld be
men whose honesty cannot be rcasona.
bly, questioned, and who should hold
their places on account of fitness and
not for political reasons. An institu-
tion is known by it's fruits, and it is
simply a question whether prohibition
or the dispensary system will do most
to diminish drunkenness and its ac-
companying ills. Upon moral grounds
and only upon moral grounds, the dis
pensary must stand or fall. The pro-
tit feature Is Of secondary considera
ton.
EDUCATION--THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
That 1t Is tho duty of the State to
provide Tor the education of her child
| rem is now almost universally conced-
cd. he belongs to the past and not TO
tho present who hopes to check the
growing demand for popular oduca-
tion. The enemies OF the public school
will find the entire drift of modern
civilization against them. All the
lcadirg nations Of tho earth have
founded, and are still cndeavoring to
perfect, systems OF popular education
Witness Germany with 10 per cent.
and France and Eogland each with
IL IL per cent. OF their population in
the schools. To be rclegaled TO tho
rear is the fate of every State that
fails to provide for the training of her
childrcr.
Witness Spain, oAoo TIC leading
power of Europe, with oolv 10 per
cent; Italy, once tho home Of art and
science and culture, with 8 per cent;
Turkey, at once the shame aud disgrace
OF Europe, with l-2pcr cent; Mexico,
with l-2, and Brazjl With only 3 per
cent. OF her poDH!atr" at school.
| The whole h 81. .ry JI ii ...... civiliZa.
ton teaches tat, IN the struggle for
supremacy, the sceptre OF dOmiDiOn
| passes not to the State most richly
blessed by nature, but to the State
that best succeeds in training its citi-
zens for all the duties Of life, both pub
tic aud private, in peace and in war.
IN comparison with cold and bleak
New England the South is paradise.
And yet IL must be confessed by all
iair-mlndcd men thnt long before tho
| desolatlng cyctOne OF war had swept
over OUR fair fields, power md do
minion werc a|r,ady passing rapidly
to tho North. Wo were already ap-
preaching q condition of intellectual
| bondage in the South IT has been
estimated by eminent authority that
| this section paid annu lily to tho North,
for many years before tho war, not
less than $4,000 0G0 for books and edu-
cation. When New England ,stab-
lishcd her free public schools aud
strengthened her system OF popular
instruction, she arm I'd herself with the
power TO wrest supremacy from the
South, which was content with pri-
vate and parochial schools, and TO
make good her claim to leadership far
moro cifectually than she subsequently
secured in the surrender Of L,e at Ap-
pomattux
This is said in no harsh CT iticism OF
the generation OF mon now rapidly
passing from the stage, whose courage
and lOrtitude wcro tested on a hundred
hard-fought fields, whose "enorgy
made bricks without straw and spread
splendor amid tho ruins of their war
wasted homes y but for the purpose OF
emphasizing q truth which cannot be
too deeply impressed upon the minds
OF the men into whose hands is COM
mtted tho solemn responsibility of
mon dino tho 1nsfinu nf hn