The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-12-25

bokbleInenCN with the dispenser are DuScu On
such requests, and oil unused or mutilatod re-
quests must DO returned or accounted for.
A dispenser cannot sell a drop OF liquor unless
II has been furnished by the State Commits
sloner. The State Commissioner ia the sole
Wholesale liauor dealer In the state. rs the dis
7ensers are the only retailers, the moonshiners
and blind tigers alone excepted. No distillery
can be conducted without q permit from the
State Board Of Control. Licensed druggists
and manufacturers OF proprietary medicines
must &C to the dispensers also for their sup
plies. which they can procure at lower rates.
but their gale rs Intoxicating drinks is pro-
hibised strictly. There may be clubrooms.
but there shall be no liquors in them.
"A liquor resort outside OF the law Ia de-
clared to be q common nuisance and provi-
sion 10 made for its speedy humiliation.
Search warrants are often resorted TO. Illicit
liquors are everywhere subject to c~onflsca-
ton. Any constable. Sheriff or policeman
may seize them. All liquors on the railroads,
except dispensary liquors. are considered
contraband. and the penalty 10 severe. A
person who handles contraband liquor at night
may be sent to prison for twelve months. A
wagon. cart or boat engaged in carrying con-
traband liquors Is promptly seized and confis-
GATED. and common carriers become subject
to heavy fines. The law provides for the APP
pointment by the Governor OF State constables
and State detectives. 1t is n stringent opera
tive act. fortified at every point by provisions
growing out OF a battle that covered six years.
giving the State q monopoly OF the liquor traffic
within State lines. and therefore its control.
regulation and profits.
As soon as the act became a law the battls
over 1t began. IL was begun with rifles and
shotguns In the hands OF tho liquor sellers and
their agents. and ut first the best efforts OF the
State we're bafled by determined opposition.
especially In Charleston county: and Just when
the new policy had been written In the organic
law and public sentiment had turned in Its
favor and the people had refused to allow
whiskey to be sold for medical. pharmaceuti-
cal and mechanical purposes''-in other words.
to abolish the law-Just when. too. the Illicit
traffic in whiskey had been almost starved out
and the United States licenses had been de-
creased 40 per cent. then 1t was that a new
enemy arose III the guise Of interstate CON-
merce. Judge Simonton OF the United States
Circuit Court in his view of the law practically
took charge OF the whiskey business In the
state. He was unheld by the other Judges Of
that United States circuit. Injunctions sue
ceeded shotRuns and blind tigers. and 30 zeal
ously was the Simonton idea conducted that
the State was soon filed with Original pack
age" shops and the Jaw was suspended largely.
Its advocates say that because The law did
uOL utCihTe I1uU IllO SAFE OF RtTOnR drinks
was against the morals. good health and safety
of the State, Judge S!monton held that the law
was an interference with interstate
and therefore void as against shipments from
outside the State lines. He held that whiskey,
for example, from other States could sbe
brought into South Carolina, stored there and
sold there in Its original packages and that he
o1uld restrain and punish any one who en-
deavored to carry out the law of the LeGisla-
ture. The bars Of Charleston were thro wn
wide open and 20. T. shops soon appeared in
every part OF the. State. Judge simonton
reached his Vandercook decision by gradual
steps. but in that decision he practically took
charge Of the liquor business OF the State. I'm
broken packages from another State OF all sizes
not less than one-half pint could be imported,
stored and sold without limit. He really re-
pealed the Dispe.sary law. Original package
dealers sold whlskey 10 minors, to drunkards,
and they also sold from ragons on public high
ways. Under this dispensation South Caro-
lima became a wlde-open State.
The Vandercook case was appealed by the
Acknowledgement of the State. and In March
last the United States Supreme Court decided
that nothing connected with the manufacture,
purchase or sale OF liquors was outside of tho
domain OF the police power of the State. Liquor
control In its every phase was declared prac-
tically to be a proper exercise OF the police
power OF a state. A sovereign State can regu-
late or prohibit the sale of liquors within her
bounds as may seem to her best. The vic
tory was 50 complete thai every 20. p" shop
closed it's doors forever after the decision was
made known, shipping its goods out Of the
State. 30 1t happened that the Dispensary
law. although 1t was passed in 1892. did not 90
into full effect until March. 1898. There is
not an 20. P" shop in the State; there are
comparatively few blind tigers. and the dis
pensary system has more friends than It ever
had before. and all declare that IL has come to
stay. All efforts against 1t now look not to
more whiskey. but to prohibition. The chances
are. however. that the dispensary will be re-
tanned. thus becoming the fixed policy Of the
Stute.
The friends OF the law do not assert TINT 1t
will reform drunkards. They know II will not.
The object OF the law may be said to be two
fold-to. prevent boys and young men from ac-
outing the drink habit and to eliminate as n
public spectacle drunkenness. The thirst of
the confirmed drinker-the ~toper-cannot be
reached by law. physical or moral. Death
seems to be the only cure In such cases. The
law has no other notable feature-it dissolves
tho firm OF Ararice & Appetite. Tho ava
rice of the LIQUOR dealer no longer exists In
South Carolina. That member OF the firm ia
dead. At no place Is anything dependent
upon sales. J.essened sales are expected.
Salaries. instead of commissions. are paid.
In October. 1897. circulars were addressed
! to the clergymen OF the State. asking their OBJ
servations of the operation OF the law. theh In
ia tlal operation only on account OF Judge
SlInonton's injunctions. Out Of 4O3 who re-
sponded. 1924 said there had been decrease
In drinking Of 40h per cent. and n correspond
ing decrease In drunkenness. The number
of cases tried In Mayors courts has been de-
creased OF per cent. The consumption Of
whiskey has been reduced ~ 6-7 per cent.
There were last year ninety dispensaries In
The thirty-three counties Of the State. Charles
ton had eight dispensaries, Columbia three.
Grsenyille two, Sp%artanburg two, and sum.
merville two, leaving seyenty-three for the
rest OF the State. no other town having more
than one dIspensary. md most of tho counties
having only one.
VhasO disnensaripN utterly take Dway Lhe