The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1898-07-27
Prohibition Impracticable.


and determined fight to control the govern
ment of our State, but they are fighting
behind the rampant of democracy, and their
standardbearers are conducting court
eous and decent campaign. They appeal
to the sober sense of the voters. and do not
attempt to build themselves up by blnc&en-
ing the character of their honorable oppo-
rents. It matters not what the result
Of our democratic primary, those Prohlbl-
ton candidates have so conducted them
selves as to win the respect Of the public.
They rely for success on reason and argu-
! mept, and not on baseless charges against
their opponents, and do not appeal to the
prejudice and fnctional antagonism.
But the Prohibitionlsts are leading for
loru hope. and every discerning member
of that faction fully realizes this. While
the dispeusary has It's defects, 1t IS new
experiment. and can be changed and mod
i6ed as Improvements arc suggested. Any
law that in one nigkt closed the doors Of
every bar-room in ou- State, and then
sealed them up by o constitutional provis-
ion, is certainly great moral stride for
ward, and the sober-minded people will
give it due and proper credit for the good
it has already done.
That the dispensary has greatly reduced
the evil of liquor drinking is apparent to
every one. 1t is rare thing now to see a
drunken man on the streets, and we do
not know young man in our city addicted
to the excessive Use Of stimulants. While
there is no hope of saving the confirmed
drunkards, under the operations OF the dis
pensary We are certainly raising up set OF
sober, moral young men. The beguile-
ments and entlcements that surrounded
the guided saloons lave been removed
from their path, and there is no tempta-
ton to induce them to enter dispensary.
In fact, the young man who desires to re-
lain the respect and confidence of the pub
tic would not be seen to enter the doors Of
place where liquors are sold. Many a
mother now sleeps soundly at night when
her boy is down town, as she knows that
the temptations of bar-rooms have been re-
moved. This is something to relieve the
minds of the good women of our State, and
to sootLe their pillows at night.
We have tried prohibition, and that has
been found to be utterly impracticable, and
so far from lessening the evils Of liquor
drinking, has resulted simply in exchang-
ing licensed and regulated bar-rooms for
countless blind tiger dens, where the vilest
brands of liquors are sold to whoever has
the money to buy.
When Judge Simonton rendered his first
decision and Governor Tillman closed up
every dispensary in the State, the Prohibi-
tionists then had an opportunity to put
their theory to a fair test. But as every
person who visited one Of our towns at
that time knows, there was never such
reign of liquor selling and drunkenness
known in South Carolina. Every bar-room
at once threw wide open its doors, and
whiskey was sold by the drink, or in any
quantity desired. Until late at night those
saloons were kept open, and no attempt
made to disguise their business.
But during that period the Prohibition.
lists were IS dumb as an oyster, and you
never heard one chirp from them. SO it
seems that it was rot liquor selling that
they were fighting SO much as the dispen-
sary law.
Now, had the Prohibitionists taken ad-
vantage of the situation to have waged such
a relentless war against those bar-rooms as
to result in closing their doors, then, with
some degree Of consistency might they
have organized the campaign they are now
making over our State, and the people
would have believed their professions. But
the era of free liquor is too fresh in the
minds OF our people for them to be again
deceived by any such mirage as prohibi-
tion-for if the liquor traffic could not be
controlled when the Prohibitionists were
backed by both the federal courts and the
Governor Of our State. how can they expect
to control it should their cause triumph in
the coming campaign?
The people are entirely content with the
dispensary law, and while they admit that
it can be improved, it is mighty good
foundation upon which to build.
And again, how do the Prohibitionists
intend to provide for our county schools
when they take from them their principal
source for support? And it is 40 worse to
educate those little country boys and girls
with whiSkey money than it was to keep
up public schools in our towns and cities
with funds derived from licensed bar
rooms, which was done for years before the
dispensary law went into force e.-Pledmo1t
Headlight.