The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1899-01-25
DrsPENsARy AMENDMENTS.

Cd1lSo UGOA az SH3S
slider measures dealing with the dis
persary system Of controlling the
sale of whisky. 1t is in more aspects
than one the most important matter
which will come upduring the present
session of the Legislature. and one
that will be most holly contested and
stubbornly fought. 1t will be remem-
bered that the only issue, aside from
the endorsement of the administration
of Governor Ellerbe, duling the last
campaign, was the question as to the
best means of controlling the sale of
whisky. The proposition was three
fold-First, could the evil Of whisky
drinking be better curtailed through
the proper enforcement OF the dlspen-
sary system under State control, with
t he law amended and it's restrictions
more vigorously and properly en-
forced? Second, would The cause Of
morality and sobriety be better
subserved by establishing drug
store dispensaries with an attempt
to restrict the sale of whisky to the
purposes of medicinal, scientific, me
chanical, and s~acramental uses, If
,ou please; or whether the revenues
of the State could be increased and
the pocket of those who had the
money to pay high for the privilege
of making drunkards of their fellow
citizens and debauchirg the sons OF
their friends and neighbors be made
heavier by their i'll gotten gains IN
der the high license system? We be-
l;eye we have stated the situation
fairly, we hope We have done so at
least.
To the first element of the trio we
were allied, not because we approved
or ever countenanced the manner in
which the dispensary has been man
aged in the past, but because We saw
10 the fundamental principles of the
dispensary system the only tangible
solution that gives Us any hope OF
permanent relief from the awful con-
sequences of the indulgence in the
whisky evil. We knew, as did every
every other intelligent person, that
the law has not been enforced as it
should have been; that persons in
in high places, on whose shoulders
rested the responsibility of inforcing
the law, have failed to come up
to the requirements Of their respon-
sibility; that men who 'gloried in
their morality and prided themselves
on being law abiding, Rugged the
ss6eidsf7e idea to their bosoms that
opposition to the ~dispensary law was
the Hottest test of patriotism and
the encouragement and protection of
blind tigers was the highest duty OF
citizenship, are the prominent rea-
son why the law has been so boldly
and so openly violated in many in
stances by the worst and most dan
gerous element of society.
For these reasons we upheld Gov
ernor Ellerbe in his efforts to restrain
the State Board of Control in assum-
ing powers not and never intended
to be delegated to them by the Legis-
atiye department of our government
in granting hotel and beer privileges
to responsible as well as irresponsi-
BILE persons. 1t is even more criml-
nal for trusted officials of the State
who have sworn to uphold the law
to violate that law as it is for the
private citizen to do so. We sup
ported the Governor in his deter
minafion 10 check the i~nfraction of
the law by whom and wheresoever
committed. We commended him in
employing every instrument at his
command to stop the illicit traffic in
whisky and We were glad to e that
be was strong and unwaving IL his
determination because, for one reason
we wanted the dispensary law to
hsye a fair trial so that it could &C
complish the ends for which it was
enacted if there was any virtue IN 1t.
!. Aside from prohibition, pure and
simple, we believe that the dispensary
system, even in all of it's present
imperfectiop, is the best solution tor
the curtailment of the drink habit
and the advancement of the cause Of
morality and sobriety. True, the
system has not accomplished all that
was expected and desired II it by its
sincere and horest friends who de-
sired to make a change from the old
saloon system, yet when we consider
its past Encouragement and the bit
ter and unreasonable opposition with
which it had to contend, we can very
readily see that it has accomplished
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