The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1899-02-15
VOL. XXX.

q SUBDIVISION OF lnOlTlQualS uafe W
license him to sell il? Have local
subdivisions the right of greater lati'
tude in regard to the sale of liquor
than they have concerning other gov
ernmental policies!
Then, again, if the individual must
be restrained from conducting him
self in such a manner as to do injury
to his neighbor, should the ccmmu-
nifty be exempted from such restraint?
Is it possible to imagine the isolation
of municipality or county so COM
plete that it's neighbors would expert
ence none of the i'll effects of its
barrooms?
Indeed the greatest evils of the
liquor traffic with which South Caro-
lima has to grapple exists along the
lines of her interstate railways, which
is due to the "bigh license laws Of
her sister States.
1t will not do to say that the
saloonist will have to sell under dis
pensary regulations, because when
you make his daily bread depend
upon his sales be will pursue the
consumer and seduce him into intem-
perance. The return of the license
fee, the expense Of conducting his
business, the support of his family
and the accumulation of profit all de
pend upon the sale of whiskey. He
finds the appetite Of the consumer
and the pernicious American habit::of
treating his most valuable allies, and
will provide suitable loa6ing places
to crafty all social demands. Ex-
cessive drinking and gambling, the
parents of depravity and poverty,
are attributable to nature in isolated
cases, but they are in the main &C
quired habits, whose origin can be
traced to barroom associations.
1t is a sad commentary on our
civilization that the man whose bust
ness destroys more happiness and
begets more misery and crime, and
does less to promote our tangible
welfare than any other single human
agency, should become such a power
in politics. Nevertheless it is true,
and the reason is plain. He not
only has at his back the "boys about
town." but be has the support of
that army of sober, moderate drink
ers who steadily refuse to surrender
their right to drink whiskey.
Thep, if it is the verdict OF ages OF
trial that "prohibition will not prohi-
Bit" and that it tends to promote
perjury and crimes Of kindred char
acter, and if the saloon has proven to
be the leading curse of humanity-in
fact the devils paradise-isn't it
time that we practice liberality and
liberation, and seek to effect CON-
promises that will grant to the indl-
vidual the right to drink and yet
eliminate from it's sale the element OF
personal interest, which means the
elimination of most of the attendant
evils? Does not the dispensary
nearer approach this condition than
any other known liquor legislation!
Its theory is:
First. That men will drink
whiskey.
Second. Then its sale should be
legalized.
Third. Tie element of personal
profit removed from said sale.
Fourth. We are thus driven to its
official sale.
Under the dispensary law, the in
terest of the vender, the social fea
ture, the treating habit, and in fac
all incentive to drink is obliteratec
except the appetite Of the consumer
He cannot congregate with friends a.
night or on Sunday and play pool
billiards and cards, and have served
enticiDg mixed drinks. There is no
body to pursue him and seduce bin
into drinking.
To purchase liquor from the dis
pensary is an unsociable, cold -bloode
transaction; the ayalice CT the vende
and the appetite of the consumer j
separated, and the system is wei
known to be unproli6c OF drunkards
That there is some drunkenness Of
account of the use of dispensar.
LIQUOR there is no doubt, and it ha
been urged that it is wrong for tn
State to engage in its sale, but is
any worse for the State to sell tina
it is for her to license the citizen t
sell? II it is a crime, isn't tn
abettor as guilty as the principal
But why poist out further the goo
effects of the dispensarv? But fe'