The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1899-01-19
THE GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
HE FAVORS THE DISPENSARY
WITH LOCAL OPTION.

Recommends That Counties Desir
ing Prohibition Shall Pay Ex
penses for it's enforcement and
be Out OF From DispeDsary
Profits for Schools.
The annual message OF Governor
Ellerbe has been sent to the Genera
Assembly, and as the discussion
OF the liquor question will excite
most interest in the public mind
we will give herewith only &
very brief summary Of the other parts
OF the message, in order to present in
full what the Governor says about the
dispensary and local option.
Governor Ellcrbe declares that the
finances of the State are in an unsatis-
factory condition, and it Is evident that
one Of two things will have to be done:
Either the appropriations must be cut
down or the tax levy raised. He urges
the Legislature to hold all elections at
once, in order that the public business
may not suffer. He recommends bi-
ennial sessions of the Legislature,
limited to forty days, which will save
lynching at longth, and recommends
that it be made high crime and mis-
demeanor for sheriff5 or constables to
allow prisoner to be taken by vio-
lence from their hands, and also that
counties shall be liable to tho heirs Of
the victim for $4,000, while the men
who are convicted Of lynching shall be
deprived Of the right to vote or hold
Office in this Stats.
The following are tho Governors
views on the liquor question::
Nothing connected with the admin
istration OF the State government at
this time Is OF 80 much interest and I'M
portance as the diCpensary law. Ibis
method Of controlling the liquor traffic
has now been in force for five and
half years, and the protracted and bit
ter struggle between It's friends and its
foes has reached q critical stage. 1t
must be firmly and permanently esta6
lished or completely done away with.
1t will be remembered that, at the
last session OF the Legislature, the lit
igt ii IN instituted in the United States
circuit court by Vandercook had
reached the supreme court OF the
United States, on appeal from Judge
year, there he'd been absolute paralysis
of: the dispensary law, so far as its
punative features were concerned, and
tho cons tables had all been discharged.
The dispensaries had been forced to
fight free whiskey, on terms OF abso.
lutte equality; yet, strange to say, they
fought 1t successfully; for while the.
,"rofts were reduced by this lawless
Y. vitiOn. there was still enough
business to make the dlspensary self
supporting and leave a small margin
of profit. In May last, the supreme
court at Washington handed down it's
decision, sustaining the constitutional
ity of the dispensary law in all its fea-
lures with the limitation only as to i'm
pOrtation for personal use. The long
and hotly contested legal status Of the
dispensary was removed. The original
package dealers at once closed their
shops and shipped their liquors out Of
the State with my permission. | did
not deem 1t wise or right to take ad-
vantage of them, as they had been do
ing business under the sanction Of the
Federal Judiciary. The constabulary
was reorganized and put to work, and
from that time to this the force has
been very busy trying TO destroy the
unlawful traffic which had gained foot.
hold in the State under the protection
OF Judge Simontou's decision.
desire, In this connection, to recall
to your attention the fact that in 1891
the State supreme court, by declaring
the dispensary law unconstitutional,
gave the illicit liquor dealers encour.
ment and as result there was wide
spread decentralization, with liquor
selling prevalent almost everywhere,
even in the country, notwithstanding
the law prohibited it's sale absolutely.
After that decision had been re 7crsed
and the dispensaries rcOpened and
more or less rigid enforcement Of the
law for two years had extirpated in
large measure the legal traffic, came
the interference of the Federal courts
and the Imprisonment of the consta-
bles for contenpt. This interference
gave cncouragemen to a large number
Of Illicit dealers and induced them to
continue in the business; aud when the
paralyzing decision in the VandercOok
case came, there was phenomenal in.
crease in the number Of Illicit dealers
engaged in this traffic in South Caro-
lima. This is shown by the number Of
United States revenae licenses issued.
In the fiscal year ending June 20, 1897,
the number of internal revenue H.
censes, or permits to sell liquor, we're
1922; in the year ending June 80, 1893,
there were 625. In other words, the
present unsatisfactory condition,
and I do not hesitate to say
Iilab ~ 10 tteaCiolooIoiy, hoV"lth-
standing the final triumph in the
courts--is owing in largo measure,
to the interference of the Federal
Judge, with the consequent encourage.
ment to all who saw fit to engage in
the sale of liquor nothing more being
required than to pay the United States
revenue licenses. 1t has taken months
OF laborious and strenuous effort to re.
store the conditions of o. tolerably sue
cessful working of the dispensary law
which prevailed at tho time when the
Vandercook decision was rendered
The friends OF the dispensary and those
who have too readily turned their
backs on 1t, should bear all this in
mind and still evidence hope and pa
thence.
The decentralization produced by the
various causes mentioned can be read
lily overcome In time, and the law will
work more successfully and be obeycd
more willingly as time goes by. Oul
affOrta ahOnl6 ha mania ~ n II