The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1899-07-26
THE OIspEEsARY SYSTEM.
What a Northern Visitor Has to Say
About It.
About It.

IL
sary system:
South Carolinas legislation in two
particulars stands out in bold con-
trast to that of all other states Of the
Union.
First. 1t has no divorce laws, and
no divorce has ever been granted in the
history Of the state. Second. Its liquor
law is utterly unlike that Of any other
in Chris. .endom. The writer recently
spent FIVE months in the city of Aiken
and had abundant opportunity to study
the character and working of the dis
pensary law He came away an unhe-
stating convert to it's wisdom and
practicab biiity. Aiken has resident
population of $500, with 1000 North
ern visitors in the winter. More than
half the residents are Negroes, and the
average Negro is far from being teeto-
taller, and yet in five months Of con-
tinued observation l did not see five in
tozicated person.
Stand with me half hour in the
Aiken dispensary and see what tran
spires. The establishment is on the
main street, and is single room 100
feet long by perhaps thirty wide. A
small space opposite the door, shaped
like the letter V with its apex cut off
is for the public; all the rest is for the
dispenser and his goods. The s. acc for
customers is not more than ten feet
long by six at its widest end; high
fence encloses it, save atits apex. where
the customer makes his purchase. No
seats of any sort welcome the visitor.
There is no counter to lounge upon
the fence prevents.
No glasses wait to be filled-no pic
lures hang on the wall-no crackers and
cheese speak the pleasant language OF
hospitality-no tempting odors salute
the nostrils. Only bottles Sealed ones)
adorn the shelves. There Is no para
phernalia for mixing drinks. There is
no display of goods in the windows. All
is plan, unattractivc, inhospitable.
Wait-here comes customer. Watch
him! He walks to the hole IN the
fence, says to the dispenser, Il want a
pint Of whiskey," names the grade he
wishes and signs blank form put be-
fore him.
The dispenser passes him sealed
bottle which the purchaser puts IN mis-
pocket an5 Immediately walks away.
Two men come il together. Each
makes his purchase and pays for it and
they 60 out together. How striking
the contrast between this matter-of- fact
commercial transaction and the way
things go on in typical Boston saloon.
No treating here; no longing; no click
ing of glasses and drinking Of health;
no clubroom this for the young men OF
the village; no insidious attractions to
tempt the boys. 1t is the use Of alco-
holic liquors as beverage rid Of all the
gilded trappings that are responsible
for at least half of all the intemper-
ance of the land. 1t is said that no
man ever pays for his first drink.
! Somebody always gives it to him.
Abolish the abominable treating GUS
tom and you Immediately reduce drink
ing enormously. Abolish the saloon,
that is, it's social attractions, and you
reduce drinking as much more. The
dispensary does both. What are the
Fundamental principles Of this unique
law? They are only three, viz, these:
First, the sale Of pure liquor only by
the state alone; second, payment Of
fixed salaries to the men who sell; third,
no drinking on the premises. Remove
either of these and the whole structure
falls to the ground. Retain all, and
there is only one more step to take, and
that is the absolute destruction Of the
traffic.
Selling liquor on salary and selling
for a profit are as unlike as light and
darkness. Into the last comes the
mighty factor Of ayarice, only equalled
in its strength by that other resistless
impulse, appetite. License brings into
working contact these two forces, and
the result is inevitable and dire dlsas-
ter. Under the dispensary system avar-
ice ceases to act. There is no induce
ment whatever to the dispenser to in
crease his sales. Should he do so he
would simply work harder for the same
money. Appetite, alone and hamper
ed is thus the main factor in the prob
lem. Is it not plain upon the face Of
it that such a system must greatly re,
duce the sale of liquor? Do the varied
and seductive attractions Of the saloon
count for nothing-the tempting win
dow displays, the brilliant lights, the
free lunch, the comra1eship?
Is it any wonder the arrests Tor
drunkenness in IS cities and towns OF
South Carolina were 516 during the last
six months under license, and only 2S3
during the first six months under the
dispensary? Who can doubt that SIM
liar effects would follow similar causes
in this and other states? The regula-
tions imposed upon the dispensers are
most salutary. No sales are permitted
to minors, intoxicated persons Or hab.
itual drunkards, or between sunset and
sunrise, or on Sundays or holidays, and
no loafing is permitted.
If the dispenser is warned by one
member of family and does SO, his
bonGsman can be mulcted $500 fer
each offence. The dispensary law has
suffered attacks more bitter and more
powerful perhaps than any legislation
in the history Of our country, but has
triumphantly withstood them all and
practically silenced all,
icicule and argument-the shot
guns and the courts (all but the highesD
have struck it blow after blow. \
year ago it looked as though it had re;
ceived its death blow in the repeated
decisions oe Judge Simonton, United
States Circuit Judge, who emasculated
the law by his injunctions and opin-
| ions thereby flooding the state with