The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-07-18

the dispensary. Every candid and fair
minded man in the State we dare say
will admit that under the dlspensary;
plan of selling whiskey that the legal
sale of whiskey has been lessened a
large per cent. it matters not what the
teachings of the enemies to dlSpensarv
is. to the contrary. and this being true
why not let the dispensary alone, and
instead of some persons trying to break
the dispensarv down, let every man call
ing himself a law abiding citizen and a
friend to decency, do everything in his
power to see that the dispensary law
IS riridly enforced. The dlspensary
has never had a fair test and all know
this assertion to be true. 1t Is a we'll
known fact that the diSpensary has
been fought by :; certain element in
South Carolina ever since the law was
made that established the dlspenSary,
and every conceivable obstacle thrown
in the way to bring disrepute upon the
plan. not only in the eyes OF the people
| in the State. but in the eyes OF the peo-
pie throughout the country generally.
But in spite of every obstacle and him
derance thrown across its path the dis
pensarv has been sustained by 4 ma jor-
ity of the voters of South Carolina re-
eardless of past factional political diff
ferences. and by the cooperation and
the support of its friends has over rid
den every reasonable opposition and
still holds the fort with flying collors.
The right of the State to engage in
selling whiskey and the principle OF the
same to do so, has again and again been
questioned. and that harshly by many,
but the highest legal tribunal in this
country the Supreme court OF the
United States has sustained South Car
olina in this action, and has declared in
language too plain to be misunderstood,
that South Carolina has the legal and
undisputed right to police and regulate
the sale of whiskev within the borders
of the State. This much on the dis
pensary is sufficient believe to define
my position in regard to the same, and
so thinking l will dismiss the diSpen-
sarv part of the question, and take up
prohibition and say why | am opposed
to prohibition.
Prohibition through State legislative
enactment never has nor never will
prohibit the consumption OF whlskey,
it matters not what is taught to the
contrary. The only way prohlbltory
laws could be effective would be for the
general government 10 prohibit the
manufacture of whiskey through out
the whole country. No sensible man
in this whole country could be made to
believe that this could be done, for every
one knows whata rich harvest in rev.
enue the general government reaps
from the manufacture of whiskey. The
consumers of whiskey pay this revenue.
Let the government deprive itself OF
this source Of revenue, and what would
be the result? How would the general
government, and through what source
would this tremendous revenue be
regained? 1t would simply be regalned
on some articles of consumption no
doubt that would work tax on every
person in this country it matters not
what the age may be, for every one
knows that the greedy NAV, financially
speaking of the general government,
can never be filed or satisfied.
Ruling the general government entirely
out of the question and taking up the
States that have tried the perplexing
and aggravating experiment, OF prohi-
bition, and what has been the result?
To illustrate we will take the State OF
Maine the birth place of the late Neal
Dow tn" oldest apostle of prohibition
that we can call to mind, and after
wrestling with this aggravating exper-
iment of prohibition for the past forty
Years and more, and what is the ver-
dict of committee appointed by the
citizens at different places in the State
of Maine, to investigate and see how
this great law of forty years standing
was working. The committee after
making the investigation, published a
lengthy report and cited many causes
of complaint in the very slack enforce
ment of the law, and as good as pro-
nounced the law farce and a failure.
This committee was so disappointed at
their findings that in their report they
were constrained to say. ''It is this ad-
dition of little legal sugar to Names
illegal whiskey that is bringing our
grand old State into contempt abroad
and into civil paralysis at home, from
which rescue is possible only as quick
ened public conscience and enlightened
zeal cleanses this law in its enforcement
or. in the name of outraged decency
and forgotten God, wipe 1t of the
statute books"
From many accounts, and the accounts
from reliable sources, the Maine Prohl-
bition law is not only openly and ha-
grantly violated, but is in every con-
ceivable manner evaded as well, and
for a little instruction of the readers
generally of The TINES along the line
of evasion OF the prohibition law OF
Maine, we will here take time to relate
our reading, few years ago OF an artl-
Gle taken from paper published In
Maine, to the best of our recollection
now the cutest piece of the evasion OF
law we ever read or heard of. The ar
ticle read this way, or mostly to this
effect:
On the shores of Maine there live
many men who are engaged in the fish
cry business for livelihood. These
men ply their business in the Penob-
scot bay. In the waters of this bay
there are many very large fish known
as the ':Halibut.' The fishermen of
this part of Maine catch and sell every
day a great many of these large fish.
The men 60 miles away from land in
little sail-boats called fishing smacks.
The fishermen ply the vocation of the
'blind tiger' as well as that of fishing.
These fishermen while, on their fishing
voyages, trade largely in whiskey. The
whiskey is brought and sold to the
Maine fishermen by men outside OF
Maine and from other parts of the
country. The whiskey is sold by quarts
in quart TASKS at so much quart or
flask. The fishermen ali have the
names of their customers booked. The
fishermen have the names of Prohibi
tionists and the names of the anti-Pro-
hibitionists on their books. Towards
the close of the day the Maine fisher
men come ashore and sell their fish.
BY the time they reach the shore they
have their plans made for selling their
1 NF tlo,