Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-05-30

who violated the liquor law, if in the
judgment of the constables it was nee
essary to enforce their authority, and
thus began a long reign of VIC
lence and turbulence in the land
for the law-breakers were as ready
and anxious to shoot as the men
"clothed with a little brief author
ity," who acted upon the theory that
their own lives were in constant peril
and their surest defense was to take
quick and deadly aim. The bloody
catalogue need not be dwelt upon, fol
it is the most shameful record in the
history of the state, with the single ex.
ception of the reign of the carpet-bag'
ger and the scalawag. Meanwhile
the law was contested at every step
and the courts were invoked to com.
pass its destruction, with the result
that the main features of the system
were sustained by the courts and the
statute was unimpeded in its progress
toward prohibition. Dispensers neg.
lected to observe some of the most salu.
tary features of the law and themselves
became violators, where they were ex.
pected to become guardians minors
and drunkards have found it easy
enough to procure liquor with or with.
out the connivance of the dispenser
"chemically pure" has become a BY
word and to mean the vilest of the
vile; the agents of the state have de-
frauded and defalcated in large mum.
bers, and few have been made to feel
the penalties for their misdemeanors.
The state board of control has more
than once become an exhibition of ex-
ceeding offense in the nostrils of the
good people of the commonwealth; 80
that time and again it was necessary to
make changes and bring about refor-
nations; scandals almost without
number have tracked its pathway |;
charges of dishonesty have been con-
stant, and the public was made famil-
lar with rebates and the sample room.
In a word, the entire system has been
permeated with suspicion, distrust and
causes of offence in striking contrast
with the honorable record of South
Cardinals glorious past.
Has the system proven "a step TO-
wards prohibition ?" Not in the sense
that originated this phrase; but in an
other and truer sense the demand for
actual and honest prohibition of the
liquor traffic has been largely increased
by the failures and shortcomings of the
system, which has been
"weighed in the balances and found
That is the indictment we
bring against it today, and to the Dem
ocratic voters we turn for verdict.
In it's stead we would offer them still
further restriction of the liquor traffic,
destroying the profit and beverage
features of the present system, and
limiting the sale of alcoholic liquors to
strictly necessary purposes, such as
mechanical and sacramental
uses. This substitution would take
away the odium of the states being
engaged in business that is prostitu-
ting the youth of the country, wasting
the resources of the poorer classes,
bringing disgrace and degradation upon
families, impoverishing the homes OF
our citizens, and withholding bread
from the women and children who are
cursed with the blight Of the drink
demon. Prohibition offers an oppor.
tunity to work for the elevation of the
entire people, the better instruction
and training of the young, the creation
of incentives to industry, and the NOR
al advancement of the state to keep
pace with its material prosperity.
The benefits of prohibitory law
will not be fully realized in year or
even in five years, for the longer such
a law is in existence, with reasonable
chances of enforcement, the greater will
be the benefits derived from its pres
ence as a permanent policy of the
state. A generation that shall grow
up without any knowledge of liquor
saloons, whether operated by irdivid'
uals or the state, will be population
noted for its sobriety, which will be
the rule and not the exception among
the young men. Once firmly rooted
and grounded in the minds of the peo-
pie, a prohibtory measure will come
to be regarded as a necessity. More
than a generation has passed since this
law was enacted in Maine, and for a
long time there was vigorous fight
against its continuance but at this
time both political parties are pledged
to its maintenance as the settled policy
of the state. The cry Of repeal has
been frequently raised, and not many
years ago one of the political parties
made repeal plank in its platform,
with the result that not more than
a half dozen members were elected to
the house of representatives, which
has over 100 in its membership, and the
fight for repeal was an ignominious
failure.
Gen. Neal Dow, who was the apos-
tie of prohibition, man of upright
character and irreproachable veracity,
in his testimony before Canadian
on the liquor traffic, de-
clared that there was no state in the
Union where more liquor was consum.
ed in proportion to population than in
Maine prior to the passage of the pro.
hibitory law. 1t was then one of the
poorest states, and under prohibition it
has become one of the most prosper
Gus, largely the result Of saving by the
people from the discontinuance of the
liquor traffic. He said it was quite
within the mark to saw that not one