The age-herald., 1900-04-10
SENATOR PULLMAN AT THE AUDITORIUM Addressed an Audience of Two
 Thousand Persons. THE DISPENSARY QUESTION Distinguished South Carolinian Explain ed the Workings of the Law and
 Elicited Much Applause-ln-
 troduced by MT. Webb
THE DISPENSARY QUESTION

United States Senator Benjamin k. Till
 man of South Carolina addressed an au-
 dence of probably 1000 persons at the Au- dtorium last night on the subject of the dispensary law.
 Senator Tillman is perhaps the best post
 ed man in the country on the subject, and
 he presented it's workings in very clear
 and interesting manner. His remarks were
 frequently applauded and evidently met
 the approval of a large number of those
 nrcsent In the audience were several hum
 dred women.
 On the stage with Senator Tillman were
 Revs. A B. Curry, S. P. West, J. w.
 Newman and B. D. Gray, and Frank Les
 lie J. w. Sbley, B. B. Conner, pr. F. A. Wilson, J. w. Mcconnell, Arlie Barber, J. E. Webb J. E. Wilson, W. A. Davis of Anniston and others
 Captain James E. Webb presided over the meeting and called on Dr. B. D. Gray, pastor of the First Baptist church, to open the meeting with prayer. As a prelude to the introduction of Senator Tillman, Mr. Webb said:
 Birmingham never does anything in
 half way. l am proud to meet on thls oc- casion such a fine audience, one that IS
 typical of Birmingham and Jefferson couh-
 ty. We have come here to hear dls-
 course on a subject of great importance to
 the people, a subject that is of more lm-
 portance than the question of who shall hold office, a question that not only af- fects you, but posterity well. We have come together to hear one of the greatest men of the age one that occupies the seat of the immortal John c. Calhoun. We have come together to hear a discussion of the dispensary law and the control of the liquor traffic.
 "trhere are two things that we in Ala bama must rid ourselves of-the negro vote and the liouor traffic We tried to get
 dspensary law through the last legisla-
 ture but were told that it would not be
 right to pass such law without allowing
 the democrats of Jefferson county to vote
 upon it. About month ago l went be- fore the county democratic executive com
 mittee at the request of the dispensary
 people and asked that the voters be al
 lowed to vote on the question at the pri-
 mary election next Saturday, but this was denied. Robert J. Lowe, chairman of the
 state democratic executive committee, who opposes the disuensary law, had the man.
 hood to leave the chair, as presiding ofii-
 cer. and introduce a resolution providing
 for vote on the question, but the resolu-
 ton was defeated I have the honor of in-
 troducng to you Benjamin R. Tillman,
 United States senator from South Carolina
 Given an Ovation When Senator Tillman walked to the Of Ia ha oiVpn ton. He said:
 MT Chairman, Ladies and Fellow Citi- zens:
 "There are many great and important matters under discussion and awaiting ac
 tion in the United States senate, and l was very unwilling to leave my post of duty
 and go away to make a speech on any sub ject, but when an appeal came to me from committee in this city interested in legis- lation looking to the upholding of good morals and good government I felt that knew more, perhaps, than any other man or this subject and I could not refuse to come down here and do what I could for the control of the liquor traffic. For a year and half I was sneered at as the largest saloonkeeper in the world, because as governor I had charge of the execution of the dispensary law It has been a bone of contention in three elections in South Carolina and in one constitutional conVen- ton, but planted it so deep and cared so we'll for it in the year and half, that it is still there and will stay. You do not know much about it and say you want none of it and that you will not help with your vote to transplant it from South Carolina.
 q am not here to utter tirade against the saloon; I suppose there is not a man but agrees that they are a curse, but there are two sides to the question. The question is: What is best for the greatest number of people and for society as whole. Con- trol of the whisky traffic has been the
 most difficult problem in all governments. For time out of mind it has been consid-
 cred source of revenue, and the United
 States government derives annually about $150, ,000, 900 from it and American municipal ities derive the larger part Of their revenue from it. Boston, with 500,000 population, derives about $2,00O,OO0, and New York about s6000,000. have no doubt but the
 state and municipal governments receive $1OO, 900 annually from this source. The greatest difficulty I had governor was from the cities that were unwilling to lose the revenue they were receiving from it, and they have only recently found out that they derive more from the dispensary law. The s25000 that Birmingham now receives is mere bagatelle to what she would ceive if you had the dispensary law, and would get behind it and see that 1t was enforced. Having the law obeyed is the trouble, and it is the hardest thing I ever tackled.
 Threc Ways of CoptrolliD It