The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1900-08-08

grows. In TINS sermon or pOlitica
: speech which this reverend gentle
= man put forth from his pulpit h
: takes positions on the several phase
: of this subject, which | will read t,
, you and discuss as briefly as | can
and explain them to you.
/ L will say that if he had not takeI
, the liberty among other things t,
mention me by name in an insulting
and outrageous manner, L w0uld al
low him to preach what he pleases
and pass it without word. Here
is one clause in his sermon:
| Nothing can alter the fact that in
selling liquor as II beverage to its
citizens for a profit, the State is do
ing an immoral act, and no sort OF
logical quibblng, and no sort of dem.
agogic appeal to the prejudice or the
cupidity Of the people can cover up
that fact"
He has no authority to ask me
that. If it is immoral to sell whiskey
as II beverage through State officers,
then j, is equally immoral for the
| State to have whiskey sold under
| license through these agents who pay
| for the privilege. There is not the
scintila of difference between the
conditions the ground of this fight
| is that it is u sinful and immoral
| use of whiskey is derived from pas
| sage in the Bible upon which l never
heard any sermon preached but n
prohibition sermon, in my life.
Woe unto him that giveth his
neighbor drink" and right there
to dispute with u min: :ecdibsErAIO
they stop; they don't go on and
take the liberty with this text
oS thnr IL >vith of NnhnIy
likes to dispute with Il min
lister about his sermons, l don't
like it. But as 1 say they stop right
there, but what is the balance OF the
text, "That puttest the bottle to him,
and makest him urunk," and also
that thou mayest look upon his
nakedncss." That you may cheat
him or bamboozlc him when you
make him drunk. am going to give
you another text. Here is what Sol
omon says. Here is what the wiseSt
man that ever lived said, (read it).
SO if the people can quote scripture
| can quote them too. There is an
other text l happened to stumble
over, fell on it, and l added it to my
others. There is one thing these men
are doing, if nothing else, they are
making me study my Bible. | will
show you where the prohibitioniSts
couple their text and leave of the
tail, the essential sense. They preach
immortality to drink and sell it as a
beverage. I contend, | take il there
is nothing in the Bible which forbids
the use of whiskcy We, believing
YOU had the right to if you had the
money to pay for it and not abuse
il, but to control it the dispensary
law was enacted. ] did not want my
fellow citizens forced in order to get
whinskcy, because they lowed it, to
lie and play the hyprocrite, to get
sick evcry time they came to town
to get Il doctors certificate, so | sub
stiluted the dispensary system.
stood by the law in Columbia for q
wear and II half at almost the risk or
my life. The prohibitionists harp on
the fact that hey had majority;
would say they did not have major
ity. | will point to the fact that i'll
'9l they went dispensary with an ov-
erwhclming majority.
The House and the Senate i'll 1895
were in favor of it. In D6 In
favor of it, '9s in favor Of it
except a few friends of pro-
hibition, and now they come to us
i'm this year of 1900 and swear they
were cheated. They expect you to
right them, to take the scorpion and
bruisc his head and give them nice
loaf of bread. Well, gentlemen, You
recollect in '94 under the supreme
court we had prohibition for three
months. You know you got more
whiskey then. You know from OBJ
servation that drunkenness is de-
creased in GIuv"ville under the dis
pcnsary, and you know the people
have learned to control their aPpe-
frpt
drink as they did. Then you know
when the dspensary is closed up it
stays shut and you can't get it out
of the back door.
1t has been charged that there is
an unholy alliance between the whis-
kew men and the church. l charged
il. and | charge it here now again.
."rhat charge is too absolutely 1alse
to receive a moments credence from
any human being who has the slight
est lingering regard for. truth left
in him. Senator Tillman, who made
that charge, knew 80 to be false when
he made it. The charge cannot be
interpreted as anything else but
mean and cor tcmptible effort to
break the force of the almost unan-
imous advocacy of prohibition by the
preachers, and served its author
MS n good occasion also to throw
contempt upon a class of men Tor
which he has in many other ways eX-
pressed contempt"
lie not only charges me with sian
der in nttcring those words, know
| ing them to be untrue, but he goes
| further and declares l uttered them
to express contempt for men Tor
whom / have contempt. say here
i'm this presence, among the people
who listen to Gardner, that Gardner
owes it to himself to prove 1T by
bringing certificates, or he owes me
an apology. l pronounced it u false
hood when my religion was brought
into question in 80 and '02 and they
charged me with intidclity, l said
then that I was poor fallen sinner
going from the cradle to the grave
admitting my weaknesses and trying
to forget them, but swear nc
preacher can say that | ever treated
him except with respect; but it is al
ways the hit dog that howls; he al
ways howls Is it, an alliance with
the preachers and barkecpcrs on
not? Is it. true or not? (Voice-lcS)
Very we'll ! will vote you on 1T. Al
you who believe it. not true hold NJ
your right hand. Now, all you who
believe they are in an alliance writ
ten or otherwise, hold up your hand
One more word and / am done, L an
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