The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-07-18
EVILS OF DISPENSAkY.
Armed Constablcs---Me Shot Down With
Impunity.
j. II. Tyibbie, in Sonlh Cu,ui;nn Bopfisi
Irnlounit.y.

over old straw to discuss the matter
further.
In submitting this do SO consci-
Gus Of the fact that there are good
men who regard the idea Of prohibi-
tion in the liquor traffic as utopian,
and some who think we are not ready; !;
but when will We be ready? Can a
drunkard get sober while you keep
him full Of liquor all the time? His
only safety is to quit and stay quit.
So the only way We can ever get ready
for prohibition is to stop the sale Of
liquor as a beverage and stay stopped.
The Government is not going to make
an effort to keep people from buying
liquor so long as the Government
keeps it on hand for sale.
My objections to the dispcnsary
law may be briefly stated, and the
same reasons that made me opposed
to the old bar-room system, urges me
to oppose the dispcnsary.
First, the old bar-room system was
an unmitigatcd evil. l have not yet
met decent man who favors the dis
pcnsary law, that does not admit that
the dispcnsary is an evil 1t is char
actcrizcd as the ''lcsscr Of the two
evils
No man can ever get my consent or
vote to maintain that which is CON
ccdcd b. Is friends to be an evil.
4'Thou shalt not follow the multitude
to do evil, is just as binding on men
to-day as when first declared by the
Divine law giver.
Second, it cannot be successfully
denied that the dispcnsary law from
it's inception has been great polit-
cal machine. Did the old bar-room
system dcbauch and corrupt our poll
tics?.. 1t was not circumstance in
comparison with what has been ac-
complishcd through the dispcnsary
law. Ai the powers OF the Govern
ment, the Legislative, Judicial and
Executive, by the party whip was
brought to one mind, one aim and one
purpose, and that was made constitu-
tional which had been declared to be
unconstitutional.
Third, not in the history Of our
State can another law so radical and
drastic be found; law whose origina-
tors realized from its inception that it
would require an armed constabulary
to enforce it's provisions. The people
who drink liquor must be forced to
drink at the fountain furnished by
the State. Men, under the mcrcst
pretcxt, have been shot down, and if
pcrchance jury should be found to
convict the constablcs the ink was
scarcely dry on their verdict before
the word "Pardon" was flashed over
the wires, and the murderous consta-
BILE was received with open arms and
encomiums of "Well done good and
servant" What was all this
prostitution Of justice for? The an
swer must be obvious to all unpredju-
diced thinking people. This great
political machine had the right of way.
1t must and shall be sustained, there
is power and Doodle in it for some.
body. Fool the people! Yes, the
people have been fooled often. The
public conscience was sought to be
deadened with the educational idea.
Profits in liquor business had become
rather large, (evil always comes high)
and SO the idea was conceived of tax
ing part Of the profits to help run the
common schools. Well, you can buy
some people mighty cheap. Esau sold
his birth-right for mess Of pottage,
and 30 the public conscience was sup
posed to be satisfied with little cop
of pottage from the dispensary profits.
Does the amount turned over to the
common schools exceed two per cent
of the profits? AS l have not the
figures before me I will not undertake
to say.
What is the result? We are made
to do evil, to engage in evil that good
may come. You see it is moral(?)
institution the State runs, and then it
is educational. (May God pity the
children of that people whose moral
perceptions are blunted and deadened,
and whose education is dependent on
damnable pra6ts.)
Now and then / see some man vehe-
mently boast: II am just as strong a
prohibitionist as you are, but prohibi-
tion don't prohibit, ergo ! am in favor
of the dispensary. It's the lesser Of
the two evils" Then he triumphant.
ly points you to what some men have
said in disparegsment Of prohibition
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