The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-08-08

ed to destroy it. Politics has placed
good men in bad company. IN unhoit
alliance caused Sampson TO be shorn OF
his strength and 4 mad desire TO destroy
those he hated brought death and re-
proach on 4 strong man. Alliance with
Satan drove from Eden the first pair.
That eX-barkceperS and hlacklegs
should be found on the side with Chris
tian people in an effort to break down
the wall that keeps them from selling
liquor with license or without Is proof
positive that no high moral principle
governs their vote in this issue. They
are working for liquor. not prohibition
and their talk OF State pride Is painful
10 hear when we know that they care
nothing for the State or its honor ana
will again. if opportunity presents. re-
open bars and gambling hctlS 1or 1le
ruin of the Young manhood ol lnS
State. The diSpenSary law Is the
best solution of the liquor question yet
devised. The strong arm OF the State
is the only power that liquor men tear.
| Prohibition Is 4 winning card TO them.
\ sentimental dream of good people that
is impracticabeau aud topian. Such laws
.r. 4 farce unless most rigidly enforced
and this would be 4 worse system than
,hc present one. 1t would mean each
iluan Il SPY upon another and shotgun
policy. as in the far west. where active
efforts were made TO enforce 4 prohibit
tory law.
That we may not be accused OF hav-
thAnn,-
will state what we really know in our
experience as TO the blessings which
prohibition brought upon an earnest
Christian people. About eight years
ago in distant city sam Jones, after
three weeks powerful pleading and
preaching day and night, succeeded in
arouSing public sentiment to such an
extent that people and city council
were in accord. and after heated fight
with the liquor element, passed pro-
hibition law. and after a certain date
all bars. saloons and drug stores were
ordered to discontinue the sale OF llq-
uor. The doors of bars were closed on
the outside. but liquor sold within.
Young boys and negroes retailed 1t at
out of the way places. Operators OF fac
tories and mills sold liquor to the hands
and Saturday and Sunday there was a
carnival of drunkenness. Butcher
and baker and candie-Stick maker all
were in the business. With a tillet OF
beef came flask with dry goods. a
| bottle with groceries, inserted IN rice
or rritS. came 4 bottle of whlSkev. and
band-boyes even were filled with bot
ties of liduor and sent in wagons TO the
suburbs for sale. The hospital was
crowded with manned and wounded
men. arms and legs broken in drunken
meleeS. Ladies could not venture to
church service at night, fearing the
unrulv element on the street. The po-
lice were powerless. They said they
could not raid q mans home and did
not seem 10 make special effort to eaten
up with the crowd of violatorS OF the
prohibition law. We thought their
sympathy on the other side pretense,
for the open disregard OF law and de-
cencv was apparent TO every one.
Those who had voted and worked for
prohibition were stunned with aston
ishment and modification. They would
not touch the unclean thing and saw
their trade leave their stores. Idle
clerks with nothing to do were dis
charged. Merchants left the city to
open up elsewhere, while many less
scrupulous 'joined the band and sent
out liquor with their goods. Blind
tigers had the freedom of the city and
thousands of operatives IN this manu-
featuring center became the tiotSome
and jetSome of a restless sea of turmoil.
This condition of affairs could not be
tolerated long. and the liquor men
knowing this never ceased to augment
it by even giving their liquor away.
At last, by consent of all good men the
law was repealed. and bars once more
fouriShed. But the memory of this bit
ter dose of prohibition will last our life
time. and heaven deliver us from sach
another experience. 1t should ever be
borne in mind that we have an clement
now in our Southern land that brooks
little restraint and are daily growing
stronger and more aggressive IN their
requirements. We have become Il
manufacturing people and these must
always be with us. For them we must
act now. \ gap may let in flood that
will in lis mad riot destroy the peace
and prosperity OF our State. follll-
clans care only for their own aggran~
dizement. but a Christian citizenship
should let their maxim be. the great:
est good to the greatest number.
Our State is now in a prosperous con-
dition Mills are giving work to thou-
sands of poor. Hunger need rot be
heard within our borders. Our col
ored population are in better circum,,
stances than ever before. Schools and
colleges are crowded with students.
Towns are being made into cities and
lighted with electricity. water works
being introduced into towns, and our
principal cities have made mafveio"s
strides in population and wealth. Peace
is within our borders, only liquor men
out of job. and misguided men who
are playing into their hands fail to ac-
knowledge the truth that under the
diSpensary system South Carolina
stands today one of the most progress
! i've and up-to-date States in the Union.
VOTER.