The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-08-08

| ,
here We are in the State Of South
Carolina debating among ourscvc, the
question whether wc will continue in
the business or not? We ought to
answer that question in the negative
by unanimous IMaioaity for several
| reasons.
In the first place, a have just in
timatcd, the sale Of liquor as a bcvcr-
age is morally wrong and the State
cannot make a wrong act right by do
ing ii. The moral sentiment Of the
people condemns it in an individual.
How then in the name Of cnsc can it
Justify it in the State? Nothing can
alter the fact that in selling liquor as
beverage to it's citizens for profit
the State is doing an immoral act, and
no sort Of logical 1uibbling and no
sort Of dcmagogic appeal to the preju-
dice or the cupidity Of the people can
cover up that simple fact. The State
of South Carolina cannot afford to
defy moral laws and trample the clear
est moral principles under it's feet.
Above the people, above Government,
| above legal statutes is the everlasting
moral law. 1t cannot be set aside by
State legislators; it cannot be nulliGed
by Dispensary Acts; it cannot be
sncered out Of Court by United States
J Senator even. The moral law stands,
whether We vote for it or not, and if
the people vote against the moral law
the worse it is for that people, that 5
all
In the next place the dispensary
corrupts the official life Of the State.
Of course, it does. 1t is an IMMORAL
act and whenever anybody or any
ching, man or State, does an Immoral
act it is corrupted by it. Why in re-
cent years We have had dcmonstra-
tions Of this fact ad nauseum. The
fact is that the State cannot engage in
the liquor business without being cor
ruptcd byit.
The dispensary inevitably becomes
corrupt political machine, a Tester
ing sore in the heart Of the body polite.
1t is impossible to prevent it. It is
in the very nature of the thing. 1t is
as certain and inevitable as gravitation.
There is positively no way to organize
and conduct the business Of selling
liquor as beverage that will save it
from corruption. can easily un-
derstand why certain politicians should
be anxious to perpetuate the thing; it
is machine ready-made to their hand
and ideally adapted to DO the dirty
work for the people who control it.
Let us be done with it for the sake Of
purity and morality and decency in
the official life Of the State.
In the next place the dispensary
makes it's appeal to the people as
moral institution, as a restraint upon
the vice Of drinking and the crimes re-
sulting therefrom. But in the very
teeth of these moral pretensions it
makes the appeal also to the cupidi.y
of the people. Its profit feature makes
it to the pecuniary interest of the
State and County and city to have the
dispensary dc jus. IS large g business
possible.
In one part it proposes to restrain
vice and in the other part it proposes
to encourage it. It poses both as
moral and financial enterprise, but
in so far as one Of these purposes is
promoted the other is necessarily de-
feated. And it is perfectly patent
that the financial end sought will in
evitably bring to naught its moral
aims. In other words, whatever good
there may be in the institution is in
evitably submerged by the evil there
is in it. As certainly as a stone falls
to the earth the dispensary accommo-
dates itself to the vicious tendencies
OF the evil elements Of society. It no
longer makes an aggressive fight
against blind tigers" and in order
to compete with the blind tigers,
which spring up underits very shadow,
it farms out beer privileges" and
thus brings back the old licensed sa-
loon under false pretcnce. In order
to save the dispensary from being
swamped by the "tigers' and beer
houses the restrictions thrown around
the sale Of liquor in the dispensary
gradually pass into innocuous desue-
tude. The people only have to accept
the dispensary as q Snal solution of
the lienc- problem aud turn their ut
tention away from it to see the whole
thing sink into the most contemplate
Sham which II hoo o1roo1x, Jocn - !.