The age-herald., 1900-04-10

'Second-Pron1D1tlon
 '"Third-The dispensary law.
 South Carolina has a funny condition In 1893 as a result of a compromise [ en- gineered. and which was done to defeat prohibition, the dispensary law was adopt ed. l didn't believe in prohibition. You can't keep men from drinking whisky. never did see any sense in prohibition, it could not be enforced, and I got the legislature to accept the dispensary law 1 had seen from the results of prohibition in Maine. Vermont and other states that the people there were drinking as much whisky as the people of South Carolina. Where they had prohibition a man had to have a prescription before he could get any whisky, and when I saw the prescrip- tion that the man was lying and l didn't want the people of South Carolina to be l forced to lie to get whisky. The minis | ters here are behind the dispensary move
 ment because they sec the hopelessnss of 1 getting prohibition.
 Under the dispensary system the sale | of whisky is by bonded officials with fixed salaries. who are watched by other offi- cials. The dispensary is opened at a cer- tain hour and closed at a certain hour
 and you can't get in at any other time no matter what is the matter with you, and what you buy you have to take away with you All the liquor in the state is bought by one man. Sealed bids with samples are submitted the samples going to the state chemist, who analyses it. From his report the purchase is made, a contract for so many barrels being made. This IS taken to the state dispensary at Columbia and put up in bottles containing from four gallons to a half a pint, and sent from there to the local dispensaries l throughout the state. There are no dis | pensaries except in Incorporated towns | Commissioners are selected and they ap- 1 point a dispenser who is required to give
 a 5000 bond. An analysis of the liquor l ta fA1 la 1n 1 and when the buyer goes in he must sign his name, not for the purpose of watching the purchaser but the dispenser. There Is no credit and the buyer gets full measure 1 and pure whisky. We don't sell to minors 1 nor to drunkards.
 | The same Principle
 "They say that the occupation Of selling | whiskey is degrading and that the state should not engage in it. Let's see. Under 1 the old system the state gets part of the l profits in the way of licenses. The princi- pie is the same and the only difference IS that under the dispensary law the dlspen- sers are bonded officials selected py ol- 1 fcals.
 Municipalities license the saloons and then pass ordinances saying how whiskey shall be sold and elect aldermen ana com | misisoners who will not enforce the law. l What causes the sale of liquor in the bar | to be such curse? What is the difference between the two systems. lHC poi PNA l having paid his license and gotten permis- | sion to sell he is turned loose, and as long | as he keeps reasonably within the law he I is not disturbed, and goes in to make all
 he can. How many boys are made drunk | ards, how many men are destroyed De- cause he wants to make money? The dls- | penser gets his salary anyhow whether he | sells anything not. He opens up at ] o'clock and closes at sundown and does not ! open up after that for any one. The curse | of the bar room system is the element or profit that enters into it. Another is the 1 social drinking. In the dispensary you | can buy but one bottle and you cannot go 1 back there that day They are not open | on Sunday. In each of your fifty saloons
 there are bright lights tonight The dis l pensary does not sell at night and after | the expenses are paid the balance goes into l the state treasury. South Carolinas ln- l come from the dispensary last year was |, $i5O 900; under the old system it was about | $l50 coo.
 '"The prohibitionsts want legislation to l say what men shall do and what he snail not do They search the Bible and declare ! that the use of whisky is wrong, immoral and a producer of crime. 1 don't believe the use of whisky is a sin l don't believe il would have been mentioned so often In | the Bible if it had been a sin. If you use l it and don't abuse it, there is no harm. | You have the right to buy it if you want
  ] fight the devil with his own weapon. | Fight the abuse of whisky with it's use. 1 .'The dispensary teaches men the use of | whisky as an article of commerce the 1 same as calico and other articles sold in 1 d store. Drunkenness in South Carolina is
 not one-half what it was before the dis 1 pensary law was adopted. We still use whiskey and abuse it. You can't keep men | from drinking it. Our scheme reduces it's
 abuses to the minimum. The time may
 come when men will have no taste for it 1 and then prohibition may be possible"
 Government Control
 1 Some one in the audience asked Senator l Tilman why the government could not
 manufacture whisky and thus control the | traffic.
 | In reply he stated that there was oppo-
 sition to the government going into any | kind of business, that it was under thor
 ough police regulation and that he was | opposed to giving Uncle Sam any further | hold on the state than he has.
 Some one asked what about beer
 Senator Tillman replied: "There are beer | dispensares in the larger towns and cities which are supplied directly by breweries in Charleston and Columbia, and beer is kept
 on ice, but is sold by the bottle I recom- l mended ill my last message to the legisla- | ture that we turn beer loose under certain
 restrictinos but the legislature did not l agree with me. I still believe we would
 have added to the sobriety and lessened
 the drinking of whskey. gin, etc, if we | had opened beer saloons"
 He said there were a number of blind l-igers'' in Charleston, but their existence was due to public opinicn and the press of | that city. The press of that city, he said, 1 had openly urged residence to the dispen- | sary law, and that the religious press of 1 the state heads the opposition to the dis pensary He said 1t was the first time he l the preachers and the saloon
 keepers lined up together. The prohibition 1 ists do not proclaim against the dispen- | sary by name, he said, but contend for ab- | solute prohibition
 Continuing he said: 1T don't believe you | will get the dispensary law in Birmng- ham because the saloons run the town. They have too much hold on the officials and those who want to be officials. There is but one way in which you can get it and that is by organizing. You can't get anything without organizing. You must not run for office yourself, but put some- body else out. Organize and say to the candidates that unless they will vote to put the town under the Moody law you