The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-08-22

the &Te2ket Aio iLOoS' 1HS PtoH- tSS'
,Ira IS his only incentive aud therefore,
more the encouragement he offers the
buyer 10 buy more and more. That
being the case the best solution :: to
remove the cause that compels the un-
fortunate to buy more and more. The
dispensary solves this.
The dispenser gets his salary wheth-
er he sells one drop or not, and he IS
not allowed to indulge in the seductive
and disastrous credit system. 1t IS OF
no interest to him to sell impure liquor
or TO seduce minor or TO give free
lunch to the unwsry. He is sworn aud
bonded to enforce the law and his posi-
ton is at stake. If he fails to enforce
the law, you, the people, who give hin
his position. can blame only your
selves.
How different is the blind tiger, the
progeny Of prohibition, whose only am.
bition is to make dollars for himself
and druukards for the state and whose
only claim 10 citizenship is based on
MS brszsn effrontery as law breaker.
But it is conten6ed there are tigers un-
der the dispensary system. Certainly,
but the dispensary laR does not make
tigers. Do you suppose people patron
ize tigers because there IS dispensa1y
Law. or because they want Eqnor 10
drink?
1t is the patronage thai makes tlge's
and is It not natural to conclude that
# you abolish the dispeDsary that the
patronage heretofore going to the dis
nersars will 60 10 the bli1d tigers,
thereby Increasing then. ten fo!d.
Then. when the dispsnsary gaes the
specia! oficer must go, and with only
the civil officers, who are now unable
to c>re with the few tigers the chaotic
condition that must follow is enough to
stagger every citizsn who loves his
home and respects the law.
Under prohibition law heavy tax
mus, be levied upon every one to en-
force the law whether h. favors prohl-
bi.ion or not. But under the law every
sr;Hine negro who buys his flask Of
liquer contributes tax to the town
aud county to see that he keeps the
peace. TO work the road and to educate
the children.
Prohibition is beautiful sentiment,
but miserable failure in practice The
prohibitiouist can use no stronger ar,
gunent than to cite the states that
have tried prohibition. Let US see the
result Of such argument. Maine, Iowa
aod Kansas have prohibition under
their constitution. Now compare these
states with South Carolina By the re-
por. of the Uoited States Commissioner
Of internal revenue for the year
ending June 80, 1899:
Maiue-Number Of retail liquor deal
ers l,125
Iowa-NumbeT Of retail liquor deal
ers 3. .7130.
South Caroliua-Number of retail
liquor dealers 324
The 324 credited to South Carolina
includes every liquor dispensary in the
State. Thus it is seen that the pr9hioi-
ton state of Kansas with one half mil
lion population has over ten times IS
many illegal liquor licenses as South
Carolina. That lows with fraction
over two million population has six
teen times as many and that the state
Of Maine with about seven hundred
thousand population, (sbout oDe-aalf
the population O. South Carolina,) has
fve times as many.
Bear with ne while call your atten-
ton to more unprejudiced and lncon.
trovertible evidence of the fallacy Of
prohibition. A committee of fifty of
the most prominent citizens of the
Uaited Sts,es including s1ch men as
Seth Low, president Of the Columbia
university, and Charles W. Elliott,
president Of Yale university, and other
men of equal prominence, not identi-
fed with politics, we're appointed to "a
vestigste the operations Of the liquor
laws in several of the various states
They report having found lS2 places
where liquor was sold in the city Of
Portland, Me-, not Including pocket
peddlers, houses of ill-fane, express
companies, clubs, and certain oyster
restaurants. That while the investiga-
ton was in progress several new bars
were opened. Th" Portland Express in
the issue Of JUNE 2lst, 1894 contained
the following protest of certain liquor
dealers prohibition town) of that city:
Some liquor dealers complain that
their profits are cut down by the COM
petition Of shops allowed to existin the
vicinity Of their own places of business
and that the regular collection Of pro-
lection money may also be made OF
them These demands are IN some in
a1ces said to be so excessive that the
dealers say that they swallow up the
lions share Of the profit and some
lines actually make them run more
di5reputable places than they other
wise would in order to get in money
enough to be able to respond to the
perpetual squeezing.
In Augusta, Me-, the capital Of the
State, 622 places were found i1 opera
ton, or one to every III Inhabitants.
Ellsworth. with 2 800 inhabitants con-
saios II bars and tour other places
(spothecary shops where liquor is sold.
Throughout the entire State the sicken-
ing array Of figures comes. The same
account states that one dirty, filthy,
hell-hoIe, where the vilest liquor is
sold, is maintaioed to every 200 iubabi,
tants or less. The committee reports:
The conclusion must be that it is
impossible to state from the statistics
adduced just how FAR they reflect
greater or less public inebriety. The
general impression is that drunkenness
is as prevalent now as ever before the
constitutional amendment went into
effect, if not more SO.
The liberation Of an open defiance
of the laws and the constitution lndi.
L. IL op