The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1900-06-30
The Dispcnsary Bunco Game.
The State, 27th inst.

N'IN lbNhNdSINl hSNSCL Ihall'idluS
that those citizens of South Caro-
lima who favor the dispensary law
as means of promoting temper>
ancc should vote for Col Hoyt for
governor. 1t says:
We often hear it asked "W hat
can Il prohibition governor do
without Il prohibition legisIatuIe?"
We answer, he can appoint pro-
hihition magistrates and see to 1t
that they appoint prohibition con
Stables More than this: he will
put a new construction on the dis
pousary law which will greatly
curtail the sale of whiskev as a
beverage, and he will enforce 1t
in manner that will make many
people think tne law in itself is
prohibition enough.
The law was enacted avowedly
to cUrtail the sale of lntOXicants
and it Is claimed for it that when
given a fair trial 1T will do it.
What opposition has there been
to the enforcement of the law by
the present administrations What
more favorable circumstances
could he imagined for its enforce
mrnt than the present administers
tion has had! Yet has Il curtail-
m"nt of the sale of whiskey been
effected : Year by year the sales
by the dispensarles continue to
Increase until it really seems the
administration Of the law is Judged
by the amount of revenue turned
into the cXchequer. If the law is
ever properly construed and en-,
forced in South Carolina-and its
most ardent supporters will never
admit it has had Il fair trial until it
has been-it will be under prohi-
bition governor. Its friends have
elected four successive governors
and the four successive adminiss
trauons have interpreted the law
so as to permit the institution to
become a source of raising all the
revenue possible, hoping in this
way to make it and themselves
more popular, while the majority
of its supporters are anxiously
hoping to see it curtail the sale of
liquors and make it the "step
towards prohibition which it was
promised them it should be
Respected citizens of Carolina,
who are conscientious in believing
the dispensary law the best solu-
ton of the whiskey question, can
yOu not see that the election of a
prohibition governor at this time
is your only hope to resuscitate
the law you profess to think a
good one, hut which now lies
dying in the arms of its friends -
killed by their abuse of it in
straining its Interpretation at
every point to make all the sales
Of lntoXicants possible! Think
upon this matter.
All Of which is logically unas-
saiIable. We have already indi,
Gated our own belief that if the
dispensarY law should not be re-
pealcd by the general assembly il
would be better enforced by q
governor like james A Hoyt than
it is at present. We do not be-
lieve 1t can ever be fully enforced,
for the reason that it is repugnant
to that sentiment of fair play
which lies deep in the hearts OF
men and Is outraged by the as
sertion that what is wrong in the
individual Is right in his creature,
his servant, the government he
shapes and supports but surely
it would be an easy task for a
man of intelligence and character,
aiming at the suppression of the
liquor traffic, to administer the
law more strictly than it is admin
rstered by one who regards it
merely as a means of revenue and
a political lever to be pulled or
reversed as his personal fortunes
prompt.
Nobody believes or can believe
that if elected governor by the