The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1900-10-09
THE D1sPENsARY IN SOUTH CAROLINA.

1dE In 6UU1d
The claim made by the advocates
of the dispensary system in South
Carolina, and it is now universally"
regarded as an improvement upon
the license system, has been practi-
cally sustained by the vote at the
recent primaries. Of the five Cub
ernatorial candidates at the first pri-
mary not n stood for a return to
the old system. Four championed
the continuance of the dispensary,
and one complete prohibition. The
vote that was pOlled indicated that
ffty-seven thousand citizens ap-
proved of the dispensary as the best
solution of the liquor question,
ton, while thirty-four thousand
asked that even the ~dispensaries be
closed, and that no liquor whatever
should be legally sold within the
State. At the second primary, held
last week, to determine which of the
two leading candidates should be the
party nominee Gas nc one had a ma
jority of the whole vote at the first
primary, the dispensary candidate
was again successful. The advocates
of the GOthenburg system, who have
been led by press dispatches to be-
lieve it's south Carolina analogue a
failure, need no longer take the atti-
tude of apology for the American
experiment.. The verdict given in
South Carolina represents the views
of practically all the white voters at
elections in which partisan consider
ations in no way affected the result,
and it shows what the people of the
State think of the dispensary after
seven years experience. In the be-
ginning the dispensary was opposed
by the Conservative or aristrOcratic
wing of the Democratic party, and
it's enforcement was at times almost
paralyzed by hostile decisions of dis
trict and c~ircutit judges of the Uni
ted States Courts. One Of these de
cisions, it will be recalled, went so
far as to declare that pint bottles of
liquor, shipped into the State by the
carload, could be retailed in the
original packages without let or
hindrance, because South Carolina
did not prohibit the liquor traffic,
and therefore was not exercising "a
police power in it's attempt to close
dramshops. The United States Su-
preme Court brushed away all the
subt1eties by a unanimous decision,
and made the thorough enforcement
of the dispensary system practica-
Gle. With this enforcement the OPP
position of the Conservative faction
disappeared, and the new system
came to be universally accepted,
save by those who are content with
nothing short of complete prohibi-
ton.
THE D~IsPENsARY IN NORTH CAROLINA.
The verdict in favor of the dispen-
sary in South Carolina gives special
timeIiness to a letter which we have
recently received from the Rev. A.
J. McKelway, Of Charlotte, N. c.,
respecting the ~dispensary system in
his State. Over a year ago Mr. Nc
Kelway described the North Caro-
lima system in our columns, and his
recent letter to us aims to answer
collectively the inquiries he keeps
receiving from our readers in such
number that he cannot answer them
individually. The North Carolina
system d~ispensary movement, he
points out, has eve been embar-
raised by the opposition of any poll
tical party, and it has never antago-
nized prohibition sentiment because
the dispensaries have never been ad-
vocated in towns or counties where
local prohibition was in force. There
has never been a general dispensary
law for the State, but local laws
have been supported by both parties
in the State Legislature whenever it
has been made clear that a majority
of the people in the locality con-
cerned preferred a dispensary sys-
tenn to the existing license system.
The chief features of the local dis