Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1902-03-05

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see few little jugs come into town.
They profess to be great advocates Of
temperance. But hold on minute be-
fore you form your estimate. You
watch these men closely, and, as a rule,
you will flndthat they will not lift their
little finger to suppress the blind tiger
business. More than this. You get
the dispensary here and you will never
hear them open their mouths against
whisky coming in by the barrel. They
strain at gnat, but they can without
difficulty swallow a camel. Direct des-
cendants Of the Pharisees!
In case a dispepsary Is established
here, instead Of seeing few jugs COM
ing in on the express, you will see it
coming in by the barrel. Instead Of
seeing Ike pushing the little two Wheel
ed cart up from the depot with a few
jugs. you will see man sitting on a
two-horse wagon hauling It up by the
barrel or case.
Last year the dispensary at Chester
sold s57,6S1.S7 worth Of whisky. Year
before last the same institution sold
$57, ,7O7.39 worth Of whisky.
According to statistics furnished by
the National Temperance society and
secured from the commissioner Of in
ternal revenue, during the first five
years existence Of the dispensary in
this state the number Of gallons of
spirits has increased from 37,843 to 84,-
926, and the number Of barrels of fer
mented liquors from 5,270 to 1880.
Let me give you some more statistics
from the same source. "Of criminal
cases in 1893. the year preceding the
adoption Of the dispensary system,
there were in the courts 1855, while in
1898. there were 2,6s7; admissions to
hospitals for the insane in 1893 were
315, in 1898, 424."
$50 1t appears that after five years
trial Of the dispensary system the num-
ber of criminal cases in court is nearly
twice the number under the last year
Of license and the number Of insane
one-third more"
Again, let me say that while social
drinking may be decreased by the dis
pensary, yet the total amount sold Is
increased for the reason that you can't
buy by the drink from the dispensary.
You have to buy by the bottle, in larg-
er quantities than by the drink. This
has tendency to increase the sale Of
It. Then the very fact that the dispen-
sary Is an institution Of the state gives
kind of responsibility to the business.
For this reason many will buy from
the dispensary who would not buy
from a regular saloon or blind tiger.
Another point in this connection: The
dispensary seems to be much worse on
the home and home-life than the sa-
loon system. Men buy from the dis
pensary and then they go home to do
their drinking, and thus the evils Of
this curse are carried directly into the
home. I heard just the other day Of
sad and distressing case. A young
man who lived with his mother near
town was the town dispenser. The
mother who had been an exemplary
member Of the church became q de-
graded sot through the whisky brought
into the home by her own son.
I tell you, 1t becomes US to realize
what we are doing when we settle the
issue that is before US. If Yorkville
should permit this evil to enter her
borders. she will take step backward
from which she will probably never re-
cover in this generation.
AS we are interested In the boys and
young men Of our town and county, as
we love our homes and are interested
in the homes Of our friends and neigh
bors, we had better be up and doing.
There is certainly enough whisky con-
sumed in our midst already. BY plac-
ing dispensary here, we will greatly
increase the volume Of this stream Of
iniquity. We will practically put 1t in
easy access Of every person in the COM
munity. We will open the door and in
vite them to come in.
3. If DIsPENsARY SHOULD BE Es-
TABL1sHED IN YoRKv1LLE 1T IS HERE TO
for its removal. 1t will be saddled on
US forever. 1t can't be established as
an experiment. We can't have the
privilege Of trying it and then abolish
ing, provided 1t Is not acceptable to
majority Of the people. In other words,
we can't put in on probation.
II the advocates Of whisky are sue
cessful in this struggle, we will hand
down to our children and to our grand
children an institution that manufac-
lures drunkenness, misery and power
ty. What legacy to transmit to pos
terity!
You read the law. The trainers OF
this law never contemplated the re-
moval of dispensary. have great
respect for the right kind Of law; but
I say deliberately that this feature of
the dispensary law ought to be spurned
by every liberty loving citizen. For
1t completely takes away from US that
principle of self-government which Is
80 dear to us all. And for this very
reason the establishment Of dispen-
sary ought to be resisted by us all.
Let us bear in mind that If dis
pensary is established in Yorkville,
that it is here to stay. You may groan
under your burden; you may pray to
the powers that be to remove it; but
your cries will be in vain.
Let the case of Tirzah be warning
m no you remembe. how IL WAS there.
When the people realized what the
dispensary really was, when the whole
surrounding country was feeling the