The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-05-19

that the dlspensarles found 1T necessary
to join forces with the blind tigers. or
be run out OF business.
Again, the number OF criminals and
insane increased with the establishment OF
the dispensary system IN South Carolina
A comparison of the criminal record foI
4 the last six vars of license 1886 to 1882
and the last six years OF the dispensary
system, 1886 to 1902, shows an increase in
homicides OF 557, an increase IN assaults
OF 1850; and an increase in violations OF
liquor laws OF 2,051.
"Fourthly. l propose to show that the
~disDensary's influence in politics is no bet
tel than the open saloons.
Filthy. / hold that the State should
protect her citizens from the evils OF the
whiskey traffic. | take issue with the al
frmative by saying that under a dlspen-
sarN system the State Is not dong SO,
but is thrusting the evils upon Its cltl-
Zens in a far more deadly gulse, as some
thing supplied by our mother State. there
fore respectable. When a State, for any
consideration l~egalizes the liquor traf-
fic it becomes a partner in the business;
and l further maintain that every re
sponsible individual In that State, who
gives countenance to a license system IN
any form, either by his silence or by open
CONCURRENCE, becomes a party TO the
crime.
Sixth. The negative is opposed to the
| dispensarv system because, If our State
did establish such a system, 1T would pre-
vent any community from having per
manent prohibition.
Lastly, the dlspensary system Is an at
tempt to regulate this cancer which Is
eating out the vitals of our society, but
it can only ~aggrayate the evil. There
must be no attempt to regulate the can
Ger. it must be eradicated, not a root
must be left behind.
'As for local option, it adapts legisla-
ton to conditions in the county or town.
1t insures the enforcement OF law by
getting a majority behind it. 1t moves
gradually and there is no reaction. 1t is
according to the cherished American
principle of local self-government.
First. We hold that the liquor traffic
Icing admittedly criminal, ishould be
dealt with as any other crime, by prohl-
bition.
Secondly, Prohibition will lead to still
better conditions. 1t will give the rising
generation far more protection than the
dispensary.
These are the differences between US:
|.The affirmative stands for the State
l ulSDcilSdl >, Tx uSSdlJS " in A0SoA -
ton and for prohibition. me affirmative
stands for the absolute destruction OF this
degrading business.
The affirmative stands for the moral
degradation of the State; the negative
stands for washing the States hands OF
this pollution.
"The affirmative stands for turning the
State into a bar-room, while the mega
tive stands for turning all the forces OF
the State against this great curse"
MR.. E. P. BAILEY, AFFIRMATIVE:
I'm judging a system we should be largely
governed by the results which have been
obtained from that system.
1.-THE city of Portland, the home OF
Neal Daw, the greatest OF the Prohlbl-
tionists, is perhaps a typical Name city,
and one in which we are most likely to
find the law best enforced.
"Yet in this city there are one hundred
and eighty-two saloons or places where
liquor can easily be obtained. This num-
Der makes an average OF one saloon to
every two hundred and nineteen lnhabl-
tants. In eighteen and nlnety-three. one
hundred and sIXty-One persons paid the
I. S. special license tax; the paymen OF
which according to the State law IS a
| crime. punishable by a fine of one hum
l area dollars III lLupi iSOHIlICuC IH Will y
days. Since the existence Of these sa-
looms is known to the police it seems rea-
sonable to expect that the authorities
would make some efforts to close them.
Yet in this same year, we have record OF
only sixty-fve arrests for illegal selling,
and the greater part of this sixty-fve es-
capped conviction, although the evidence
in each case was overwhelmingly against
them.
"The prohibitionists carry Maine at
every election. Even the saloon-keeper, the
| d~istiller and the habitual drunkard in
Maine vote the straight prohibition ticket.
And it is certainly reasonable for them to
do so. For to the saloon-keeper and the
d~istiller, prohibition means protection to
their interests, without the payment of
a single penny of license tax; to the
drunkard, it means a glass Of liquor when
ever he has the price. The ~saloon-keepers,
| distillers and drunkards are not the only
ones who earnestly support prohibition,
but the best people Of Maine unite with
them.
"But the moral results of prohibition in
Maine have been more terrible than is
generally known. Since declarations of
illness and doctors certificates were once
necessary to get whlskey, the value OF an
Catn mas QcCreaSoQ HICy Per cent Ter
jury has become so common that it at
tracts no attention. 1t is almost i'm
possible to get a jury to convict in a
liquor case, no matter how convincing the
evidence is. But for the cases caused di-
rectly by whiskey, the criminal docket
would be reduced by over one-half. Are
we not justified in concluding mat pro-
hibition in Maine has been a sad
calamity?
prohibition has failed to exclude the
liquor traffic even from districts where
public sentiment has been strongly in IA
vor of it. 1t has never externinated it
nor made it Improbable. Prohibition has
failed to subdue the drinking passion,
which has forever been a prominent char
) acterlstlc OF man in every station of life.
The efforts to enforce prohibition have
had some unlooked-for effects on public
respect for the courts, oaths and law in
general, and for officers of the law, leg
i~slators and public servants.
!, Local option offers no solution to the
liquor problem; it is simply a means OF
l LETTING tho yOforc IooiIo ,vhothor 49,