The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-09-26

A man said to me the other day The
dispensary is HE'LL / said L agree with
you, but one bar-room is ten hells Where
| is the man who has got a word for
bar-rooms."
Then Mr.. Douglass went on to speak
OF the attractions of the bar-rooms. Their
purpose was to attract young men into
them. The people are not trying to save
the old topers, only the grace of God
could do that, but they were trying to
save the boys and young men. Just as
| you put tangefoot where the flies swarm,
| so the bar-rooms are put on the great
avenues, where the young Inen must pass
them. They are next to the hotel, where
they catch the men who travel. when
man gets into Raleigh" declared Mr..
Douglass, 'the first chance after leaving
Wright's lunch counter is place in a
Role under the ground, and very good
place for it, too, and then on his way to
the hotel he has to run the gauntlet.
Then there is another batch of them
around the market, to catch the men who
come with wagons to sell their produce.
There's many poor fellow brought
lead of watermelons to town, and gone
home with his stomach full of water
melons. There's many a man brought
stomach full of chicken-roosters. What
puts these places on Wilmington street?
The cotton there, that brings so many
men together.
I'VE don't propose to set UP a dis
pensary to catch people, but for so-called
necessity, for the old blue-h hottie flies
and not for the big swarms CT little fell
LEWIS, for the fellow that gets bitten by
the snake"
The speaker proceeded to dwell upon
the various attractions of the bar-room.
the mint, the looking glass, where fell
I low can see how red his nose is getting,
and pull Lis neckte around from the
back of his collar to the front. or see
how black his eye is; the decanters, the
electric fans and the cleo trio piano. "A
dispensary," said Mr. Douglass, lis about
as attractive as shoe-shop. 1t looks like
patent medicine office, like a shoe-shop
with the boxes set up wrong"
The habit of loafing around bar-rooms
made many young man acquire the drink
ing habit, the free soup took them in
there. The law permits no loafing OF
lettering around a Ndispcnsary Then
there is no treating. "Of all the curses
that ever visited civilized nation, that
treating habit is the worst. Then night.
drinking would be done away with, and
screens, and all the secretveness that
keeps anything that happens in bar.
room from getting out. When man gets
drunk at night he spreads himself over
town to commit more deviltry. "Of all
the devils" declared Mr.. Douglass, "the
stinkingest devil is in whiskey'
Moreover, all the rotten politics of
State, said> he, clustered around the bar
of
Mr.. Douglass took up with great warmth
the argument of some that if it was pro-
hibition they would support it; but they
could not approve of the State going into
the liquor business. But the State, said
he, had never given up the business to
anybody but had ely licensed certain
persons to engage in it, recognizing that
it was too big devil to let loose.
AS to the prohibition part of it, he said:
''You can't use the livery of temperance
tn help the bar-room. That little egg
was hatchedN by the bar-room buzzard.
Wouldn't bar-keeper he a sweet-scented
daffodil of the desert to vote for prohlbl-
ton? Wouldn't he be jay-bird with a
peacock feather. stuck III him?"
Mr. Douglass closed by saying: eve
just want to try the old critter. If it's
too rotten, we'll turn it out and have
prohibition.
The following letter from Mr.. w. M.
Sanders. president of the Smithfeld Cot
ton Mills and leading merchant, tells
how the dispensary has worked in Smith
field. Z
To the Editor:-You will remember that
our town adopted the dispensary system
three years ago last July. very great
majority of our people are pleased with
it. During the year, ending July list,
1903 we sold in round figures twenty
thousand dollars ($20OOO) worth with a
net profit of 80 per cent. One-half OF this
goes to the town of Smithfeld, the bal
ance to the public schools. We there
fore have practically graded school with
out taxation.
/ have examined the mayors docket
and was gratified to learn that for a
corresponding period with open bar-rooms
crime was much greater, actually showing
three cases Ito one IN favor of dispensary
system.
Your people should adopt the dispen-
sary system; first, because it will surely
decrease dram drinking; second, it takes
the profit arising from the liquor bust
ness out of the pocket of the individual
dealer and puts it directly into public
improvements and into the schools The
new regime of course has done away with
the horde of bar-roOm loafers and their
baneful influences.
Another very interesting feature of the
dispensary system is those who are de-
termined to invest in the drink business
can do so only between the hours of
sunrise and sunset Another feature,
those who sell the stuff under dispensary
system are salaried officers, and do not
drum for trade, and actually have the
right to refuse to sell to Objectionable
characters. The dispensary here is prob
ably the quietest business place in the
town. The guard house door stands open,
and we have but little use for such an
institution now.
On my way to the cotton mill daily
see some two hundred well-dressed and
happy children en- route to a splendid
school, which is sustained by the dis
pensary. Could the profits arising from
the whiskey business be possibly put to
better use? | am sure that many a lit
tie child has fuller stomach at break
fast on SUNDAY r1orDip0s Tbocn o,OCad 70