The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-05-17

operation. This is largely due to the fact
that the dispensaries found 1t necessary
to join forces with the bind tigers, OF
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 fol
the last six vars of license 1886 to 1892
and the last six years of the dlspensary
| system, 1896 to 1902, shows an increase In
homicides Of 557, an increase IN assaults
Of 1880; and an increase in violations OF
liquor laws of 2,O51.
"Fourthly. / propose to show that the
dispensary'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
| 1rmative by saying that under dlspen-
| sarg system the State is not dong so,
but is thrusting the evils upon It's cItl-
| 2ens in a far more deadly gulse, as some
! thing supplied by our mother State, there
! fore respectable When a State, for any
consideration, legalizes the liquor traf-
| fic it becomes a partner in the business;
and / 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
dispensary system because, If our State
did establish such a system, it would pre-
vent any community from having per-
manent prohibition.
Lastly, the dispensary system is an at
tempt to regulate this cancer which IS
eating out the vitals of our society, but
it can only aggravate 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-
tion 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 selfgovernment.
First We hold that the liquor traffic
lieing admittedly criminal, lshould be
dealt with as any other crime, by prohi-
bition.
Secondly. Prohibition will lead to still
better conditions. 1t will give the rising
generation far more protection than the
dispensary.
these are she differences between us:
THE affirmative stands for the State
dispensary the negative for the local OPP
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 pellution.
1.-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.
THE city of Portland, the home OF
Neal Daw, the greatest of the Prohibi
tionists, is perhaps a typical Maine 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 inhabi-
tants. In eighteen and ninety three. one
hundred and sxty-one persons paid the
T. S. special license tax; the payment of
which according to the State law is
crime, punishable by fine of one hun
dred dollars and Imprisonment for thirty
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-five arrests for illegal selling,
and the greater part of this sixty five es-
capped conviction, although the evidence
in each case was Overwhelmingly against
them.
1.-THE prohibitionists carry Maine at
every election. Even the saloon keeper, the
distiller 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
distiller, prohibition means protection to
their interests, without the payment of
single penny Of license tax; to the
drunkard. it means a glass Of liquor when
ever he has the price. The saloon-keepers,
dstillers 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 whskey, the value of an
oath has decreased fifty per cent Per
jury has become so common that it at
tracts no attention. 1t is almost inn
possible to get a jury to convict in a
liquor case, no matter how convincing the
evidence is. But for the cases caused di-
Iectlv by whiskey, the criminal docket
would be reduced by over one-half. Are
we not justified in concluding pnat 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 fa-
yor of it. 1t has never exterminated it
nor made it Improbable Prohibition has
failed to subdue the drinking passion,
which has forever been prominent char
acteristic of man in every station of life.
The efforts to enforce prohibition have.