The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-08-02
The Dispensary Question.
To the Editor:

To the Editor:
THE Devil when sick a saint would be,
But when he got well a devil Of a saint
was he
We understand that the saloon men are
using the same arguments in Raleigh
against the dispensary that they did III
Wilson, /. e., they oppose a dispensary
but favor prohibition" Had the question
been prohibition they would have been in
favor of a dispensary. | am satisfied that
disPensary is at present the. proper So
luton of the liquor traffic. So long as a
man has an appetite he will satisfy it,
and if he can not do it at legal place
then he will seek an illegal place. With
dispensary, if man is bound. 20 have
whiskey he can go to legal place to get
it, but if we had prohibition there would
be no legal place for him to go to. there
fore he would patronize an illegal place,
and thereby commit crime by aiding
and abetting a blind tiger. We congratu-
late you upon the fact that you are going
to have a vote on this question and wish
you success. We have been through the
fight and know what you may expect.
Your town will be flooded with circulars
and pamphlets telling of the conditions
You will have only to write to reliable
parties in any of the South Carolina towns
to find these reports false. They will
also take the distorted views of some
prohibition crank preacher who believes
nothing is good that does not bring about
the millennium and present that as an
argument against a dispensary. You Will
find also that every advocate of saloons
will pretend to be greatly IN favor OF
prohibition but opposed to dispensary.
Had the question been prohibition they
would have been strong advocates of a
dispensary. Again, there are the pure
in heart" who object to the city going
into the whiskey business. Nine times
out of ten he is a drunken sot. Is it
not better that the town should own one
saloon hedged about with all the safe:
guards that can be put on the liquor trat-
fc than to be partner in ten or twelve
dives that arc nuisance and a menace
to the rising generation?
You will have a few church members
who will insist that the preachers should
not have anything to do with this ques-
tion. If the preacher does his duty they
will quit attending services Let them
quit. The church has done well to get
rid of such members, and any preacher
who will fail to do his duty on that ac-
count is unworthy of his calling, and
should give it up. 1t is a preachers bust
ness to fight vice wherever he finds it
and if he fail in that he is unworthy the
cloth We know of no greater vice than
the open saloon. 1t brings strife not
peace; misery not happiness; sickness no.
health; poverty not riches: sorrow not
pleasure. 1t fills our jails with criminals
our poor houses with paupers, piles III
burdens upon the Taxpayers, destroys the
body and sends the soul to hell before Its
time.
In this contest we would advise that yol
be not too sanguine. You are up agains
an enemy that never sleeps. 1t has been
beautifully said that one on Gods side i
a majority, but to win In this case you
will have to get more votes than the devil
God helps those who help themselves. You
will find those who desire the good OF
the masses all on one side of this question
and those vino worship self and money
unon the other side.
Let each man ask himself this question
and let him answer according 20 the die
tates of his own conscience and then act
accordingly; then the wall of the drunk