Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-09-22
Htiseellautuas Reading.
HUMBUG AND FARCE.
Former Dispensary Advocate Now Has
His Eyes Open.

thoughts on tnlS question: WHiSh III ii'1
Judgment is the most serious problem
that Is waiting solution by the people
of South Carolina. I want to say in the
outset that I was at first a strong
friend of the dispensary system and
voted for 1t, because I honestly be-
lieved that it would destroy the open
saloons, and would go long way to
minimize the use Of intoxicating IL
uuors. The law was framed ostensibly
for this purpose, and the system estab-
lished with this claim, and the law as
first enacted, If strictly adhered to and
enforced would have accomplished this
result.
At first the dispensaries were sup
piled with high grade Of liquor at
high price. This was wise and should
have been continued as a permanent
policy. But this policy was found to
be unpopular with a large class of IL
ouor drinkers who had been accus-
toned to cheap whisky, and in order to
molify this class and to keep them In
line in the primaries the cheap FUSS
x" stuff, or in other words, the very
lowest, poorest class of liquor, was
supplied. We don't need to go far to
ascertain the motive for this.
Every thinking man Of practical
common sense knows that If the policy
of high grade liquor at a high price
had been the policy and adhered to, the
use of intoxicating liquor among the
poorer class Of our people would have
been decreased fifty per cent. But
time has proved that small sales was
not the object or purpose Of the astute
politicians who foisted this system up
on the people of the state. So far as
the people are concerned 1t was leap
in the dark. and was a rash expert
ment by politicians who were Woefully
lacking in the elements Of true states
manship. We hear it said on all sides
that this system is better than the bar
rooms. In some respects that is true,
but in some others 1t Is not true. Is
it not a humiliating position and dis
graceful spectacle to the view Of en-
lightened Christian men and women
the world over, that the people of the
proud old Palmetto State, with her
glorious history Of the past, should
go bodily into the liquor business and
deal out to her citizens this beverage
Of hell for the sake Of revenue, thus
placing money above the manhood and
womanhood of the state? I hear 1t
said by the advocates Of this system,
that the state had as we'll sell it as to
farm out the privilege to private fndi-
viduals to sell it. This Is a specious
and Is based upon a false
premise. The state did no such thing,
but under the local option law that ex-
listed prior to the institution of the
dispensary system, the incorporated
towns and cities Of the state were al
lowed to issue license to retail liquor
If it was the expressed will Of their
citizens to do so. My recollection Of
the law is, that one hundred dollars of
counties, but nothing to the state.
Many of us contended that one-half
should go to the counties, then the
towns would not have been so ready
to grant the licenses. With this pro-
vision it would have been the best IL
quor law that the state has ever had.
Now, what are the good features of
the dispensary system? Il don't mean
the law, but as the business Is opera
ted The liquor Is sold in packages
of not less than half pints and is not
sold after sunset nor before sunrise
and is not drunk on the premises. All
the other good provisions Of the law are
ignored and don't count in the reck-
oning. What are the bad features Of
the system? In the first place, 1t Is a
huge, cumbersome, expensive business,
which costs an enormous amount of
money to run it. In other words, the
profits are exceedingly small in pro-
portion to the expenditures, when we
consider the vast amount of liquor sold,
and especially when we consider the
high price and the low quality Of the
goods The state commissioner, the
board of control, all the men employed
in and around the state dispensary, all
the county boards Of control, all the
county dispensers and their clerks, to-
gether with the large number Of state
constables, form no inconSiderable
army of men who are directly interest
ed in the perpetuity Of the system.
This organization is destined to be-
come. in fact has already become. a
fostering, offensive sore in our body
polite, corrupting the fountain Of our
state government. Pure streams will
not and cannot flow from an impure
fountain.
Who are selling liquor in South Car
olina? Directly the officials Of the
state government indirectly every man
and women in the state. Is 1t wrong
to retail intoxicating liquor as a bev-
the best men and women in the state
think so, and have said so by their
votes, yet we have against their protest
made them partners in the biggest re-
tail liquor business ever prosecuted in
the United States.
Another bad feature Of the system Is.
we have made liquor selling and drink
ing more respectable. Before the
adoption Of this system, saloon keep
ers were not held in fellowship in the
churches, and they did not expect it,
and their respect for religion was en-
hanced thereby. How is it now?
Why, from H. H. Crum and his staff
officers all down through the line of