The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-11-04
The Whjskey RuSiueSS,

The Whiskey Business.
! The Rev j. L. Stokes. d. D.. delivered In
iorkville recently, speech from the pulpit
which the Enquirer denominates "rowerfu!
Sermon" on the evils OF drinking whiskey
and the sin Of the dispensary.
| The learned divine makes q great lot of
classical quotations, and 1t would seem
makes a nice exhibit of his literary wares
But all his quotations are not worth as much
AS few words, like these: Mothers, do
you know that you plant the seeds OF Inc
briefly in your infants when you feed them
diluted liquor from q teaspoon? Do you
know that the giving OF medicine ia rulnous
to the health of the child, and that great
evils follow paragoric?" A simple warn
ing like this would have been more ef.
fective and worth more than stacks of class
lcal illusions.
II parents were urged to train their chill
dren to total abstinence, the act would be
more effective for sobriety than a volume Of
either abuse or Misrepresentation of the dis
pensary.
The learned divine reminds us of the as
tronomer who knew all about the stars, but
didn't know how to plant potatoes in the gar
den.
Iutemperance Is at our very doors, and,
presumably, people who come in contact
with 1t every day should know more about
preventing it. or curing 1t, than the anclents
or the classical scholar who never saw a dis
pensary, or never en- tered a bar-room.
If the mothers, who heard the learned d.
vine expose his lack OF Information on the
whiskey traffic. had been urged To re!raiu
from phySlclng their infants with liquor
from spoon, and had in after years tried 10
impress upon them the necessity OF teaching
their children total abstinence, much good
would have been done.
The learned divine goes too far when he
presumes 10 state the grounds uuon which
the dispensary is supported.
He exposes his lack of Information when
he talks of the liquor traffic, as one which
can be SO easily controlled. That Issue has
engaged the attention OF the wisest, the best
and the most patriotic men OF the past ages.
1t has also engaged the attention OF vast
number of men who would make money out
of it, or who would have the drinking places
kept open.
Up to this time, the situation has resolved
itselfinto this:
l. AS far as We know, all the governments,
Federal. State and Municipal, have outlawed
the traffic In liquor. The government as
sumes control ofit, by placing 1t under "po-
lice regulation"
9 Under the inter State commerce law In
this country. there Is no such thing as pro-
hibiting the entrance of whiskey into any
community, If it be shipped for private use.
A man may order daily for his own use a
pint or a quart, or barrel of liquor from a
neighboripg State, and be as secure in its
shipment and possession as If he had ordered
a barrel OF -four or barrel Of sugar-a pound
of coffee, or quart of molasses. In the
broad sense there can be no such thing ss
| "probibition." In a limited sense, there may
be prohibition of the sale in any particular
locality but liquor cannot be lawfully eX-
cluded from any part of the State. The sale
| In a town may be prohibited, but the In
habitants thereof may order 1t at will.
The Press and BinDer fully agrees with all
that any man could say OF the evils resulting
| from the abuse OF liquor. 1t wastes estate,
destroys health, ruins men. women and chill
dren, both morally and physically, 1t brings
degradltion, unhappiness and suffering, and
finally sickness and death. The whole train
OF evils follow In the wake of the drink habit,
and every good man should do all In his
power to stop the use Of liquor In all its
forms. 1t is the unclean thing, which no
man car handle with safety, buta venomous
| arraIgnme Of the saloon men, and ignor
ance of the dspensary will do no good.
| And the man who does not recognize the
difference between a bar-room and the dis
pensary is incompetent TO pass judgment on
the different manner of dealing with liquor.
From q moral standpoint, he may be per-
fectly competent 10 warn the people against
the use OF liquor, but he is totally lacking In
the Information which would enable him to
Instruct anybody, or to be effective for good
| in discussing the laws.
| The dispensary is fixed in the Constitution,
and wisely too. Nothing short OF q two
thirds vote in the Legislature can change 1t,
and that change could not be effective until
two othirds of the people had ratified the act
at the next regular election.
The dispensary Is largely governed by law,
while latitude is given, or taken by those who
are entrusted with its administration. II
| the LIQUOR Commissioners have discretion,
why not appeal to them for abatement of
particular nuisances as far as possible. The
plous divine must know that wild abuse OF
the dispensary is not the best way 10 correct
| the evils incident either to the en- nforcement
of the law or in the use intoxicating liquors.
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