Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1904-07-06
Theory, ssact sAd plspeasary.


Waupanueke, l. r., June "a. There il
iately being q great deal said aud written
In South Carolina Oh tha dispensarS h
south Carolina. Some are looking a,
the question from the viewpoint of the
reltgionist, Others from that OF the poIi.
uciap, aud perhaps some from that OF the
ofitce-iover.
4 am not viewing this question from
the politicians viewpoint, for i am not 4
politician. Neither do L see the ones
tion from the view of Democrat, for i
never was thus nor wished ID be',t n
Democrat of any kind. But, being q
minister, naturally lOokon the dispen.
sary law OF my native State from the
moral view point.
To my mind the dispensary law of
South Carolina Is the very best solution
of the whiskey problem In this country.
Ia my school life and service since /
nave lived in North Carolina, there they
had the system of high license and Jugs
conld be found hidden In the grass on
tho campus of Davidson College while
the students drank and shot out window
halls.
The ssrite- lived :m Scath Carolina and
studied the. theory and, practice of the
dispensary law. He lived in Kentucky--
once in high license city, where there
were about $50 saloons, with perhaps half
OF them open all day every Sabbath.
Again in a local option 'dry' town
whore men ran blind tigers among peo.
pie who could see, see the tigers and are
there doing work on Sunday and So ell
Ing up the>fifteen year old boys. That's
the country where for rape negro near
nee was turned loose on a 500 bond aud
where for such crimes men are usually
fined five or ten dollars
The writer lived in Alabama where the
nearest saloon was 80 miles away. And
there the merchants ordered whiskey for
men and could secure it from Mobile in
IL hours. Consequently, nearly every
store was an express, office and the
preacher who opened his mouth was
sensationalist and his salary WAS crippled.
He again moved to the Indian Terri.
tory, where the United States has a spe-
cial law against whiskey, which the
druggists too often ignore i'm their selling
white mules" and Peruna.
After studying the whiskey question
under the varied laws in these places IL
does occur to my mind that tho South
Carolina dispensary system is the best So
luton of the wbiskey question.
ls local option on prohibition better
than the present lawp Not when the To-
cal decision is at the voting option of
men who like dram. And where the
local decision is for men who despise
whiskey they can vote even dispensary
away.
Is high license better than the present
ia"P No, for license never goes too high
foi a saloon keeper to reach it and sa-
loon does good work for boys who can't
trade at dispensary. A saloon does
big business during the stay of circus
and fire when the governor and a
mayor can close dispensary. A saloon
can draw an assembly on Sunday or
n - I,... Il
and disturb the Christian Sabbath and
the nations rest day. Is the dispensary
better than to lot The whole question 90
without legislation? If anything is bet
ter than the freedom of rum it must be
the dispensary which checks the course
of rum.
Is prohibition any better than the dis.
bama it seems to be worse. But prohi-
bition is better than dspensary in theory.
But theories do not make food when
cooked nor cloth when woven. And we
must live and vote according to visible
conditions and not according to pet the.
ories no matter how the theory may be.
Can we enforce prohibitions Did any
OF us ever see it enforced2 Is the State
ready for it2 Are the people educated
to accept it? Until they are we must
take the next best thing and that seems
to DO the dispensary law of South Caro-
lima.
After all, public opinion, and that only,
can enforce law in this country. All
the armies and navies, all tho governors
and sheriffs can't enforce a law against
the will of public opinion. Public
opinion will not support perfect prohi-
bition, it's pity, it's sad, but it's 80.
And we must not let theory run away
with judgment. If We cant get cake
let us take pie" and work harder and
some time we may get the cake and then
it will be well cooked and ready.
w. Bruce Doyle.