The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1904-12-02
THE DISPENSARY.
What Senator 1illman Thinks onght
to be Tone With It.
RAISE 1T ABOVE SUSPICION
Or Farm 1t Out to Some Responsible
Pfivate Individual or Firm :
To Manage AS n
Nionopoly

Monopoly.
Senator Tillman, in conversation
regardirg & the dispensary law, the
other day, with Mr.. Kohn OF The
News ard Courier staff, said that II
would be very unfortunate in more
ways than one If nothing were done
at the approaching G session of the Gen.
eral ASst mhly to s5raighten out the
dispensary system, and raise 1t above
the cloud OF suspicion that is over 1t.
He said that in his opinion the whole
point was the bettermelt of the sys-
TEN. What the General bly,
would have to do would be to Straigh.
ten out thirgs, remove the doubt
about the conduct OF the business aud
raise the purchasing and other feat
ures of the system absolutely above
suspicion. 1t ought to be nothing
more than the consideration of the
practica bility Of the suggestions made
along these lines. Senator TIllman
said that If nothing were done at the
approaching session Of the General
AS. emb>y, most likely at the ext
81 ssion the argument would be that
the proposition had better go before
the people, as tie General Asse mbly
generally declined to take any radical
steps at its second session, and on
that account he hoped very much for
the sake OF the diSpCnSary that the
toninp up Of the dispensary law
would he under taken at theapprOach-
ing session.
In the Opicnion Of Senator Tillman
it is utterly impract'ca0ie ant iii.eli-
Svised tn have county management Of
dispensaries. He urges that the same
incentive that it is suggested now &C
tuatts one bt ard to making money
out OF the dispensary. would exist
amor 6 forty boards. and that if there
is corruption in one central board 1t
would be spread out among forty
boards, in. tead Of one, II there were
s no change in the method of purchas-
log and the manner Of conducting the
system. Senator Tillman says that he
does not for an instant charge that
there is this corruption or this mis-
management, but that the system has
to be raised above suspicion to satisfy
the pt ople.
And then Senator Til'man went on
TO relate bit of history. He said
that, during the progress Of the dis
cussion OF the di>pensary system in
the Constitutional Convention there
were all sorts OF suggestions made as
sle.elallSe, in the GonstItuiian rela
Sltlve Eto@the+ conCuct OF the Whlskey
business. The dispensary was being
ATTACHED on al sides, and there seem.
ed to be no way out OF the situation.
MIR. MeCaIa, who was delegate to
the Conv, ntion, al ose and said that 1t
was remarkable to him that the faith
er OF the dispepsary system, meaning
Senator Til.man, had not said word
and that he had allowed the discus.
sion to 60 on without even making a
sugg, sstion. SeuatoI Tlllman then
arose aud stated that the right of the
State to deal In liquor had not yet
been settled by t. Supreme Court,
and that he was ;,uwiIling to enact a
provision that leg no leeway to deal
with the issue. That afternoon he
prepared substitution for the pend
ing propositions, ard the suggestion
thai he made IS row the fundamental
law as enacted in the Constitution.
In that consti -utiOnal provision there
Is clause which provides that the
State can create an ahsolu'e mono.o
Iy and 'iarm IL out" Ia other w rds,
the State might turn over the dis pen.
sary to any responsible firm under
bond. I'D hen require that they con.
uuct the sale OF liquor under the con-
Stitut' onal provisions, requiring first,
that LIQUOR be sold only in daylight,
second, that no liquor should be con
Sumed or opened on the premises
where sold, and third, that no liquor
should be sold in less than half. pints
With the enforcement OF these funda-
mental nrinci Pies Stna: or Tillman in
sists that it will be far better for the
State to farm out the liquor selling
privilege, or in other words, to create
monop ", and then see that 1t is
carried out according to law, than to
allow the syst; n. TO continue under
suspicion, Or TO p2rmit the counties
handling the dispensaries, as has been
suggested.
Senator TillInan's idea Is that the
talk about the dispen, ary must stop
for the g)od of the State, whether
the talk nc With or without cause,
and the only way TO do 1T is to raise
1t above susp'cion by putting the pur-
chasing power in the hands Of I pie
WHO co not want to have that privi.
lege, and who are not candidates for
that position, and If some such a.
merdment as he suggested In his
Gaiiuey speech cannot be adopted,
that aS last resort it would be bet,
ter to # srm out" the liquor business
and have some RESI- IOnSible firm con
duct it undtr proper bond and re
strlctious.
He is sat SIZED that such an arrange
ment could readily be made. but his
chief objection to it Is that 1T would
bring the element OF personal gain
into the sale OF liquor, and the chic.
virtue OF the uispensary Law, II p.o
perly enforced, lie insists, Is that
there is no elem ent OF personal gain
to any one connected with the dis
pensary sys en-, ana IL that personal
equa ion can be eliminated The dis
pensary viii be run uDon the lines
that he has always hoped to see.
AS to the victory against the dis
pensary In Gatfncy, Senator Tilimar
does not seem 10 be disturbed at all
He says tnat the vote was not a,
large as 1t might have been, and that
there was by 10 means full ballot