The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1905-08-23


the government of a State was COM
manded by the moral sense of the
people expressed at the ballot box to
go down and destroy the liquor traf-
fc. And when called to account it
makes the pitifuI plea that while it
has not destroyed the traffic it has
managed it so as to get money for
the taxpayers Your parallel is not
a parallel at all.
The people of South Carolina have
never instructed it's government to
prohibit the sale Of liquor. In the
separate box provided bv the Demo
ocratic executive committee in the
Democratic primary Of '92, the vote
stood, as I recollect, $4,000 for pro-
hibition, $4,000 against, while $4,000
did not vote on it at all q quote from
memory. That election was a side
show and you have no right to mag
Nifty its significance. This is a gov
ernment Of majorities and no major
ty of the people has ever given any
such order, while when the question
has been passed on since directly pos
itiyely a half dozen times the people
said that the dispensary law was
better and more sane solution. Isn't
it about time to stop alluding to
that election? The dispensary sys-
tenn does not rest for its support
upon the money that it brings in. 1t
rests on the claim Of its defenders
backed by experience Of our people
and statistics as affording more pro-
lection against the vice Of drunken
ness than any other system, prohibi-
ton or license either.
If it has done this in spite of NAL
administration and nismanagement.
what would it not do if such men as
DR.. Cromer and his friends would
give to the enforcement Of the law
their great moral support? We do
not ask endorsement but in a gov
ernment where a majority rules we
have had a right to expect co-opera-
ton and assistance and we have not
had it. Yet render unto Caesar the
things that are Caesars" was the
command of the Master himself.
When the statute has been practical
ly annulled by the hoard Of directors,
when the restrictive features have
been allowed to drop into disuse.
have the prohibitionists lent their as
sislar.ce by standing up boldly fc' Tie
Law? Had they done so, we would
cot be now where we are.
You have been kind enough, my
1ear sir, to remind me of Jefferson
eoi1aph. You declare "the people 20
no. need advice, o:lt they need an
opportunity to vote Allow me tc
remind you that one Of Jeffers. ms
r:axims which was the very embodi-
!.ant of civil libecty and true Demo-
crazy was Teach the people and
trust the people,
You want the people to vote now
while they are angered and bewii-
dered. I want them to vote sane
ly' after they have heard the facts
and arguments and want all of
them to vote who have an interest
in this matter, and under the Brice
act this is not allowed. You men
toned Winthrop and Clemson as
among the things which I would
be remembered. You left off some
others that I presume to add, not
from a sense Of egotism but simply
to keep the record straight:
Cd The emancipation in 1890 Of
the people from dry rot, caused by
only one party and the demonstra-
ton that we could have the most free
and open discussion of political ques-
tions without danger, followed by the
Inauguration of the State Democratic
primary system.
(2)The constitutional convention
and it's work, largely the result Of my
untiring and earnest efforts, and my
work in that convention in behalf Of
common schools and the disfranchise-
ment for the time being Of the negro
majority legally.
co Last, the Inauguration of the
sale of liquor by bonded officers un-
der the dispensary system. I will not
say that your vision is clouded by
fanaticism, but if it be true that "he
who makes two blades Of grass to
grow where only onei grew before is
public benefactor," then is it not
equally true that he who conceived
a scheme by which drunkenness was