The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1905-08-16
THE LEXINGTON DISPATCH.
Wednesday, August is, 1905.
Why Not Say Nc Liquor?


Oh, ye moral husbandmep! Give US
absolute prohibition, or give us the
dispensary. The people are crying
aloud for relief from the whitening
curse of the whiskey habit, and in
stead OF doing this We find many who
claim to be leaders in the blouse Of
David" sligning themselves with
esrstwhile bar keepers, drunkards
and gamblers to pave the way for the
return of the open bar. Emblazoned
on their standard under. which they
are fighting, and which they claim to
represent the principles of sobriety,
Of temperance, and Of purity, is the
significant legend, aDISPENSARY:
Or, NO DIsPENSARY." Nothing
more nor nothing less. Not a sentence,
not q asyllabel, not word, not letter
about absolute prohibition of the
sals of intoxicating liquors. Read
the petitions that are being, or rather
the ones that were fret circulated
ssking for an election to vote out the
dispensary, and see if I am not COR
rect in my statement. The question
is not sWhiskey; or No Whiskey;"
bat is ssDispenear5; or, No Dispen-
sary."' The mother, whose nightly
prayer sscends to throne of grace
and whose tender love reaches out
and follows, her wsywsrd boy in his
wanderings from the paths of sobrie-
ty into the fields of drunkenness,
pours out the burden OF her heart
to the Ruler of the Universe for ab-
solute prohibition 10 save her boy
from himself, and, oh, man of God,
you have offered her the shadow for
the substance BY making the issue
simply thatof Dispsnsar5; or, Nc Dis
pensary. Those who suffer most
from the whiskey curse, have appealed
so-the Church of the living God for
protection, but some of the lead
ers have compromised with the devil
in favor Of open bar rooms, or high
license, or even drug store bar rooms,
or blind tigers so that the dispenssry
is defeated. :
We warn the people, of Lexington !
Chat the present fight .sgainst the
dispensary Is not a struggle .for
prohihitio but simply an .eHort to|
do sway with the dispensary With "a"
view Of opening the way for the
adoption of the high license system.
II is true that ,soiass: i 81 f4he leaders. of
The: present nosansnt.kold out the.
promise tomany who are honest in
theif desire for absolute prohibition
in order to get their: vote and indu-
encs in furtherance of the purpose
they have in view and for which they
have been fighting since the saloons
,7ere closed under the Tillmsn regime,
that We would hage at least four
years Of prohibition. This, however,
is not true. It is only bait TO
catch suckers; only q pitfsll for the
feet of the anwary and over jealous.
While another election cannot be held
in the same county on the liquor
9 uest;on within four years from the
date of the preceding one, yet it is
3 fact that the legislature can at any
session, either extra or regular, re.
establish the dispensary, adopt high
license Or open drug store bar rooms
clothed in the beautiful clothes Of
Prohibition. The Constitution gives
the legislature this prerogative and
it is q reasonable, logical and legi-
mate presumption that the whiskey
element, being more numerous than
their prohibition allies, will see that
the legislature will enact only such
laws as viii be conducive to their
own interests and Fill their tills with
money that has been stained with
the bitter tears of the mother, the
widow and the orphan, and baptised
with baptism of degradation, of
suffering and Of poverty and of blood.
The prohibition feature being
eliminated from, the present fight, the
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