The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-08-17
aes, you hav. too muc

>E%r poiilical iuture. Lou occupy
large place i'll the history of South
Carolina for the last Is Years, and
for Il number of years no rival has
challenged your primacy among the
POLITICAL leaders of the State. Ben
Tillman, he senator representing
South Carolina, can we'll afford u
4 discard the methods Of Ben Till
man, the partisan political leader.
I do 1, 1t mean to be offensive. You
know of my appreciation OF the dis
tiuguished services chat YOU have
rendered this State IN number OF
directions. But | earnestly protest
that YOU have no righr to befC thi,
question by lowering it to the plane
of partisan politics.
That the administration of III
dispensary system is corrupt any
fool can see as he runs. But | go
farther than that, even at the risk
of having you charge me with cant
and hypocrisy. No matter how high
your purpose may have been in
adopting the system, IN it origin 1t
seems to have been a cunnlngly de-
yised scheme to chloroform the pub
lie conscience. No Jesuitical at
Tempt to debauch morals by using
the end 10 justify the means could
have been more successful, if The
system had been honestly admins
tered. The corrupt administration
will save us from the system Itself.
Gov Hocb of Kansas tells me,
"We are rearing new civilization
here. | believe there are more than
quarter of million young people
who have never seen Il saloon. Pro-
hlbition is the only logical attitude
3 of law toward the liquor traffic, and
the whole country will some day
recognize the fact What sort of
civiliza ion are We rearing in South
Carolina? Our supreme court in
its famous decision upholding the
CONSTITUTE, hality of the dispensary
law, laid down the following as a
Fundamental proposition and said
that if this proposition Is not true
the law is unconstitutional: I" That
liquor. in its nature is dangerous to
the morals, good order, health and
safety of the people, and is not to
be placed Oh the same footing with
'the ordinary commodities of life,
such as, corn, wheat, cotton, tobacco,
potatoes, etc" Kansas says to her
children, "The liquor traffic is dan
gerous and ought to be prohibited. y
South Carolina says to her thous-
ands of school children, "The liquor
traffic is dangerous to the morals,
good order, health and safety of the
people, and therefore We will sell
liquor and get all the money We can
tor the schools. You may call it
cant if you will, but in effect here is
an insidious attempt to we'd public
education to the liquof traffic. Itis
an unholy alliance and God will put
them asunder. We cannot afford to
lower the ideals of our schools. We
must not poison the fountain that
nourishes the heart and brain of our
people.
The business If the saloon keeper
was becoming disreputable in this
State, and saloon keepers were be-
ginning to find it difficult to justify
the business in the eyes of their chill
dren. The dispensary system at
tempts to make the traffic respec-
table and reputable: How can the
children in our schools answer the
sophIst"y of the argument, that
whatever contributes to the support
of the schools is good and wise: |
Law it down as little short Of an
axiom, that any restrictive scheme
that takes control of raffic that is
dangerous To the morals of the peo-
ple, and contro's it in such a way
as TO ma >e it reputable, is "a vicious
and dangerous scheme.
Let me s1ggeSt IN historical par
alel. A great leader Was csmmand-
ed to 60 down among The Amalakites,
standing for immortality, and destroy
them and theirs utterly. When he