The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-09-06

"'AA IVY III tuC NOlIu
ket where competition insures quail |
ity. That reminds me, Mr.. Dispeu.
saryite, now that you ask ME to vote
with you, and thus open tho way for |
me to speak freely, you remember that
nrst dispensary law you enacted? |
How sweeping it was? What dire
penalties on those who had goods
shirpcd into The State for private user
How hard you fought to make US
drink your liquor because you we're
afraid some OF us might get poisoned
from without? That struck US az
lame excuse, but likely it was about
as good as you could we'll trump. 1t
was the principle on which you stood.
You remember with what zeal your
leader, the father of the system in
this State, and his confreres labored
to establish through the courts the
right OF the State to prevent the ship
ment of liquor into The State for pri-
vate use, or the ground that the citi-
zens of the State might get poisoned
by using liquor not tested by the
State chemist? That was accounted
unto them for righteousness then, but
everybody knows better now. That
reminds me of another matter. You
rem amber the countless packages your
army OF salaried constabes seized, to
cay nothing of the stray gallons of
mountain dew they captured? What
did you do with it? Dump it into
the Congaree as so much 'pizen?'
Not bit. lou did coufscate it, but
yor said so little about what you did
with it. We used to hear rumors
about the officials drinking it, but we
can't prove that. No, friend, if
man drinks at all, he oug ght in Justice
to his health to drink something clean,
and you don't sell it-exoept as put
up outside the Sta.e-aud l am COM
ing to believe the wholesalers, find
ing you are without competition here,
and do not have to have the best
goods, arc beginning, under their
labels and seals, to send you sorry
goods. Thirty thousand dollars bribe
to make $4OO, 900 sale would suggest
cheap goods. | have about come
to the conclusion that whatever is
put up by the dispensary at Columbia
or'for the dispensary elsewhere is OF
likely to stand true test of sound
goods. From my standpoint your
system is not only failure, it is
much Of a fraud. am not alone in
my position. You arc not apt to hear
much talk from the consumer, but
when time comes to act, his influence
will be felt, for he cannot but repudi-
ate your system"
Dispenssry cham pion to audience,
"Any. sane man will admit that the
Fundamental virtue of the system lies
in the fact that the local dispenser,
being salaried, is under no inducement
to encourage purchaseo.
| Prohibitionists ct al in chorus, "Is
the servant greater than his lord?
Gould he obtain or long hold his place
if not in full sympathy with the gain
getting spirit of the system? Indeed,
is it not likely he will be found ever
vigilant to promote it's sucoess?-its
financial success, for it's avenue to
success lies along no other route.
Financial success, moral failure and
vice versa. Is not his very depen-
denoe calculated to make Of him but
a 'fawning syoophant at the foot
stool of power?' And more, he is be-
coming quite On astute CRATER him
self. Look at Spartan burg. Aud
who does not expect to hear .1c:e
others? Did you say fundamental
Or what were the terms employeS7
Why, as we see it, there is but one
fundamental or cardinal feature to
your system, and that is monopoly
by the State Of the liquor busi
ness for profit. Look at it from any
side, study it dipassionately, be rank
in reasoning. What else is there
about it that is fundam ental?. You
fail to save? Let US show you. Pa
tient, please. If the sun.up and sun
down feature "a purely arbitrary and
artificial one, } the sealed package fea-
ture, the chemically pure test feature,
the ne-purchase-a. day feature,
| (whether four gallons or half pint,
for it's not the quantity so much as
the number Of purchases limited By
this feature,) the sign-your. name fea.
ture, the ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS fea-
ture had, by the legislature, been
tackled on to tho license system, would
you, could you say these were cardi-
nal features of what you emphasize as
1.-The barroom system? Neither can you
say that they are in any proper sense
cardinal features Of your system. The
truth is they sre only incidental, and
could be tackled on to any system if
valuable. But most of these are, after
all, only cheap paint. Why mislead
the people thus? You persuaded the
Legislature to adopt your system by
emphasizing these inoidens.l features
as Fundamental and OF great moral
weight. It was with these you 'greas.
ed your monopoly through the law
making body. AZ &C.: the Peopie, they
have never once asked for the dispen-
sary. They did by their vote demand
prohibition, but you took that tabu-
lated voice and converted it into your
so.oalled moral measure, and what
monster that Legislature did bring
forthl What . substitution! What
clean grist carried TO the mill to be.