The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1905-08-08

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| amt built that way. daughter
and applause.) When I get too
cowardly to stand up in your midst
or anywhere else and speak the truth
as | see it and understand it then I
will have become too coward1y and
worthless to represent you anywhere
know I shall make enemies.
know many Of my best friends are to-
day lined up in antagonism to the
liquor system which | devised. Be-
cause they have changed am | to
surrender my conviction? / again
say l amt built that way. The Office
of United States senator is high
and noble one, but the office is not
worth the price which some men de-
mand of me-
Therefore l am here in answer to
your invitation to tell you what I
think, NOT to dictate-I know you are
not built that way, you do your own
! thinking, and not as l say. What
is the issue? How shall we sell IL
| quor or whether we shall sell it at
ali? That is the whole proposition
/ stated in brief sentence. .
There are three systems that have
obtained in the state, not in the state
as whole, but in parts of the scate:
one is the license system, the old bar
room system, the second is the dis
pensary system under which we are
now working, and the third is prolii-
bition. The ingenuity of man never
devised any more than those three
systems for liquor control Which
one of those is best? You have
heard eloquent and strong arguments,
facts and figures as they were pre-
sented in favor of prohibitjon.
+ confess TO you as between prohi-
hition and the barrooms, saloons or
any system OF license, am prohi-
b7tionist. But will prohibition pro-
hibN?
I say no. These other gentlemen
say yes. Let's give the facts.
Assails Prohibition.
We had prohibition in Edgefield
about 1884 or 1885. When the. dry
council was elected you could not
buy whiskey lawfully in the town of
Edgefield as a beverage; the only
way you could buy it was to get a
certificate from a physician and go
to some drug store with the doctors
prescription, if you needed some aqua
fortis-what other Latin phrase do
they employ?
\ voice: Spirituous frumenti.
Tillnan: Some OF you fellows who
used it recolEect. but I have forgotten
the formula. (Laughter) | know
this, that prohibition in the town Of
Edgefield was a kissing and BY
word, and that there was just as
much drunkenness then as there ever
had been under the saloon system;
and certain physicians who lived in
this town then grew absolutely rich
by giving prescriptions Or certificates
to Johnson, Smith or Jones who ap-
piled to them that they needed this
stuff for their health. (Laughter.)
A voice: Those physicians you
speak of are dead ard gone.
Tillman: I do not want to speak
i'll OF any dead man. and do not in
tend to. Whenever it has been tried
it has had the same result. And
above ali it has taught the people to
be hypocrites to go to the doctor
and say. Il have got the belly ache y
(Laughter.)
My objection to prohibition is, we
are not yet angels, more the pity;
I do not see any wings sprouting on
anybody's shoulder; we are sinful
human beings. made by God Al
mighty in His wisdom with short:
comings and the weaknesses Of man;
we have our appetites, and it is in
the nature of the beast to crafty