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

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pose may have been in adopting the
system, in it's origin it seems to have
been a cunningly-devised scheme to
chloroform the public conscience. NC
Jesuitical attempt to debauch morals
by using the end to justify the means
could have been more successful i
the system had been honestly admin
istered. The corrupt administrator.
will save US from the system itself.
Governor Hoch, of Kansas, tells US.
1--WE are rearing new civilization
here. I believe there are more than
a, quarter of a million young people
who have never seen a saloon. Pro-
hibition is the only logical attitude o.
law toward the liquor traffic, an1 the
whole country will some day recog
nize the fact. What sort of civiliza-
ton are we rearing in South Carolina
Our Supreme Court in its famous de-
cision upholding the Constitutionality
Of the dispensary law, laid down the
following as a fundamental PROPOSE
ton and said that if this proposition
is not true the law is unconstitutional:
"That liquor, in its nature, is danger
Gus to the morals, good order, health
and safety Of the people, and is not
to be placed on the same footing with
the ordinary commodities Of life, such
as corn, wheat, cotton, tobacco, pota-
toes, etc. Kansas says to her chill
dren: ''The liquor traffic is dangerous
and ought to be prohibited" South
Carolina says to her thousands OF
school children: t'The liquor traffic
is dangerous to the morals, good Or
der, health and safety of the people,
and therefore we will sell liquor and
get all the money we can for the
schools
You may call it cant if you will,
but in effect here is an insidious at
tempt to wed public education to the
liquor traffic. It is 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.
Was Becoming Disreputab1e.
The business Of 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 attempts
to make the traffic respectable and
How can the children in
our schools answer the sophistry Of
the. argument that whatever contri-
butes to the support Of the school is
good and wise? lay it down as little
short Of an axiom that any restrictive
scheme that takes control Of a traffic
that is dangerous to the morals Of the
people, and controls it in such a, way
as to make it reputable, is a vicious
and dangerous scheme.
Let me suggest an historical paral-
lei. A great leader was commanded
to go down against the Amalakites,
standing for immortality, and destroy
them and theirs utterly. When he
was called to account by the old pro-
phet and asked what meant the
lowing Of cattle and the bleating of
sheep, his lame excuse was that the
people had kept the best of the sheep
and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord. The
prophets answer was as swift and
withering as lighting: Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice" Sacri-
fee is good, but there are better
things than mere sacrifice. The Gov
ernment Of a great State was COM
manded by the moral sense Of the
people, expressed at the ballot box, to
go down and destroy the liquor traffic.
And when called to account it makes
the pitiful plea that while it has not
destroyed the traffic it has managed
it so as to get money for the taxpay-
ers. Money for the schools is good,
but there are better things than money
for the schools. The blight of Gods
curse falls upon the people that re-
sort to methods that dull the public
conscience and lower the tone of pub
lie morals.
1t Cannot Help You.
Senator Tillman, the dispensary
system cannot help you, and you can
help it only temporarily. 1t is
wrong in principle and corrupt in
practice, and it's doom has been writ
ten. BY throwing your powerful in