The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1905-07-19
An Address TO The People.


has issued the following address,:
To the voters OF Anderson County:
You are to have Il chance to express
yourselves tor or against the South
Carolina liquor dispensary. There is
to be no excitement, no beating Of
drums, aud blowing of trumpets, but
there IL quiet, steady determination
upon the part of our citizens to bring
this institution to the bar of public
opinion.
1t was promised that the dispensary
WIS to be ''great moral Institu-
ton Has it met that expectation
fairlyp
1t was promised that it would great
ly reduce the sale of liquor. and many
of us believed it. and determined to
give it Ii fair trial. We are not pleas
ed with results.
We are not pleased that the con-
sumption of legalized poison should
have Increased every year until it last
year reached the enormous total Of
So, 500, 10000, and that dispensary off
cials have reached the point, as the
daily papers recently reported, where
they now refuse to give out informa
tion as to how much of the stuff they
do sell.
1t was promised that the revenue
accruing from tie dispensary would
greatly reduce taxes. 1t has not done
30. The tax rate in this county has
almost doubled since, the dispensary
has been in vogue, Notwithstanding Z
the fact that the assessment has been
raised from ak to eleven millions dur
ing the same period. The assessment
throughout the State has been increas-
cd proportionately;, yet the rate for
of grace 1905 than it has been for tif-
teen years while the deficit in the
state treasury is grenter than it has
been TOR many years. 1t ia evident,
then. that the dispensary as means
OF revenue has beon ,stupendOus
failure.
We are not pleased that beer
shops or additional salenrooms have
been grated on to tbe system-in
in order that The receipts of the
moral institution might be increased
nnd the volume OF "business'' grow.
We are not pleased that the liquor
dispensers officers of this State, solemn
~ sworn to observe and uphold the
law, ehould openly and flagrantly vio-
late the law, requiring from purchasers
that the sale of liquors might be re-
duced, aB the law, intended that it
should be.
We are not pleased that the officers
whom we have put in charge of the
dispensary to Gee that the law is eii-
forced, should think that we put them
there to ply a commercial venture.-to
coin dollars for proud state at the
expense of .citizenship,-to "push the
young men snd among the helpless
victims of fatal habit, and to fatten
the States treasury at the cost of those
whom the State should be most sOlic-
itous to protect.
We are not pleased that men should
more eagerly seek the Jobs or posi-
tiOns on the State Board of Control in
Columbia at $40O q year than they
seek the governorship OF this proud
than they. seek seats in congress
from South Carolina at $4,000 q
year.
And we regard it as most significant
that those who were friendliest, those
who hoped most from the dispensary
as a regulative measure, cannot longer
avoid the stencil of it's moral atmos-
that the institution reeks with corrup.
ton and lawlessness and that the expe-
riment has failed.
True, we get a little income from the
dispensary. But at what q cost!
We put in tens Of thousands to draw
out hundreds. We have heavier court
dockets and court expenses and hea-
vier taxes every year; we give our
young men, at great economic loss, to
the demon Of drink; and, worst of ali.
we make our mother State the agent to
furnish to them the means Of debauoh-
ing. their characters aud destroying
their souls.
Some say tiist Anderson county
"will not enforce prohibition law,
They enforce it in Marlboro: can wo
not do as we'll as Marlborof The
Charlotte News, q week ago, showed
how we'll they are enforcing it there;
is public aenLiment in Anderson coun-
ty not as enlightened as it is in Meek
lenburRq Onr naighbors tell us that it
is we'll enforced in many counties in
Georgia, and we do not believe that
the moral atmosphere and the standard
of citizenship in this county is inferior
10 that of any counties in our sister
State.
In Marlboro County the first con-
'victed "biind tiger" keeper was
nromntlY fined &4nl .nHA rnnrad Tn