The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-08-17
EPHRAIM IS JOINED
TO HIS idol.
CURIOUS REASONING OF Mr.. CLAYTON
AS To why The DISPENSARY
SHOULD STAND.

call your attention 10 nedulnS lnaI
appeared i'll your paper Of this week
as follows: "Mr S B Gordon Tries
Hard to Boost Tottering lnstltu-
ton" Evidently, Brother Wolfe
your headliner has been approached
by some ardent prohlbitionlsts who
has told him drinking liquor is ii
in ana that any church member
who did not vote for Prohibition
was no Chrisuan-in other words,
hung him over HI fire and scared
the liver ont of HIM. But, brother,
did he tel your man how much
taxes people down there III Will
liamSburg would have to pay when
this totteling institution falls: Did
he tell hm how your schools now
running SIX months in the year
would probably go back to three, as
was the case before We got dISpen-
sarv money? Did he tell about how
the whites have to educate the negro
children and that it is great hard
ship: And did he tell how the ne
groes helped lift that burden from
the white man. s shoulders. by drink
ing liquor: No, don't suppose he
told YOU this; for any one who Will
say that drinking liquor is sin has
not got common sense enough, to
teach an .A-B-C class, still less en-
tighten men. But, with your per-
mission, | will tell the good people
of Williamsburg county what they
may expect if they do away with
the dispensary.
Now, brother, l have carefully
calculated what what it will cost us
here in Florence to get rid of the
dispensary. 1t will add about As
per cent to our taxes, and the same
probably to yours of Williamsburg.
Now, our farmers are taxed enough
already, and to add this burden will
crush them. The man who holds
the mortgage on the OK doesn't have
to pay.t the tax; for he can lock 1t up
in his safe and say nothing about it,
but you can't hide the OK; and where
you paid one dollar tax on him You
will when this tottering mansion
falls, pay Sl.45, and SO in proper
ton. Now our preachers God bless
thcm,) tell you this is nothing in
comparison to the gain you make.
But you old clod- hopper of farmer
remember the preacher rides at half
rates on the rail road and while yuu
are bending your back in the hot
sun of Williamsburg county for
four days to make your roads good
so that the preacher and his wife
can ride to church without being
jostled; the preacher is exempt from
road duty. In fact, his taxes are
merely nominal and hence he can
readily put burden on you that he
does not bear. When you ride on the
train, you pay full fare, he does not;
hence, you dent hear him talk much
of Sunday violation by the railroads.
But he is some on prohibition, wants
whiskey destroyed and temptation
taken away from all. Now, We
would all like to see everybody per-
fectly pure; We would like never to
hear of murders, stealings, adul-
teries, and the like. Yet We do, and
it is the peculiar mission of the
Cha arch to correct those evils, and
because they have not made the
world perfect We are not in favor Of
abolishing the Church. No. We say
as reasonable people, man is inclined
to sin, ard if the church fails to
correct sin as Il whole. 1t docs mini
m:ze it, and we 90 home satisfied.
But If We took the view of the
preacher us to the dispensary We
would at once vote to abolish the
Church. But, thanks to education
and reason, We are not so stupid, for
the Church does great amount OF
good and if we did not have it, the
world would be even worse than it
is. And so it is with the dispen-
sary. 1t does not cure drinking but
it minimizeS it. IT, South Carolina
$40, per capita, is the price paid
for liquor, while in the United