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


ISSUE in q way to Senator Tiilraan
NAM the latter will find difficult to
NSde-step. He emphasizes the point
That the dispensary is a mora! issue
8nd not a political Or factionaI fight
The cotton warehouse will be need
sd in Sumter this season, and it is to
he hoped that it will be completed
In time to be of service to the farm
Nrs who must either sell their cotton
Nr store it where they can use it as
NalIateral on which t.. oorr 'M money
20 pay their pressing debts. With
cut cotton warehouses the farmers
Cannot win the fight to control the
Aarace Of cotton.
1t is not likely that any other news
ssapers will sell space in their columns
50 the dispensary machine. Money
chat is raised by dispensers who pay
Ger their elections, and whiskey drum
saers who profit by having pull with
she machine, is somewhat tainted to
Say the least.
The State campaign next summer
Asds fair to be the most unsavory in
Wears. IF the dispensary machine
Undertakes to elect man who will
sand sponsor for the dispensary sys-
Gem as at present conducted they will
spend a lot of money and corruption
NS1l stalk abroad in South Carolina.
There seems to be nothing new to
be said for or against the dispensary
sspsten. the matter having been thor
sDughN threshed out along in the
Aafneties. The open letters Of DR..
Croner and Senator ,Tillman make
Sateresting reading and serve to re-
Mesh the memory, but neither has
advanced any new argument for or
sagaina the systems We believe, as
Nc have always believed. that the
system is wrong in principle. that the
State has no right to engage in busl-
Aass on the pretext that it is doing
50 as police measure, and for that
reason we have not and cannot now
endorse the system. Nevertheless we
Aeheye that the dispensary as con-
-aacted in this city has been an i'm
erovement on the old saloon system
as well as a decided improvement on
Che condition that existed here when
Shss city was nominally a prohibition
Gown for brief period. The chief
objection to the dispensary as locally
conducted has been that it has sold
600 much liquor, the effort being to
&ncrease the sales, rather than curtall
ssae consumption. IF the dispensary
~as administered as a police measure
She local dispensa1y would not do
business of more than s100,0u0 per
annum. Yet would high license De
.sang better? Would not prohibition
ess worse?
Nothing has been published recent
" concerning the new railroad from
osais city to 3ethune, via Bishopville,
Sat shSs does not mean that the en-
Serurise has been abandoned. On the
ssa1tray the plans Of those who are
axeneting the enterprise are being
sSsa01N worked out to a successful
conclusion A lot for terminals IN
SAas city was recently purchased and
&he large sum paid for it would
scarcely have been invested on an un-
certainty.
The way Mr.. John L. McLaurin
sssseow talks about Tillmanism and the
0speDsary system would lead one to
she conclusion that he did not owe
8as political prominence to Tiilman's
eeoat tails. About twelve years ago
ae was a mighty champion Of the
great moral institution and helped
Senator Til.nlan defend it against all
assaults.
'Sahn wanamaker is a Harry Leh:
sa a1 enlarged scale-but why should
a. mar like Booker Washington con-
seat TO play the role of the monkey
f1ae commercial reports state that
Sae dry goods trade is facing
famine in cotton goods-that the
saasifs are over sold for months ahead
xaat does not look like cotton Will be
q Dug on the market at any sort o.