The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1905-09-13
TlLLMAN SAYS
REMOVE BOARD
Notable Debate on a Notable Subject by
Notable Men at a Notable
Place.

Gold Hill band, made the occasion a
success. In response to a numerously
signed invitation to talk ~dispensary and
reply to charges made at a recent pro-
hibition meeting in Yorkville Senator
Tillman was present. Senator Brice
was on hand to represent the anti-dis-
pensary side of the question. Senator
Tillman was in fine form and spoke for
two hours. Senator Brice made a Wig
orous speech. Inquiry among repre-
sentative men in the audience failed to
show that sentiment against the dis
pensary had been changed, the general
opinion being that the county would
vote the institution out.
Senator Tillman made much the same
speech that he has made elsewhere,
the only new feature of Importance be-
ing a demand that the governor Gel
else his power and remove the men,
bers of the State dispensary board at
once.
Senator Brice was the first speaker.
He vigorously denounced the whole dis
pensary system, maintaining thatit was
u~ndemocratic, that it makes every citi-
zen whether he will or not a partner in
the liquor business, that it dignifes the
sale of liquor, and makes it popular,
respectable and reputable, that it at
tempts to make the sale and drinking
of liquor a permanent and fixed institu-
ton by fastening it on to one of our
most cherished institutions, our public
school system, that it has increased
murder 70 per cent. and assault and
battery 40 per cent, that it is a COM
com cheat and swindle, a snare, a de-
fusion and fraud and a vast lake of
pitch that defiles and blackens every
one who touches it. 1t is a deadly vam-
pire that hovers with it's black and
hellish wings over every home in South
Carolina. 1t is a whited sepulcre,
beautiful without but full or dead mems
bones and all uncleanness. Mr.. Brice
stated that the dispensary system could
never be cleansed. He said: 81 shall
never vote as your senator to purify
any such black law as the d~ispensary.
and l will fight it to the last ditch. The
only law l will support is one to kill"
His speech was we'll received. He spoke
for an hour. AT its conclusion Chair
man Wilborn adjourned the meeting
for dinner.
SENATOR TILLMAN'S SPEECH.
After reassembling Senator Tillman
was introduced. BY the way of preface
he referred, as he always does, when
he appears on the stump in York
County, to his having made his first
political speech at Tirzah in 1886,
and explained that he was there to-day
at the invitation of friends in the
county, awho had sent him a numer-
ously signed invitation to come up and
defend himself against attacks made on
him at the anti-dispensary meeting held
in Yorkville on August 7th.
He devoted considerable time to de-
Tending his course in obtaining the pas
sage of the law, and repeated his claim
that a majority of the voters in 1892
did not ask for prohibition, thirty
thousand against it and eighteen thou
sand who did not vote on the PROPOSE
ton.
Senator Tillman, however, denounced
the management in Columbia as thieves.
and stated that while there are scores
of honest men in the State who are
working for a salary of $500 a year,
they are not in charge of a three and a
half million dollar business. He had
something to say about the great bene.
fits the agricultural class was receiving
from the dispensary, in that by reason
of the money paid into the school fund
the schools were kept open six weeks
longer than they would be without it.
Much of his time was devoted to sar.
casm and ridicule, his target being
Senator Brice, and those who are
standing with him in the fight against
the dispensary. He referred to the
communication recently addressed tt
Ex-senator McLaurin by four citizens
of Spartanburg urging him to become
a candidate for Governor on a anti-dis.
pensary platform, and stated that he
had investigated the men who .igned
the letter and found that at least two
had been tried by the Courts for vic.
lating the ~dispensary law.
MIR. Tillman said that under the Con.
stitution the Governor is given au.
thority to remove a corrupt and incom.
petent board of control, and that the
investigation of the dispensary now ir
progress has shown that the entire
State board of control is both incom-
petent and corrupt, and he mentioned
the label purchase as one instance OF
both, and stated that it was the duty OF
Governor Hayward to remove the en-
tire board and appoint one composed of
honest, competent men to administer
the affairs of the ~dispensary. He took
a hand primary on the proposition as to
what the Governor should do, and every
man in sight voted to sustain Senator
Tillman's view.
Senator Tillman said that, from what
he had been able to gather as to the
situation in York, he was of the opinion
that the people were going to vote to
close the dispensary at Yorkville, and
that he was entirely willing for them to
do, If they so desired.
Senator Tillman repeated his recent