Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1905-10-10

think that more people will
drink alcohol and patronize the dis
pensary because the profits go to edu-
cation! No one believes it, What sin
is there in obtaining revenue for good
cause from a traffic that is irrepressi-
BILE? To what better use can such rev.
enue be put than to healing the
wounds of widows and orphans OF
drunkards by giving those children and
dependents the best possible safe-
guards against crime and lmmorallty
and drunkenness;-educ
The drink habit grows out of an IN
stinct to stimulate, is world-old.
world wide, and no law of the state
can prevent it. AS well try to legislate
jealousy out of the human heart. Five
men of eight may vote that no liquor
be made or sold, but the desire for 1T
still remains in the other three, who
will have their drink, no matter what
the law voted by the other five against
making and selling the same may be.
Liquor laws, like all other laws, to be
successful, must conform to these ex-
listing conditions. Prohibition is thus
ruled out for it attempts the impossl-
DI9. WS are IGIl W ICStI w SoiAAN
practicable method of restraint.
The South Carolina dispensary, or
some system based upon its essential
features. is clearly the best method of
restriction, because it reduces drunk
enness more than does any other sys-
tenn, prohibition or even license, ana
does not reach that point of violating
personal liberty by prohibiting a mod
crate use of intoxicants. This 1t mas
done and is doing wherever tried. NO
nation or people that has ever tried
this system has afterwards Abandoned
it, The changes which at has wrought
in Norway and Sweden, in Switzer-
land, no less than in South Carolina,
have been as the change between night
and day. Experience and statistics
show this. There is no question about
this If it has done this in South
Carolina, in spite of the scandals now
coming to light, and in spite of the
opposition and the hard road it has
had there. to travel, what might not
have been mine to write of its fruits.
if all who now so strongly condemn 1T
and oppose it had given it's enforce
ment their moral support?
1t is plainly no<argument to say that
the dispensary is failure because of
lnalatlninistrat ton and miSmanage-
nent. AS we'll claim our banking sys-
tenn failure because defaulting CASH
iers are row and then, if not quite
frequently, brought to bay. So that
The fact. FOR fact it is, that the state
board Of control of that state is to-
day u,ldsr the stigma of a bribery and
suspicion, however we'll founded those
suspicious are, and black that stigma
is, proves nothing The principle, which
underlies this system and distinguishes
it from all otllers,-the principle of
state dispensation, is what should be
looked into ard made the test of its
validity or futility.
The state dispensary places the sale
of lixror in the hands of trustworthy
serrsnts of the, people themselves and
transfers to the state all the profits
which, under license, local option and
every other system of restraint go into
the pockets of private individuals. The
incentive, so strong In license. to reap
personal gain by increasing the sales.
by keeping late hours, by cling to
minors, by tempting the weak and in
weighing the spendthrift, are gone
from the state dispensary. These dis
pensers receive fixed salaries which
are not proportional to profits. and
why should one keep late hours, or
bother himself about authorizations and
counter attractions, when he gets moth
ing for his pains? Every motive for
their continuance falls out. Why do
men sell to drunkards? For gain. Why
do they keep late hours? To make
money. Why does he tempt the minor
and inveigle the spendthrift: For one
purpose, and one purpose alone. Every
despicable action, every criminal de-
sign, owes it's origin and it's concep-
ton to the one great motive, of gain.
Remove this motive, and you strike a
death blow at the very vitals of this
evil. Destroy the element of private
profits, and you solve this problem.
And this is what the dispensary
does. Encouragement and not sneers,
support and not opposition, then,
should be given Representative Weeks,
or any other rnan who seeks to incor-s
porate this system in the laws of Iowa
So decisive are; the gains, both morally
and socially, that the system, once
understood. will sweep over the ma
ton as did the Australian ballot. Let
principles of system before con-
den1ning it, which has done so much
good this side of the Atlantic, and
whose ccmmendable features and re-
suits in Continental and Insular Eu
rope are GO transforming to admit Of
any denial. j. SHARPE.