The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1906-08-24
SOME PLAIN FACTS
ABOUT THE wHIsKEY QUESTION
PLAINLY STATED.

PLAINLY STATED.
A Prohibitionists Whom the High
Licen SO or Parroom advocates
Can't Fool.
Editor Columbia Record:
To hear some people talk and to
read the comments of the different
editors about over the state upon the
dispensary, n would naturally con
olude that South Oerolina had been,
prior to the enactment Of tho dispen-
sary law, inhabited by pure, sweet
angelic people ond not by mortal,
mean wicked men. That these anti.
~dispensary fellows were the soul Of
honor and the embodiment Of every
virtue; that In them was no guile or
graft and, like George WASHINGTON,
had never told q lie. That vice, ras
callty and crime were unknown In the
land until q big devil came up some
where out Of the woods, with the dis
ponsary In his pocket, and turned 1t
loose among these lambs.
But all this e~ditorialipg and preach
Ing and speech making about the vir.
tue and Goodness of South Carolina,
before Ben Tillman and the dispen.
sary appeared upoD the scene, FOOLS
nobody. No, indeed, South Carolina
has never been an upspoiled Eden,
and l fear 1T will DO the last place the
millennium will strike. Reverse your
think box for a few moments and
take q retrospective view and you will
DO reminded that South Carolina has
been dead drunk and full Of rascaIs
for two centuries. Every one knows,
or should know, that q very high per
cent Of her people, Of all classes, were
drunkards, murderers, liars, g~rafters
and robbers from the very start. The
first beat that landed here brought
the germs Of all thesa villainies with
them from Europe. And 1T seems to
me to be disingenious and unworthy
to write and talk aud try to make
people believe the d~ispcusary created
the germs, and Matched out the first
brood Of these villains ever seen here
sbouts. No, sireo, some Of US know
better.
Under tho old barroom system the
state was as much in the whiskey
business as she is today. Yes, she
legaljzod the traffic and farmed out
the in;qnity Of selling whiskey to her
citizons, and put the money in her
treasury and used 1t for all purposes.
Chaplain, who offcrod prayers to
heaven OF cl morning for divine Wis
dom to guide and direct cur general
assembly, were paid with this same
tearsoaked money. And yet we hear
people insisting that the state was
never In the rum business before aud
that the blowing Of a palmetto tree
In q glass bottle put her in this nefari-
SpOtless name and made liars aud
rogues Of her citizens. Nay the fool
killer spare these idiots and hYpo-
critics.
South Carolina was not only In this
hell.bOrn traffic as a state but many
Of her honored and respected citizcns,
standing high In the community and
church, were silent money partners
In Illicit distilleries and barroUm-hells.
Under the dispensary regime many Of
this same GLASS have made the rural
districts drunk and dls0rderly by
furnishing dir6y, lazy, worthless Mig
gers whi8key to sell, thereby j3Opard
zing the lives and property Of the
community. Rapid. fire talking-tubes
Of every caliber and press. batteries Of
slt 8 zes have been trained upon the
dispenssry, and for what reasOn F.?
How many uf them eVeratook a Shot
at Mr.. Barroom? Certainly he was q
bad man. Yes, he was a bold, wick
I'd man, who murdered more honor
and killed men and undermined
their character and destroyed the pro
spects OF more boys, and heart broke
more women, In n year than the
diSpensary has since 1T was establish
cd. MIR. High License is the same
old Mr.. Barroom dressed in q new suit
OF co 1stltutionals, and would certain.
ly prove just as bad.
Did you ever think how funny it
sounds to hear people damping the
dispensary and GUESSING the labes and
9 on the BOTTLES and swearing at
Hub E9ans' beaver hat, who never In
all their pious and righteous lives
ever raised their voices against the
whtskey demon? Funny, isn't IL?
You must please excuse me If | get
mixed as to whether they are fight
ing whiskey ~ al evil or the dispen.
sary for the same outer reason.
Were drunks and crime of the bar.
room brand any better than those
Of the dispensary Label? Were heart
broken widows and poor orphan chill.
dren OF barroom manufacture less
helpless and pitible than those Of the
~dispensary stamp Some people think
so. Now let us be honest and con.
slstent and 90 to fighting whiskey az
the great enemy Of pure manhood and
womanh0od, and stop this %hypocriti.
cal scolding and railing at the dispen.
sary simply to crafty some selfish
prejudice. Whiskey has been one Of
the great crime breeders and man de-
stroyers from the beginning and Its
manufacture and sale should not be
tolerated under any arrangement
whatsoever, and would not be If we
were just n quarter as God serving
and neighbor loving az we pretend to
be-. Ii those wis control the trend OF
events had fougr half az hard to ban.
'Sh whiskey from the state as one half
OF them have fought to destroy The
dispensary and the other half to pre-.
serve that Institution, there would not
be enough whiakey In South Carolina
today to make q mint julep.
Admit the dispensary management