Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1906-01-24
In the RIsa. Direction.

We do not like the Morgan bill, which
has been fayOrably reported to the House
at Columbia as substitute for the dis
pepsary system of regulating the whis-
key traffic In this State. 1t is local
option measure and to that extent it
would be distinct improvement upon
the dispansary method, but It provides
that the Stale shall continue in the LIQUOR
business and for the distribution of the
profits.
1t makes the State Treasurer the liquor
agent of the State and establishes board
in each of the counties for the manage
ment of the business. 1t will be- his duty
to issue licenses for the sale of the stuff,
and the county boards, which shall be
appointed by the Governor upon the
accommodation of the Senator and
members of the house, shall have the
power to make from timo to time such
regulations for the government of the
dispensaries in their respective counties
as they shall deem best and to elect the
dispensers.
The bill further provides that there
counties at which liquor can be sold, the
county seat, and that the privilege of
engaging in this business the county dis
penser shall pay to the State Treasurer
the sum of $4,000 annually. Upon the
petition OF .One-third of the qualified
electors in any county the question of
whether or not alcoholic liquors and
beverages shall be sold in that county
shall be submitted to the people at an
election to be held under the direction
Of the.County Supervisor and the people
shall determine for themselves for or
against the sale. The Sheriffs, their
deputies, the magistrates, constables and
city and town officials are charged with
the duty of enforcing the provisions of
the law. Provision is made for the man.
per in which the sale of liquor shall be
conducted. the quantities in which it
may be sold, the conditions under which
it may be bought.
1t provides further for the sale of as
much of the liquors now owned by the
State as shall be practical without sacrl-
flee, by the 18th of May next, at which
time the law shall go into effect, and the
shipment of the stock remaining on hand
at that time for sale outside the State;
the proceeds of such sales being turned
into the State Treasury.
Under this method we should still
have the dispensary method of regulat-
irg the traffic in a somewhat diluted
form, but still the dispensary. The State
would remain in the whiskey business
for the profit that might be in it, and in
stead of the big whiskey machine at Co.
lumbia, we should have little whiskey
III oNCi ohc VI Suo COuuGicS,
whose people would vote ''By License"
and the whiskey question would continue
very live factor in the politics of the
State.
The provision permitting the estab-
lishment of only one dispensary in a
county and that dispensary at the county
seat, without regard to the varying popu-
lation and conditions of the several
counties and their incorporated cities
and towns, would have the effect of in
creasing the Illicit traffic, and the pro-
vision restricting the sale of the stuff to
the premises where the dispensary
might be established would deprive all
tirst-class hotels and clubs of the right
to serve their guests and members with
any of the beverages inhibited in this
law.
Objectionable as some of it's provisions
are, however, the Morgan plan would be
better than the present dispensary plan.
1t could bo regarded not as final settle
ment of the question, but as a beginning
of the movement which will take the
State out of the whiskey business, a
business which must be regulated and
controlled by the State in the exercise
of it's police powers, but not for the profit
there is in it.-News and Courier, Janu-
ary l7th