The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-09-19
After the Fray.

The elections are over and the government
of the State Of South Carolina is still with us.
Good men have been elected to every ONCE,
and all the officers who have been elected Will
prove to be true to their trust. That Is our
opinion, and we shall wait developments be-
fore modifying that opinion.
As far as We can recall. this newspaper has
not thought and has not said mean thing
about any candidate.
This newspaper has not attempted 10 say
smart things about men or people who have
differed from us on the question Of the dis
pensary.
We believe all men are patriotic, and that
all men love South Carolina, no matter what
their con victions on the liquor question.
( We believe that men holding the different
views have been as sincere as the men who
differed from them.
We believe that the candidates for public
office are all right. and that comparatively
little was said or done during the campaign
that did not comport with good manners and
good principles.
The things which seemed to us most repre-
much Of 1t was said by those who ostensibly
ClHlm6u W Do U0ILoK dhO PuiCi thoh ehOco
whom they maligned.
II is right and proper for ch man to have
his own views and principles, and II Is right
that he proclaim or maintain them with all
the ability at his command. But 1t is not. bis
duty to assail the motives or character OF
those who diner from him.
The alignments In this campaign are be-
yond our power of discernment. The prohi-
4 hitionists who voted for Mr.. Brunson were
j, true to their convictions. There can be no
doubt upon this fact.
But we have not been able to understand
why probibitionists should follow the lesd Of
license advocates. The newspapers which
have led in the fight against the dispensary
are open and avowed advocates OF license. OF
g high license. How q prohibition paper could
join the license advocates against the legal re-
strictions now placed around the sale OF IL
ouor is more than we can understand.
How the license people can greatly rejoice
at the election of such q man as Martin F.
Ansel is another thing which we do under.
stand. Ansel is a churchman, q temperance
advocate, and q total abstainer from the use
OF intoxicating liquors. His associates are
= Temperance men-men who are as cold as
the rocks along the line of sobriety and
good morals.
When he becomes q tool for the liquor ele'
ment who would open the food.gates to In
temperance, we hope that the tirst man who
discovers that Ansel has gone into the camp
OF the enemy may telegraph this newspaper
at our expense. the reasons which justify the
belief that Ansel has gone back on the good
/ record Of good life.
{ { or course the license advocates have reason
/, for rejoicing that avowed friends Of the H.
oepse system, as against the dispensary, have
been elected to the Legislature. The dispen.
sary which restricts the sale Of whiskey is
: pleasing 10 neither the advocates Of the IL
rcsnse system nor to those who patronize the
( bars. Anything therefore which approaches
the destruction Of the dispensary gives them
grounds for rejoicing. But why temperance
men should be proud of the breaking down
OF any barrier to intemperance is what we do
not understand.
But no matter what the result of the cleo
tion, the whiskey question has not been SET
tied. Intoxicants figured conspicuously In
the early history OF the human family. It's
with MS today, and will be with us when all
the men who walk the earth today have gone
otheir reward
We do not believe that virtue and honesty
have departed. There are good and true men
who may be found In the ranks Of each sepa
rate division Of the liquor question. 1t was
never intended that all men should see alike.
But all are patriotic and all love South Caro-
lima.