Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-07-18
TILLMAN'S BIG FIGHT.
South Carolina Senator Opposed by
 Prohibitionists and Saloon Men.

Washington, D. C., July 1s.-Sena- tor Tillman is having red hot fight down in South Carolina He jumped right out of the strenuous work of the senate into something hotter in his own state. ,...H.
 Curiously enough, the noted South Carolinian is not opposed for re-elec- tion in the primaries soon to be held and he will come back to the senate for another six years. His battle is with the clements opposing the reten- ton of the dispensary system for the control of the whiskey traffic.
 Like President Roosevelt, Senator Tillman cannot keep out of fight when one is going. and his answer to the criticism that he ought to keep his hands out of local affairs altogether is that he was citizen before he be- came a senator; that he is still a cit izen, and expects to express his views whether some of the people of the state like it or not.
 When Senator Tillman first came into power in South Carolina as gov ernor the license system of saloons was in existence. The saloon element opposed Tillman strongly. When he looked around for some way to give his adversaries blow he thought of the dispensary plan and originated it. He did not believe then that prohibit ton would be a success and SO he turned the state into the whiskey bus mess. He is now so strongly opposed 10 prohibition that he is denouncing it on every stump throughout the state. Although he is teetotaller himself. neither using whiskey nor tobacco. he asserts that he hates hypocrisy and that he knows nothing half so hypo- critical as prohibition. A funny fea- ture of il all is that while he denounc- es prohibition everywhere some of his strongest friends are in that element.
 The fight against the dispensary system has gone on for years. but it is so close this time that Senator Till man is throwing the weight of his influence toward the retention of the system. He Is asserting from the stump that the prohibitionists are try ing tO do away with the dispensary SD as to get prohibition: that the former saloon men want to do away with it so as to return to the license system. and that the two clements have form ed an unhOly alliance. each expecting from different motives to profit hy the possible downfall of the existing sys- tenn.
 Under what Is known as the Brice law about one-third of the counties of FHa.a Il lH Ia fsSfv sn hs. system some time ago voted fl out If their borders. leaving prohibition. It is the test Of prohibition in these eoun- ties that Senator Tillman is denounc- ing as tho greatest farce of modern times. He declares in speeches within these counties that there is more drunkenness and violation of law within their borders than ever before: that blind tigers" flourish on every hand. and that thousands of people send their money tO adjacent states for whiskey in jugs and bottles. He points out that the jug business cul- tivafeS q taste for the strong drinks tO the exclusion 0f tho mild and com parativeiy unint0Xicatinz ones like tseer. thereby. he says. striking l blow at real temperance. which means mol eration in drink and consumption of alcohol He believes in encoura zing the mild drinks. principally beer. with only about 2 per cent of alcohol.
 Senator Tfllman is without any one to oppose him for return to the senate. but he has many enemies. vhe bitter lv dislike him and den0unce the part he is taking in q strictly IScal fight. He has always had enemies. though and has fhrfved better when they were plentiful than ar other times
 South Carolina people state that the corruption that has been detected in the management of the dispenssry system has Iessened it's hold vith the people. but that it will pull through and that the legislature elected thi; summer under advice of Tillnsn will reform the system 70 as to mini ni5e the opportunities for graft