The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-01-17
AS TO THE D%ISPENSARY.
The Situation in the Legislature
at Present.
SENATE is THE DOUBTFUL QUAR-
TER.
The House IL In Favor of AbOlfsh1ng
the State Dispensary, But the DIS
pensary People Say the Senate IL
All Right.

41IO AAouSO 10 -
the State Dispensary, But the DIS
pensary People Say h Senate IL
All Right.
Mr. August Kohn, the Columbia cores
pondent OF the Charleston News and Conrier'
writes as follows In that paper OF tooayS ID
There is still q supposed magic political In
nuence connected with the dispensaIy'
There are many who recognize II az q gnosI
but the golden promises tnsttioSn5s are ng They vii!
wake up after q while and see the ghost.
The general assembly has been IN se.sion
now for almost a week. Leading men rlEm
the laws for Carolina. There are elections
pending, there are serious problems conlrons'
Ing the lawmakers, but mp TO this Time eveIy-
thing IL subservient to one isspe-the aispena
ali in the back ground. The one thing tnat
in talked about, the n thing. hat 10 upper
most In the legislative mind 10 what - gong
70 be done about the dispensary, n now ID
the complex situation to be solved.
One thing seems 70 be generally agreed up
on, and that Is that the house OF represents
tives Is In favor Of abollshing the slate uis,
pensary, and of then finding some way ont OF
the woods. Another feature OF the sltoation,
that In equally az clear, Is that the only nope
of the dispensary advocates-the stste olsPen.
sary, 10 In the senate: You msy r nnihs ~
end they will all tell you "Oh. 1t makes no
differences what the house does the senate IS
all right and will never ABOLISH tne sease
dispersary." That is the situation In q nut
shell a. It stands today. The House 10 sgalnst
the .dispensdry, 30. recognized BY ali. The
senate Is supposed to be the friend-the only
legislative or judicial friend OLD OF Ine 'ss'e"' ~
There are in the senate today many mem
DISAPPOINTMENT and influential members,
who are going TO make q fight for the oispen.
s sH 4 but ut. they 3 ys are nG ESs soi mi, 70 make stek q fIait
for the state dispenssry system. oat tney
will not 60 home without consentlng 70 some
legislation. II they can not save the stste
house. they win come in and favor the Nor.
gan or some other local option bill, 80 that
their home counties may continue Inc saie
of liquor under the restrictions Of the oon.
There are quite enough such senators who,
rather than AXE the chances OF general pro,
hibition, will. as q last resort, vote Tor local
ssries. 10 Change the situation before the
close Of the session, even II the olspensaryl.e
at the outset have q majority OF the senate.
{ There has not yet, however, been q TEST
lority may be made amply to keep up Inc
Senator Tillman once said that one third
of the voters Of the state &C Will what they
always 1sys " We'll II to saI give out the Impression Of
being . winner That is about the policy Of
the dispensaryites at this time.
the dispensary 10 the possibility OF the anti.
dispensary men not being able to get togeth-
5er. II the Prohibitionists and those who
favor . ioense system and county dispen-
.saries get together they will have a per
feet walkover. The first thing they would
do would be TO arrange for closing up. and
selling ont the state dispensary, and the
abolition OF the constabulary force. After
the state dispenssry has been ordered closed
the balance will be easy sailing. because all
hands will then. with the state dlspensary
ont OF the way be quite willing to lei every
The recent decision OF the state Supreme
Court on the Brice Act has liked the view
OF the Court, and there need NO longer any
81 sp ssnopy &c co 70 51ai'.TH bs sa cours has 20 s sas RGn sSs
question az to whether one county may have
one system OF handling liquor and Its neigh
boring county another, and that phase has
been ao entirely s snSara SsoL ~ Ins sb eeG hons. 81 q
many Of the dispensary advocates, but 1t is
perhaps simply an indication Of how things
are going. ,,
now under consideration dealing with the
the dispensary situation. Twenty Of that
number are directed against the system.
On the house side nom Of the many mea
against it. It was suggested 2 few days ago
that Senator Tillmsn has q bill. This Is In.
correct. He had no bill. he simply had q
lew suggestions which ne Onered 10 mem.
beers. These members have had q con-
ference, but no bill has yet been introduced
embodying the views indicated by Senator
Tillman, nor has there been any bill yet In.
troduoed looking to the promised revision
OF the law by the friends OF the system.
The d~ispensary advocates were the nrst TO
90 into their fight with organization. Sena-
tor Brice, Mr.. Morgan and others naturally
saw the force Of systematic organization
and tomorrow night q preliminary con-
ference will be held. It is there Intended
merely to map ont the course Of the fight and
II possible harmon;ze all interests opposed
to the state d~ispensary.
From the present outlook Mr.. Morgan's
bill is the most popular proposition Of those
opposed to the system.
In brief, Mr.. Morgan's bill provides for
the closing Of the state dispensary and the
sale Of It's effects.
It provides for three options: prohibition,
county dispen saries n high liscenses.
The liscense system 10 provided for such
counties as Charleston, where It is though by
some TO be desired, but II It Is preferred TO
have county diBpepsaries, then this 10 pro-
ytded for under Mr.. Aorgan's bill. Mr..
Morgan provides for o 5000 l~iscense, but 10
quite willing to a. the license at such an
amount as may be agreeable, to those coun
ties. thinking they may want o license. sys-
tenn. Some counties, which It has been
thought preferred q liscense system, think
they can get q county dispensary plan
which will realize more money to the city
and counties, and with home manage
ment give better satisfaction.