The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-05-30
MIR. Mannins's Platform.

Mark in connection with it this Ian
guage from the announcement Of Can
didate Richard I. Manning, who has
entered the race for governor: "I ad-
mit'' that there has been a growing
tendency to curtail drink and the
..time may come when prohibition may
sbe made effective in South Carolina.
"But in my judgment that time has
mot come and this question must be
met Gin practical way" Has drink
not been "curtailed'' in Cherokee? Is
! prohibition not effective in the Chero-
kee part of South Carolina? Or in
Pickens, where the pending term Of
the criminal court will fail for the
want of criminals to try? Is the time
not come in Marion, Lancaster, York,
Spartanburg, Horny, Greenville, New
berry, Edgefeld, Saluda, Anderson,
Oconee, Greenwood, Union, Darling
| ton and Marlboro when prohibition
is effective? Some sort Of prohibition
has prevailed in Marlboro upward of
fifty years, and the Marlboro people
seem addicted to the habit. These
counties, not including Laurens, Will
| liamsburg, which also voted out the
dispensaries, contain more than half
the Democratic vote of the State
Must the State continue to be the
whiskey dealer for the sake Of the
others? Or must the whiskey traffic
be re-enthroned in the 'Brice Law
counties?
Mr.. Manning does not make clear,
at least not to US, his position as to
the Brice Law, and that omission is ia
tai to his card as G. satisfactory decla-
ration of his views. The fight must
centre about the "Brice Law" That
law is deadly to the State dispensary
and we suppose Mr.. Manning will ia
vor its repeal, but we do not know that
he will. We do know that he will not
have the support of the State dispen-
sary advocates unless he does favor its
repeal or it's paralysis by amendments,
and it SENS to follow inexorably that
to favor the State dispensary is to op-
pose prohibition anywhere in the
State Any other view is to concede
Another candidate favoring the dis
pensary, but not the State dispensary,
is Mr.. M. F. Ansel, of Greenville. I'm
der Mr.. Ansels plan, Cherokee would
remain prohibition county as long
as! it chose. Barnwell could remain
dispensary county as long as it
chose. But Barnwell could not buy
from the State. The State, under the
Ansel plan, would no longer be a
wholesale whiskey dealer. Barnwell
dispensaries and they could be COM
PEELED to operate under all the restric-
tions safe guarding honesty that the
Raysor-Manning bill contains. The
Raysor-Manning bill, for Sumter coun-
ty, faithfully, honestly and firmly en-
forced, would do for Sumter county all
that it would do for South Carolina,
and if restricted to Sumter, it would
not interfere with Marlboro's prohlbl-
ton. We do not like Mr.. Ansel's> plat
form, but it is vastly better than Mr..
Mannings. Mr. AnseHs platform does
abolish the State dispensary; Mr.. Man
ning's does not.
So far as we know there il no citi-
zen Of South Carolina who stands
higher and more deservedly high in
public respect than Richard l. Man
ming. His advocacy q the' State whis-
key concern is dictated Icy his own
conscience and he is All hcrest man,
every inch hones-. And yeT this State
whiskey concern, We speak cf the con-
Germ, not of individualys in its employ,
is a convicted thief NOBODY denies it.
Tie ms who begot i: brands it.
Why a man of intelligence eager on
ly to "curtail drink" through the re-
strictive regulation of the dispensary
should seek to preserve and hope to
reform the State concern, in which
the evil inheres when all the good may
be retained in county dispensaries,
which at most can be dangerous only
to the counties which invite them, is
a problem in politics that completely
battles us. We say it sincerely and
with the utmost, but sorrowful, re-
spect that the candidacy Of Mr.. Man
ming on State Dispensary platform
is a waste of citizenship, capable of
great usefulness.
Events may develop that will take
from the dispensary issue its para
mountcy, and what we have said is
not to be interpreted as committing