Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-07-10
TILLMAN AT SANDY FLAT
Continued from Page One.)

on the dispensary system and devise
laws to make those who are dishonest
afraid. 1 say. we can. l do not be-
lieve that every man who handles
whisky must become a thief. l be-
lieve that the people only need to see
and know that the dispensary system
can be reformed and cleansed of cor
ruption to make them stand by it.
will proceed to give the plan
With appears to me after a great
deal OF thought and consideration Of
Suggestons from very many sources
10 be the best. We will begin on the
counties.
His Plan Outlined.
County dispensers should be elected
in the Democratic primary the same as
other officers. The county board should
be composed of the mayor OF the town
in which a dispensary Is located, the
supervisor of the county, who Is the
business agent of the county, and one
man appointed by the governor. The
county dispenser should be removable
by the governor for cause. The state
board of control ought to be elected
by the legislature, but its duty should
be confined to general direction and su-
pervision of the business the same as
the penitentiary and hospital for the
insane are run 1t should not purchase
any whisky or anything else required
in the business. Everything required,
including the whisky, should be bought
under annual contracts made as fol-
lows:
After the state commissioner has ad-
vertised in the manner prescribed by
law (and this ought to be very close
and specific, leaving nothing to the
direction of anyone. and going fully in
to details) the bids should be opened
in public by three men selected just
before the date fixed by the governor
and the contract made with the lowest
bidder by the year for the supplies to
be ordered out by commissioner as
needed. These three men are to serve
only once and annually there shall be
three new men chosen to make the con-
tracts The bidders will not know who
will make the awards and therefore
cannot enter into collusion in advance
and even should the governor, which Is
inconceivable. be willing to select a
board which would act corruptly, the
specifications OF the bidding made
with minuteness and the publicity
would prevent any graft.
Honesty Should Be Insured.
No whisky or liquor should be pur-
chased except from government bonded
warehouses; In the case of wines and
| beer the brewers should alone furnish
| the first direct from the breweries, and
| the small quantity of the other used
could be hedged about In the adver-
tisement so as to insure honesty and
the purest and best article. For the
| information Of those who are not post
ed / will say that the government bond
ed warehouses are under the control of
the United States internal revenue OFF,
cials entirely and whisky deposited In
| them comes directly from the still and
the owner is not permitted to manip-
| ulate ii or handle IL in any way until
the tax is paid and 1t is removed. We
thus get a guarantee of absolute purity
without a chemical analysis and such
| liquors are as much staple articles OF
commerce as corn wheat or bacon. II
| Is the blended and rectified whiskeys
| that are adulterated and where the
| cheating comes I'm. The blending and
mixing could be done in the state dis
pensary where there would be no in
centiye to increase profits by adulter-
alton, besides the law would provide
severe penalties for that kind Of thing
| The county dispensers being elected
by the people will be anxious to please
the people as they will be beaten al
the polls il they do not do their duty
The county board chosen as indicated
will be responsible to the people also
with every incentive to give good ad-
ministration. The whisky purchased
in that way will be as pure and as good
as can be obtained under any possible
conditions and there Is absolutely nc
way in which corruption can creep in
If there is the least effort on the part
of the people and the governor to pre-
vent 1t.
Says Governors Neglect Duty.
The trouble with the dispensary now
| is that our governors have neglected
| their duties and have not kept super
vision over the workings Of the locaI
dispensers and the state board. Excuse
may be found for this by saying the
| legislature put the dispensary beyond
| the governors control. This Is true
| in a way and Ii was a very great mis-
| take, yet the governors oath Of Office
requires him to see that the laws are
executed in mercy" And with the
power to appoint constableS at his dis
cretion and detectives also when needed
it cannot be denied that the demoral-
ization and corruption which have been
so much in evidence would have been
prevented by the governors using trust
ed agents to keep supervision over the
Idispensary system and see whether the
law was being carried out. l did this
| but my successors seem to have
| thought it unnecessary or too much la
| bor l not only watched the dispensers
| but l watched the constables too
| through detective who reported to me
alone. The necessity for the more rigid
enforcement of all law makes the COM
ing election for governor important.
Things have been run too loosely and
| too little regard paid to enforcing the
| law. / critisise no one, but simply
give the people the facts as I see them
and, Of course, they alone can apply
the remedy. We should elect the gov
ernor who will do this and do II fear
lessly and zealously but there Is still
small opportunity for graft in the
scheme outlined, provided the legisla-
tive committee which superintends the
other state institutions and the grand
| juries of the various counties pay at
| tention to their duties. No government
has ever been devised that would run
| itself and every government is an in
| dex of the intelligence, public spirit
and patriotism of its people. If the
people are ignorant and Indifferent and
cease to watch and look after their af-
fairs, the government they give them
selves is inevitably bad and they can
blame no one but themselves.
Legislature to Blame!
The conditions in the dispensary now
are directly treaceable to the blunder-
| ing and neglect of the legislature. That
| body placed the state dispensary in the
hands Of three politicians, elected with
out consideration to fitness, experience
or character, threw the door wide open,
| limited the salary to $400 and now we
| see the result. | have always said and
believed it was designedly done to de-
stroy it, Politics and not fitness have
most always controlled the Legislative
elections. but no amount of salary alone
would cure the evil of which we COM
plain.
The original board was composed of
| the governor. attorney general and the
comptroller general. three of our
| highest state officials elected by the