The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1906-04-04
flee at Columbia.

but in this address | shall treat OF
only two Of the things the people O
the State should s*,-iiesrly considet
now and sak.t Immediate action about
Nne is the settlement Of the wills
kew question and the other IS the con
troll of the Democratic party OF th'
State by a majority 0f all OF tn
Democrats rather than by small
fraction of the voters. The two idea
are interlocked and cannot be separ
ated and, therefore, I shall treat
them together.
At this time by elections held un-
der the Brice art hfteelt counties in
the State are enjoying the blessings
Of prohibition: Two have always
been dry:) No whiskey can be law
fully sold within their borders. But
any citizen living in those counties
has OILY to keep his eyes open and
look around him to see what the re-
suits have been. First let every man
who reads a newspaper printed in
those counties search its columns and
see ADVERTISEMENTS Of whiskey houses
outside Of the State; then let him
60 to the express offices along the
lines Of the railroads and see how
much liquor is being daily brought in
to those II counties. Then let this
citizen follow up this liquor and find
out who drinks it, but before doing
that turn to the editorial pages Of
these newspapers aud see the constant
illusions to the "blessines Of prohi-
bition,' "quietude; - ':freedom from
drunkenness :'peace and good OF
der'' that are proclaimed. Of course
there are exceptions to this bright
and beautiful picture as shown in the
news items about the recent murder
in Greenyille followed by q similar
occurrence in Columbia, but upon the
whole man would be very much edi-
fed to know how much money flows
into the Golfers OF these Journals from
whiskey advertisements, while the
same papers are exploiting prohibi-
ton and sobr;ety.
! little calm consideration without
bias or prejudice will soon convince
man Of ordinary sense that the whis-
KEY traffic now as compared with the
whiskey traffic under the dispensary
is something like this: liquor used to
be sold by the pint and quart mainly
through the dispensaries: it is now
sold through the express Offices by the
gallon and keg, while the retailing is
done by the drink almost everywhere
as in the good old barroom days. The
are Of course getting in
their work unmolested. There may
be less drunkenness, though doubt
it, under. the present regime than
there was under the dispensary, but
what is the actual condition The
poor man cannot get his liquor from
Georgia or North Carolina, but must
buy from the fellow who brings it
in by express or from the moonshlner
who peddles it about the country.
The rich man has no such trouble
and it makes little difference to him
whether the supply comes from the
or express ofiics. How
was this situation brought about: Is
it BY the whole Democratic party?
Oh, no. Did it come to pass by the
votes Of the prohibitionists? No.
How then7 The three elements op-
posing the dispensary, prohibitionists,
high license men and moonshiners or
blind tigers. all combined to vote the
dispensary out. 10 make this the
more clear I have prepared i table
which will be understood at a glance
by any man who reads it and which
will show conclusively this fact: that
4 majority Of the Democratic voters
in no one county declared against the
system and that this pro-
|libition which We now have III these
eftecn counties is in 10 sense the will
Of the Democracy. Why didn't the
people vote at these elections under
the Bricc Law: The answer is easy.
Many Of them could not because they
were not qualified electors and more
Of them would not because they were
1isgusted by the mismanagement and
corruption which have been shown to
exist in the State dispensaIy and IN
some Of the county dispensaries.
Here follows table giving the
vote in the special dispensary cleo
tons under the Brice bill, showing
that less than one-half Of the people
voted. while only one-fourth Of them
we're in favor Of no dispensary. A
second table gives the dispensaries,
for the fiscal year ending November
so. 1907
This sum represents profits alone.
4 great deal more than this is being
sent out Of the State to pay for liquor
now coming in by express. We have
all of the evils Of liquor drinking and
none Of the benefits, but ii the people
,,a cot;sfiod that is their business.