The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1906-06-13
LAURENS, S. c., June 10, 1906.
HONESTY OK DIsHoNEsTy...wHIcHp

~ sNo NSNSAOPSu WV.
dence in abundance that persons high
up in the ~dispensary circles have been
receiving large sum of money and
valuable PRESENTS from the liquor
houses.
A. A. Bristow, of Greenville, q lead
ing clothing merchant and pres, mt of
the board of trade, testified tn : n
Hamburger, a member of a Bal more
Whlskey firm, told him that he S d a
pill OF $4,000 worth of whishey to The
~dispensary and gave the d~ispensary f.
hcials $4,000 for placing the order w. :,
ms house and that Jesse r. Smith O.
G~reenville heard Hamburger say the
same thing.
LewisW w. Parker, the we'll known cot
ton mill man, testified, after the supreme
court ordered that he answer the COM
mittee's questions, that Sam j. Lanahan,
a Baltimore whiskey wholesaler, who
is probably a millionaire, told him that
he had to pay large sums to get bust
ness from the dispensary. E. W.. Rob-
ertson, the Columbia banker, testified
that Lanahan told him that a men,
Der of the state board was in his pay as
his representative. Hamburger told
Bristow in effect hat he got his So, 900
back by shipping to the dispensary mean
and inferior whiskey,
Senator Tillman in a speech at Green
vile, July a, 1905, said: "And they've
got to give us better liquor"
Z. c. Davis of Newberry testified
That he saw in H. H. Evans's house a
beaver hat full of green-backs. He
counted at one time as many as three
one thousand dollar bills in the hands
OF Evans. He said that Evans admitted
TO him that his friends, whiskey men,
gave him money and presents. Davis
also testified that Jonah Loeb, a whis-
key drummer, told him that he placed
an order for case goods with the board
of control and had to come to Newberry
and pay two dollars a case on at least
six hundred cases to get the board to
have the whiskey shipped. 1t is not for
us to say whether or not the testimony
is true.
This is only a little of the great vol
m of testimony of the same kind that
has been brought out. Lanahan also
told Parker that the orders placed by
the board at a certain meeting meant
five thousand dollars to the board.
The general condition of the dispen-
sary is now fully understood. What
newspapers such as THE ADVERTISER
have been saying for years is now con-
9rmed.
The friends of the dispensary claim
that it can be rebuilt with some kind of
or set of statutes that will force men to
be honest and prevent them from graft
ing. Have ouheard off law that would
prevent men from stealing if they want
to steal? If we continue to maintain a
state wholesale whiskey house we shall
continue to have a government similar
to that we had before 1876, so far as
the whiskey business is part of it..
Do you know why such a fierce strug-
gle is being made to a v the state dis
pensary? Wen tell you. They're
afraid to put it out of business. When
the big concern in Columbia is disestab-
lished, when the cleaning up time
comes, more things are going to be
told thar have been dreamed of. This |
gigantic hive swarming with corruption,
if it shall be torn down, will expose
some king bees perhaps. We believe
that the concern is insolvent, that if
the goods are put on the market and |
sold, the concern will prove insolvent.
1t won't be able to pay its debts and
has made no profits. There's been too
much grating for it to have made
money. Of course there is going to be
a fight to the last ditch to save it. =
They've got to fight. The men who
have most at stake have not yet been
shown up but when the legislature de-
molishes the Notwithstanding of all
this ~rascality, it will be time for small
boys to get from under the monkeys
cage.
DO the honest people of South Caro-
lima want this nesting place of graft in
Columbia to remain?
Do the people of Laurens county
want to retain it? Do they wants as
"the best solution of the whiskey cues
ton" an institution hat places South
Carolina on the level with states such
as Illinois and New York and Pennsyl-
vania which have become notorious on
account of the meat-packing, the life
insurance, and the coal-railroad frauds?
Do we want honesty in high places in
South Carolina or do we not want it?
THE ADVERTISER tries to be on the
side of common decency; hence it is
the State ~dispensary, but we
wish to say that we can stand the dispen-
sary if anybody else can. The State of
South Carolina can be ruled by boss
grafters and we can still make an hon
est living. For these reasons, when
particularly vile and dangerous s%coun-
drels have offered for office in late wears.
we have not felt called on to do more
than protest against their election. If the
people want to elect them, they may;
we can stand it il they can and a good
deal better than most of them can
stand IL. GENERALLY tho uuoret , ~