The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1907-02-28
KINGSTREE SOUTH CAROLINA, FEBRUARY 28. 1907.

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so as to give the towns Il larger share
of the profits, and it was put through
tie legislature nuder the leadership
of Senator S G May6eld. Stand
ing on the Y NJ { A corner one
night, Senator thGsaafiae,d told the
writer Of his purpose and told him
to watch its effect, which would,
he said, be to bring over to the sup
port of the dlspcnsary the voters OF
the towns. He was true prophet,
and for the last few years the towns,
Columbia chief among them, have
favored the State dlspensary system
for the reason that the officials and
politicians did not see how they
could get along without the profits
to run the town government. In
cidentally, it may be remarked that
the dispensarv has been killed by
the same pisn-glving The towns
the chance to get even larger profits,
as they surely will do under the
county dispensary scheme.
But after 1898 the fight against
the dispensary was left to the pro
hib,tionists, and many of them at
that time supported the dispeusary
as a step towards prohibition. One
of the most brilliant opponents OF
Senator Tillman and the dispensary,
not a prohibitionist. told the writer
in the summer of 1900 that if the
d'spensary was not defeated that
year lhrre was no use ever to fight
it any more; that it was a settled
question. There scented ample
Justification for that prediction dur.
iue the next few years. Unfort-
unately, the gentleman who made
the remark did not live to see how
the people have changed their
minds.
In 1902 the dispensary was not
an. issue in the campaign and in
1902 and 1904 a dispensary governor
was elected by anti -dispensary men
as we'll as dispe .sary men. But the
legislature elected in 1904 had
san the handwriting on the wall.
At the time when the opposition
to tine dispensary seemed thorough
ly disorganized, defeated and with
ont hope of revival a delegation Of
citizens came over here from the
town of Saluda. There had been 8
carnival ff crime in S,luda, as.
saints and murders, and the respOn
sibllity WAS laid at the doors of the
dispensary. The citizens sent over
this delegation to ask the State
board of control to close the Sa:udt
dispensaries. The beard calmly in
formed the delegation that there Wa:
nothing in the dispensary law which
gave the board or any one else -
power to close a dispensary except
temporarily-unless The board found
that a dispensary was being run a
financial loss. There was nothing
in the dispensary law which too k II
to consideration the possible effect
of the dispensary's business upon th'
morals of community only the eff
feet of the dispensary's business upor
the profit account of the institution
was considered.
In that Saluda delegation was
youug lawyer, who had come al
spokesman for the citizens. He wa
good and mad when he left the boart
room. He had never been in noli
tics, did not care much for it, but
he swore as he left that building
that he would not cease to fight tht
the State dispepsary system unit
either he or the dispensary was dead
Saluda has always been counted.
dispensary county, but Senator b
W. Crouch, representing Saluda.
cast his vote the other day for the
bill to abolish the State dispense
ry.
1t was the sort of tyranny of which
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