Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1907-02-06
THE s. c. LEGISLATURE
Palmetto House and Senate Meet,
Organize and Begin Business.
Lien Law Discussed.

cept ON written waiver by the land
Islord. Finally the bill passed, rs to
80. The lien law in South Carolina
| is Al years old, and it has wrought
great damage against the agricultur-
al interests, lien merchants at every
cross roads growing fat by exorbi-
tant charges 1t was repealed IN De-
cember, 1854, but was promptly re-
enacted at special session held the
following month.
Dispensary Committee Reports.
In the senate Monday night, Mr..
Christensen presented the report of
the legislative investigating commit
tee appointed to inquire into fnan-
cial conditions at he State dispens-
ary.
Following is the report Of the COM
mittee:
To the General Assembly Of the State
OF South Carolina:
In pursuance of the concurrent res
,olution passed by your honorable
body on January Is, 1907, for the in
yestigation of the affairs of the State
dispensary, your committee beg leave
respectfully to report:
That your committee met and or
ganized by the election of the Hon.
Niels Christensen as chairman and
the Hon. William N. Graydon to con-
duct the examination Of the witness
es, and the Hon. E. NJ. Rucker> as
secretary. Mr.. 81. H. Glaze was ap-
pointed stenographer for the commit
tee.
Owing to the limited time allowed
the committee to report, we have not
attempted to go into any general in
vestigation of the financial status Of
the dispensary, but have rather con-
fined our attention to the management
of the affairs of the State dispensary.
We deem it just to say that no OBJ
stacles were thrown in our way by
the officers and employees of the in
stitution, but they testified fully and
freely as to all matters inquired about
We examined no one but officers and
employees. We have had all the testi-
mony taken in the investigation print
ed for the use of the members of the
general assembly and transmit the
same herewith. We have refrained
from making recommendations, pre-
ferring, to leave it to your honorable
body o.say what action you desire to
take on our report, without any sug-
gestion from your committee, content
ing ourselves simply with the findings
of fact which we think the evidence
demands.
We find as matters of fact:
/. That the State dispensary is ov
erstocked, and that there was on hand
in the State dispensary on January
Is, 1907, about $669,0OO worth of
stock.
2. That 100000 worth of stock is
sufficient to run the State dispens-'
ary. We find that this overstockine
has been going on. both under the old
board OF directors and under the new
board.
$. we further find that in the pur-
chase of. liquors for the dispensary,
the law has not been observed in a
number of instances, and that liquors
have been bought contrary to the rule
established by the board itself for the
purchase of liquor.
4: We find that the present board
OF directors passed rule on OF about
the Sth day of March, 1906, that all
orders for the purchase Of liquors
must be signed by at least two mem
bers OF the board of directors, but
said order was subsequently modified
so as to allow the clerk of the board
to order the bulk goods.
5. We find that MI. John Black,
member of the board Of directors
purchased a large amount of liquor,
amounting to about 1,6OO barrels, from
Clark Bros. & Sons of Peoria, ILL.,,
said Black making said purchase in
person in Peoria, III. We also find
that at the same time and place he
made purchase from Lehman & Co.,
the amount of which we have been un-
able to ascertain, but 300 barrels
were shipped to and received by the
State dispensary. We also find that
Mr.. Black made a purchase in per-
son in Cincinnati, Ohio, of 600 cases of
liquor from Moyse Bros. These three
lote of liquor thus purchased by Mr..
Black amounted to about $125 900.
6. We find from the testimony
that the liquor thus purchased by MI.
Black from Clark Bros. G. Sons, at
$l.5O to $1.75 per gallon, is a very
inferior quality of liquor, being what
is known as high wine, and is not
worth more than $1.33 to $l.35 per
gallon, and can be bought in the mar
ket at that price.
Z. We find from the testimony
that Mr.. Black is out Of the State,
and we are informed that he is sick,
and hence it was impossible for the
committee to get his testimony, but a
letter Of his in relation to said Clark
and Lehman purchases is in evidence,
and your attention is called to the
statement therein contained.
s. We find from the testimony
that the present board. Of directors
has constantly substituted other goods
ordered by the, county dispensers, and
that the goods so substituted were
not satisfactory to the county dis
pensers, OF ITO the people, and that
they were shipped over the protest of
the county dispensers, and over the
protest of the State commissioner.
9. We further find that the board
Of directors failed or refused to buy
in sufficient quantities x corn, X gin,
: L L L