The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-02-21
and there arc many dispsnsari.. tn the

and there are many dispsnsaries in the State.
 The amendment provided that dispen- saries which had been established bs. tore. or which had been established by the Legislature. should snot be dis- turbed by an election within the next four years. Under the bill an election Gan Dc held in dispensary counties or In any county where whiskey Is sold In any way.
 T shall favor a local option bill. said Senator Merritt. but I do not want bill that will put our county in fhe throes of another whiskey cleo tion. Blind tigers have fiourished n rhe prohibition districts of my count, tn the past. We have Just cleared out those blind tigers after a vigorous campaign. During the last term of the court of my county. between ss.u00 and $1 900 in fines were collected. from tn, keepers Of blind tigers. If we are ore ctpitated Into fight of dispensary oi no dispensary, those who had been In terested in the blind tigers would unite with the prohibition people to destroy our dispensary."
 Reynolds Asks Fair Treatment.
 Mir. Reynolds said there was no dis pensary in his town, but there were a couple of dispensaries in his county which had improved conditions over those that had prevailed previous to their establishment. Those dispensaries had been established after warm con tests. and there should be some assur- ance that those dispensaries should be treated with equal fairness with those which were established by the present Legislature. If dfspensaries establish, cd by the present Legislature should be given an assurance of two years Of life. then those established previously should be given the same assurance.
 The effort to defer the time when the bill should be effective was called by Senator Wilson an attempt ito post wave of reform had started. he said. and nothing could stop 1t. The bill was carrying out the wishes of the people of Alabama. It had been pass ed by the House and carefully consid- cred by the committed. and he was op- posed to any pos onefnent of the meas ure in the Senate
 q am for the biii." said Senator Gum. 'Tn the three counties which I represent. we haven't a single dis- pensary. and we haven't single open saloon. In my district. we have pro- hibition and blind tigers. But am in favor of this great movement and shall support the bill.
 Senator Hinson denied the bill was in truth a local option measure. On the question of temperance, he was content to follow the lead of Senator Moody. w'so was probably the greatest authority in the State on temperance legislation. and who had done more to establish temperance. perhaps. than any other man in Alabama. He be- iieved the dispensary bill which had passed the Senate few days previous had embodied the wisdom and thought of life of experience. and he favored the bill for the good there was h 1t.
 He looked no farther than the pub lie statement ot the Senator from Clarke and the Senator from Macon to learn that prohibition did not prohibit. They both had borne public testimony to the existence of blind tigers In prohibition sections. The time had not come in Alabama when prohibition could be established, and until that time did come, he believed the true solution of the question was the dis pensary.
 'The bill they submit to us gives US all the disadvantages of prohibition without the advantages of prohibition" said Senator Hinson.
 1EcWhorter Defends BiVI.
 Senator MeWhorter, chairman of the committee which reported the bill, spoke earnestly in favor of the meas. ure, TnS DILL nc uecIarSu, maoo history for the state The sentiment of the people Of Alabama was be- hind it. A great reform had been started. and revolutions never went backward. The amendments which were offered had been considered in committee, and they had been given the same careful consideration the bill had received. The bill, as 1t had been pre- scented to the Senate, represented the best in the temperance movement
 Beginning with the charge that friends, or friend, Of the measure had broken faith, Senator Thomas submit. ted an eloquent argument in opposi. tion to the measure. In his county oe Barbour. whiskey was sold in only two places. Clayton and Eufaula. The rest of the county was prohibition. Where whiskey could be sold, 1t could be sold only at dispensaries. He had recently passed through the awful campaign of the dispensary and tho open saloon arrayed against each other and he trusted he would never see one again. He had seen friend arrayed against friend. and the bitterness en- gendered in that campaign would last forever.
 He declared the gentleman who led in this light" came to his ofiicN during the Methodist Conference at Eufaula and asked his support of the local op ton bill. He explained to that gen tleman the fight which his people haf