The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-02-27
q NEW LAW.
PrOvisi0ns of the Carey COthran Bill
Briefly Outlined by Mr.. Thos. p
COthran.
Greenvi!le News.

the numerous eaCuT6S OF the carey
Cothran County Option bill, than Rep
resentative Thomas P. Cothran him
self. When seen yesterday by a rep
r~esentative of the Greenville News,
Mr.. Cothran said :
bearing in mind the two principal
objects to be accomplished by what is
popularity styled the 'Carey-Cothran
bill, } its provisions can be more readily
followed and understood. These OBJ
jects are the abolition Of the State dis
pensary and the establishment of local
option in every county as between pro-
hibition and what may be termed
County dispensaries.' AS a matter OF
fact there can he, under the cUhstitu.
ton, no such thing as a dispensary
owned and operated by a county. The
constitution permits the General AS
sembly to authorize county officers
under the authority and in the name
of the State, to engage in the bushes,
of buying and selling intoxicating
liquors. This act comes within this
limitation of the constitution by de-
claring that the various county dispen-
sary boards are county officers and are
authorized under the authority and in
the name Of the State, to engage in
such business.
1.-THE abolition of the State dispen-
ssry is accomplished directly by a pro-
vision declaring that the State dispen-
sary is hereby abolished 1t is also
accomplished indirectly by q provis-
ion that the sale of liquors except a.
therein provided is prohibited.
g.Thn nply, ~oatEo ~ro,,;lol ~. kl.
sale of liquor is that by the county dis
pcnsary boards and manufacturers
AS the feature of most interes: is the
sale by county ~dispensary boards, J
shall briefly dispose of the matter OF
sale by manufacturers and then pass to
that of sale by county dispensary
boards.
"Sale by manufacturers is prohibited
except in counties which have permit
ted, by vote or inactiOn, the operation
of ~dispensaIies under the old law in
other words, a distillery a be oper-
ated only in wet counties in which
dispensaries are now in operation
The manufacturers are required to psy
., d license fee of from $500 to 5000 &C
cording to capacity. The manufacture
in any county may be voted out in the
same manner as provided for voting in
a county ~dispensary.'
Now, as to sale by county dispepsary
boards, which for convenience I shall
refer to as county d~ispensarles.' Ev-
cry wet county is to remain so, until
an election be held voting it dry and
the ~dispensaries now in operation are
to be continued az county DISPENSE
ries.' Every dry county is in like
manner to remain dry In wet
counties this election may be held at
any time during the year 1907. In
dry counties it cannot By held until
the next general election, which occur
after the expiration of four years from
the date of the election under the
Brice law. AS to Greenville county,
the election under the Brice law was
held in January, 1905. The first gen.
eral election after four years from that
date will be in November, 1910. The
question cannot, therefore, be reopen
ed in Greenville before that time.
There are specific exceptions to this
rule which apply to certain counties.
"The election is provided for in the
following manner: A petition signed
by at least one-fourth Of the qualified
voters of the county must be filed with
the supervisor before May / of a gen.
eral election year. The supervisor
then orders the election to be held
upon the general election day in the
November following. The county
conventions meet on the first Monday
in May of an election year, and the
requirement that the petition be filed
before May lst, was inserted to enable
the county convention, if it should de-
sire to do so, to submit the question to
the Democratic primary in August.
1t can then be settled by the white
Democratic voters, regardless of regis.
tration certificates, and this action will
be confirmed at the general election,
just the same as Its nominations for all
offices are confirmed.
"Should the election result in favor
of county ~dispensary, the Governor
shall then appoint a county d%ispensary
board for the county, upon the recon-.
mendation of the delegation. the
mayor of the city and the county
board of education, each body naming
one. At the election the voters may
decide whether a part of the profits
shall 60 to the schools or to roads and
bridges.
"Purchases of liquor can only be
made upon competitive sealed bids, to
be opened in public and published.
1.-THE State assumes no obligation
whatever in connection with the pur.
chases of liquor. Every ~dispensary
must stand upon its own bottom. The
county, not being authorized to en-
bark in the business, of course assumes
no obligation in connection with it.
This was provided to prevent whiskey
dealers from overlooking the dispense
ries. They must look to the business
for their pay and will, therefore, be
more discreet in making sales Of the
quality and quantity which will be
sold than if the State or county was
the paymaster.
"All liquor must be thoroughly ana
lyzed; it is intended that no impure
stuff shall be put off on the people.
1.-The restrictive features of the old
d~ispensary law relating to sales to mi
nors, intoxicated persons, between
sunset and sunrise, etc., are retained.
Monthly statements by the board.
are required and every quarter they
must report the profits made. These
profits are divided differently in differ
ent counties. In Greenville, one-third
goes to schools, n third to the coun-
ty, and one-thirG to the city.
IA ~dispensary inspector is to be ap-
pointed by the Governor to travel over
the State and check up all dispense.
ries.
1.-THE enforcement of the law is left
to the Governor if the county and city
authorities fail. My construction OF
the law, is that the constabulary sys.
tenn provided by the act of 1905 has
not hpen intertered with. shonl6