Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-02-18
lNon and koester.

There may be as claimed by some, a
good deal Of politics about part of the
wrangle that is constantly going on In
connection with the winding up Of the
state dispensary; but that Is matter
that is Of very little concern as COM
pared with the public anxiety. for the
final supremacy Of right, justice, law
and order.
Aswe see 1t, II Is regrettable that the
winding up commission should have
seen proper to summon Editor Keoster
before it on account Of editorials in the
Columbia Record rejecting upon the
commission and upon Mr.. Lyon and
still more regrettable that Mr.. Lyon
should have felt called upon to de-
nounce Mr.. Koester in such ugly Ian
guage.
That Mr.. Lyon has been grievously
provoked by the constant taunting and
badgering Of the Record, we do not
doubt, and from the purely personal
standpoint he is not TO be blamed for
expressing himself in plain language;
but under the circumstances it would
have probably been just as we'll had he
continued the policy he has followed
heretofore of leaving the Record and
it's editor to the judgment of the peo-
pie.
To be falsely charged with trying to
buy testimony against people under
suspicion is very unpleasant; but OK
course, everybody knows that the COM
mission is not doing anything of the
kind, and such charge as this. from
the Columbia Record can have no more
effect than can the pouring of water on
a ducks back,
In a long personal statement in his
paper, a part of which is reproduced
elsewhere, Mr., Koester makes an ex-
PLANTATION Of his attitude and If there
was any previous doubt Of the motives
of the Record all dlong all excuse for
that doubt is now removed,
AS Mr. Rooster puts it, he is actuated
by a sense of loyalty to his friends.
His friends are in trouble, serious trou-
BILE, and he thinks that 1t is his duty to
stand by them to the last ditch, and in
so standing by them he can think Of
nothing better than to throw mud and
slime at the officers Of the law. All good
and true men applaud the constanoy
of friendship: but most of them hold
that the claims of friendship never bind
or extend beyond that which is right
Otherwise there would be danger Of
confusing the term friend with the
term accessory
The idea that the policy Of the COM
mission in demanding that people who
have claims against the dispensary
funds show their books as a condition
precedent to the consideration Of such
claims can be construed as an attempt
to buy testimony had never occurred to
u.s. But since the development Of this
controversy, we are able to appreciate
how that standpoint may have some
thing to do with the matter, especially
in the case Of some people.
But If there is reason to believe that
the whisky houses have charged q
wholesale buyer like the state of South
Carolina more than it has been charg-
ing small retail buyers, we think the
state ought to be allowed to. protect
itself and We do not know Of any better
way than that which the winding up
commission has adopted. Possibly 1t
may develop that those excess charges
have gone to people who have had
claims Of friendship against US, but as
we see it the development Of such facts
will outlaw these alleged claims.
We did not think very much Of the
Records charges at the time they were
made. Now that the editor has been
good enough to give a detailed expla-
nation of them, their absurdity Is es-
tablished beyond question.