Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-02-14
THE STATE AND THE eRAFTERs
Review of the Dispensary Mess by SEN
ator Christensen.

A contest Is being waged in Columbia
this winter the like Of which Is seldom
seen in this state. It Is going on be-
meath the surface for the most part
though occasionally outcroppings are
noted in the papers. The state and
the grafters have locked horns and
are struggling nightly, the one to
get off unexposed and unpunisheo
with as much Of the Doodle as posi-
BILE, and the other to uncover the
most secret nests of corruption, TO put
the guilty in prison, and to save for
the state all that is due out of the
100000 that is part Of the bone oi
contention.
The attorney general and the
winding Up Commission" are work
ing in harmony, assisted by Messrs
Abney of Columbia, Stevenson o1
Cheraw and the firm Of Anderson
Fielder e. Roundtree Of Atlanta. Rang
ed with them is a majority Of the leg
islature and the state press. This
force comes on to the field to engage
in one of the last battles Of three
year campaign. All that has happened
in this affair since the appointment
of the legislative investigating COM
mittee in 1905 serves as a foundation
for the present contest. Those IN
charge have, month by month during
these years, shaped measures to the
present end. 1t Is only because the
people have patiently and with deter
mination, and with ballot, and no un-
certain voice, backed this effort to
cut out this cancer from the state that
success now seems certain.
Strong as this combination seems
It would be powerless were 1t rot for
the fund of $SOO000, Of which $780,
900 is claimed by liquor concerns. The
act under which the winding UP
Commission" is operating, compels a
full investigation Of each claim before
1t is paid. Some Of the liquor people
involved can not afford to lose the
money. That is what brought Good
man to Columbia and gave an opening
that widens each day as the state
presses forward.
Against the state are arrayed the
suspected and unsuspected grafters
among it's citizens, together with
some of the most powerful liquor com
binations in the world. They nave
millions at their back, with all that
means. They are fighting for their
reputation, their liberty, and some
against bankruptcy.
One of the outcroppings spoken or
Is the effort to take the whole matter
out Of the hands of the winding up
Commission" and put it into those
of Judge Pritchard, who presides over
a United States court in North Car
olina. Fleischmann Of Cincinnati Is
heading this move. He is one of the
most influential men in Ohio and very
strong in those Republican circles that
control Judge Pritchard's appoint
ment. Fleischmann's attack has been
many sided. He has tried for instance,
to discredit the attorney general and
the winding up commission by pub
fishing in the papers charges that
they have entered into an arrange
ment with the banks that are holding
these funds whereby they will all
profit. This was denounced and its alb
surdity exposed before Judge Pritch-
ard last night.
Those involved have threatened to
assassinate the attorney general, they
have attempted to open up negotia-
tions to bribe him, and their last des-
perate attempt has been to slander
him. Fortunately for the state his
character is such as to make this at
tempt as futile as the others.
On the streets, in the hotels of CO.
lumbia and at the portals Of the leg
islative halls of the capitol, in the
meetings of legislative committees
and on the floor of the senate the
friends of the suspected grafters and
the unsupported grafters are busily at
work. Their secret agents watch every
move of the state and 1t may not be
doubted that every possible means to
thwart justice is being considered
Beaufort Gazette.