The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-08-05
FOR
ABBEVILLE COUNTY.
The People Will Institute a
Change at the First Oppor-
tunitV,

Oh0hSo wv onO LAW SPPSA
tunity.
. 1t is apparent to the student of the
political situation that the DIspensary
ia not gaining ground In this county.
Many people thought that when the
law was changed in regard to the dis
tribution of dispensary profits the OPP
position would at least become quies-
cent, but such has not been the case
and today the opposition is just as Bit
ter as ever. and the people only await
an opportunity to vote it out.
One of the principle reasons that
this people are going to vote the Dis
pensary out is because Of the fact that
they look on it as a money making
machine.
In short the Abbeville Dispensary is
making too much money. Forty or
fifty thousand dollars clear profit is
enough for forty or fifty saloons /!
There is something inherent, mate in
us that rebels at the very idea of max
ing such an institution into a machine
to grind out money. We look on such
gain as predatory, vampirism, AID Sc.
Guestration. The average citizen of
Abbeville County says that,he prefers
to a his taxes himself rather than to
have them paid by the Dispensary and
80 he is going to vote.
Again the people of our county,
while they may not entirely agree
with our neighbors in adjoining
counties as to the final solution of the
question, are not exactly satisfied
with the treatment that they, our
neighbors are receiving at our hands.
These counties are trying prohibition.
Some say it is succeeding, some cay
that such is not the case, but we all
know that it would be fairer to Green
wood and Anderson if we would shut
up shop and enter the fight with
them.
The amount Of whiskey that goes
out of the county is no small item, and
the fact that there is a place where
whiskey can be bought 80 near these
places must of necessity make the en-
forcement of laws in those counties
much more difficult than they would
be if we were dry. The eyes Of the
people are open to this fact, and they
are not looking on Greenwood and
Anderson az North Augusta looks on
Augusta. For years Augusta opened
the viols of its curiosity and baptized
Carolina with a baptism of .bachanals
when we were fighting against the
open bars here, and after the bars were
closed Augusta continued to furnish
us with almost enough fiery fluid to
take the place of that sold owe the
open bar. Augusta is now taking
some of her own medicine, and we
can only hope that she is learning the
lesson. Now our attitude towards
Greenwood is:.just the samel as Au.
gusta's attitude has been toward
Western Carolina for the last q years.
We voted our towns dry over here and
Augusta continued to keep them wet.
Greenwood and adjoining. counties in
Carolina ond Georgia are dry and we
are another Augusta to keep, or help
them out. But Greenwood has been fight
ing this thing ever since she was a
town and the people are beginning to
believe that che should have aid and
support, rather that we should act as a
counterpoise in the work. Call it an
experiment if you will, the people are
willing to 80 term it, it is EN- expert
ment that they want to see tested.
They have heard much about Dispen-
ssry or blind Tigers, that mt or the
other will he the ultimate result but
sentiment has 80 changed that many
think that prohibition would result in
much better conditions and very few
blind tigers.
The negro question is also entering
into this whiskey question to no small
degree. Farmers who live at a dis
lance from the Dispensary express
themselves in no uncertain terms as
TO their opinion on the question.
They complain of their hands leaving
them for a day or more at a time aud
at frequent intervals in order to come
to the Dispensary for whiskey. You
will find no farmer who works many
handsSthat does not complain of this
one thing. The negro not only loses
the time in going and coming but
there is also a moral eide of the ques-
ton that Is of vastly more importa nee
than the mere question of time.
Many men come to Abbeville to
trade or on other business and on their
way they meet negroes drunk on Dis
pensary liquor, and they Immediately
think of those they have left at home
and how this horde must pass his
home. All these things have put our
people to thinking and now they have
about made up their minds az to what
they will do. They will use their bal
lot on the evil and make another ex-
pertinent with prohibition. They are
only awaiting the opportunity.
The citizens of Abb5ville county
know that the old barroOm system is
gone forever and they are not afraid to
with the law on that account.
Should the pendulum swing back in
our age we know that it wonld never
reach the same conditions that we had
under the barroom system. Many
too, that the pendulum is GER
tain to swing back again but for the
present they are ready for the expert
ment. They see almost the whole
south interested in the subject, max
ing laws, changing existing laws, vot-
ing prohibition, etc., ard they are
ready to lend hand at the expert.
ment.
Those Iwho think know that the
question has not yet reached its final
solution and is not likely to reach it
in this day and generation, yet thSy
see others trying out plans and they
feel that they should help in the try
ing out of these plans rather than re-
an unquestionable obstacle to
the very plans that our neighbors are
endeavoring to execute.
RENWICK BRADLEY.