The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-07-14
BLIND TIGERS.

ing LIQUOR in violation of law. The lie,
gal selling of liquor may be called a
"tiger" with two sound eyes. Is it
not reasonable to believe that a tiger
that can zee is more dangerous
than one that cannot see ?
A man would not be much afraid of a
blind enemy, however eager TO injure
him?
Now, many assume that where a dis
pensary is there are no blind tigers
and where there is no dispensary the
community is overrun by the sightless
beasts. Is the assumption than cor
rect .? Hardly. Charleston has sev-
eral dispensaries, and it is known that
there are hundreds Of blind tigers in
the city. A very large percentage of
these pay q licerse to the United States
government, which in turn grants the
privilege of selling liquor but neither
the State mol the city can grant such
privilege; hence these are blind tigers,
so far as the State is concerned. And
there are scores, perhaps hundreds, Of
blind tigers in the city that pay no Ii
cense to the general government. All
of these tigers, of both sorts, probably
buy most if not of all other supplies
from the legalized d~ispensaries, thus
becoming their patrons, adding to the
business of the dispensaries. 1t is
hardly to be expected that the friends
of the dispensaries will try earnestly to
interfere with their regular customers.
Now, what is said of Charleston is
doubtless true of Columbia and Sum-
ter and O%rangeburg, only in a smaller
way than in the City by the Sea.
When we come to Abbeville, we may
expect the same thing to be going on.
How convenient for the tigers to get
liquor from the dispensary! 1t can be
had near home, with no express
charges to be paid. What suit cases
and large bags may be filled with bot
ties of liquor for negro picnics and even
churches and for individuals who
crave the exhilarating poison! Who
does not know that this is being done
every day? Out into the county 1t
goes and to Hodges and Ware Shoals,
Anderson and Greenwood, Calhoun
Falls and over the river into Georgia.
How easy, yes, how convenient, to get
it at the Abbeville dispensary! Thus
the sales, at the dispensary are greatly
enlarged, thus the profit to the town
increases. Surely there is no attempt
to reduce the quantity sold of the
crime-producing, the court-expensive,
the ruinous liquid, as was said to be
the original purpose of the dispensary
law when enacted; the attempt now
is to increase the quantity and swell
the profits.
What matters it if women and chill
dren 90 without sufficient food and de-
cent clothing? What matters it if
vice and crime grow apace, if only q
larger profit may con.e to the town and
county? The blind tigers, buying IL
quor from the dispensary, Will help to
expand the sales, thus adding much to
| what individuals buy for themselves
and their friends.
Cast out the d%ispensaries from every
county and the blind tigers will be-
come fewer, and if the officers will do
their duty the tigers will ere long dis
appear altogether, as other harmful
wild beasts are fast disappearing from
South Carolina. Catch the blind tigers
and put them on the chain gang, as is
done In Anderson and Edgefield, which
accounts for the large number COM
PEELED to toll on their public roads.
Then we shall have less liquor sold.
Let not legalized dispensaries sell to
individuals for their own use, nor to
blind tigers for the use of others here
and elsewhere.
Rut if as much or more iiquor were
sold for a time by blind tigers than by
the dispensary, it would nevertheless
be right and wise to cast out the dis
pensary. Neither the State nor the
county should license, az q beverage,
such an enormous evil as intoxicating
liquor. Was it not right and wise for
God to prohibit and not license the
evils named in the Ten Command
ments Who doubts it? Men should
know that they are violating moral
law when they indulge in those evils.
The prohibitions in the Ten Command
ments restrain men and tend to elevate
them. Of course the Commandments
are violated to some extent, but what
would society be without their restrain
ing influence? Who would have them
annulled because men steal and lie and
commit adultry and murder? Good
laws. when only partially enforced,
tend to educate the people when such
laws obtain. Take an example: South
Carolina allows no divorce, and the
people of the State generally look upon
marriage as more sacred, perhaps, than
any other State.
Let all understand that selling Ii
quor in any way, as a beverage, is a
violation of law, and they will come
to feel more and more that IL is wrong.
Prohibition, if only partially and i'm
perfectly enforced, will leave the peo.
pie to see more clearly the dreadful
evil of liquor-selling al d liquor-drink-
ing.
Let all men and women earnestly
and actively oppose ibis greatest of all
evils, in our State at the present time,
and persevere in their aggressive oppo-
sition, and improvement will as surely
follow as night follows day.
Signed,
Opposed to Intoxicating Liquor.