The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-02
.Dispsnsariss Will Close for Ten Days Beginning On
 Tomorrow
VOTE ON PROHIBITION
 TUESDAY, AUGUST 10
Twenty-one Counties Now Operating Dispensaries Will Vote For and Against Their Continuance-His-
 tory of Long Struggle.

Columbia. S. C., August Ion Tuesday of this week South Carolina will be added to the fold of state wide prohibition ter ritory which now embraces well-nlgh all Of the southeastern states. However. the drouth in this state is to be temporary unless the voters in the 2l wet counties that are to hold local option elections on Tuesday, August 10, declare for per petual dryness
 Due to the strategy of the prohibition ists in the South Carolina legislature. the drys have all to gain and nothing to lose in the approaching contests. Literally this state is half and half" 21 counties being already In the prohibition camp and exactly the same number being officially engaged in the sale of intoxicants under what is known as the county dispensary system The law enacted at the last ses- sion took no account of the territory al- ready dry, providing for elections in the wet counties to determine whether they should remain wet or join their sisters of the white ribbon camp. Further, that the folk in the dispensary counties might have a. taste of prohibition before depos- iting the ballots, the prohibitionsts had it provided that all dispensares shall close two weeks before the elections and remain closed until the result of the elec- tions is known. s
 In the elections each county votes as a unit, and 1t is admitted that a number l of them will set the seal of disapproval
 upon the sale of intoxicants within their ] borders. Richland in which Columbia Is situated, and Charleston are among the counties which will participate In the elections.
 | The county dispensary is the outgrowth of the late state dispensary system of
 which Governor Tillman, now United States senator, was the accredited dad dy' and which was wrecked on the rocks
 of political strife and internal corrup-
 ton. After 13 perilous years, at one time
 culminatnig in riot with resultant bloodshed, and calling forth from the then governmental proclamation of mar tial law and the mobilization in Darling ton Columbia and other points of such of the state troops as did not lay down their arms and colors when summoned to enforce with bayonet and shell a law
 which was repugnant to them later see- ing rebellious' Charleston patrolled by
 state tolice In frudtless effort by T1ll-
 mans successor as governor to enforce the unpopular state liquor system In the
 metropolis of the state, and followed in succeeding years by the staying of per- haps dozen citizens by armed state constables and the killing of number of these same officials, the state dispensary system was two years ago killed by a small majority in the legislature after one of the stormiest sessions in it's his- tory
 A half dozen of the officials of the state dispensary charged with accepting thou
 sands of dollars in rebates from whisky houses, are now at liberty on bonds rang ing from s100O0 to s25,0o0
 Since the inauguration of the county dispensary system there have been no charges of corruption.
 Differing from saloons, the dispensaries are operated under control of a county board, the bartender Is known as a dis penser and is bonded; there are no screens in the dispensaries; intoxicants are sold only in original packages, rang ing from half pints to three gallon deni- johns. and there Is no drinking on the premises The dispensary is opened at sunrise and closed at sunset The pur- chaser is required to sign a request blank for each purchase, in which he must give his age and address. Minors and drunkards are not allowed to make purchases, and whatever is sold in the dispensaries Is required to be chemically pure.
 The sales of the dispensaries in the 21 wet counties of the state approximate 5000 900 annually, with net profits to the counties of approximately $700, ,0o0 The loss of this revenue Is the principal argument urged by the anti-prohibition- ists in the hope of defeating the effort now being made to vote out the dispen- saries.