The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-08-18
'DRYS VICTORIOUS
 IN MANY COUNTIES Vote on DispenSary in South
 Carolina Is Divided CHARLESTON GOES WET Anti-saloon League Takes Active Inter est in Campaign and Both
 Sides Use Great Flow
 of Argument.
CHARLESTON GOES WET

Columbia, S. C., August 1.-The un- official returns from the elections held in 21 of the so-called wet" counties of South Carolina today for the pur- pose of allowing the voters of each county to choose between prohibition and the county dispensary system in- dicate that the prohibitionists have won victories in 15 of these counties Com plete returns from some precincts not reported tonight may change the re- suit in two or three counties, but the probabilities are that prohibition has carried in Abbeville, Bamberg, Barn we'll Berkeley Calhoun. Colleton. Dor chester, Fairfield, Hampton, Kershaw. Lee, Lexington, Orangeburg. Sumter and Williamsburg counties.
 The dispensary has won in Aiken, Charleston and Richland counties and Is leading in Georgetown and Beaufort. In Florence the vote Is tied with live precincts to hear from, claimed by the prohibitionists.
 The elections were without excite ment or special incident in any county and a small vote was boiled. The ma jorities for prohibition, according to the present returns which are in most cases practically complete range from IA in Calhoun to 9S2 in Orangeburg county. The largest majority for the dispensary is in Charleston county, where 1t received 1925 votes against S05 for prohibition.
 One-half of the state was already l elections were held was compromise measure adopted at the last session of the legislature to defeat a bill pro- viding for statewide prohibition. The general belief is that the prohibition fists will again move the passage of such a law at the next legislature in January. The elections were on the question of voting in the dispensary. prohibition having been decreed since August 2, last, under the bill providing for the elections, which permitted the counties then wet" to vote back their dispensaries if they so desired.
 For the first time the Anti-Saloon league took an active interest in the prohibition movement in this state, and not since the
 
 sos, when Benjamin R. Tillman was first entering upon his spectacular politica! career has such a campaign been wit messed as that waged by the Anti-Saloon league leaders, church folk and "anti- dispensaryites," against the return to the dispensaries. Public speakings were con- ducted in each of the 21 counties; preach CTS and temperance leaders organized n hri md the daily and weekly newspapers of ths state were filled with arguments favor able to prohibition. Those who favored the retention of the dispensary displayed very little energy in influencing the elec- tions. Very little, if any, money was ex- pended by either side at the polls today, according to reports.
 The gains made by the prohibitionists in today's elections are exercised to lend i'm petus to the fight for the state wide prohi- bition, which will be fairly on at the open ing of the approaching session of the legis- lature, which convenes in January. For the past two years there has been strong majority In the house for state- wide prohibition, but in the senate there has been a majority of from two to three votes against the measure. The prohi- bitionists declare that the representative of those counties, which, by today's cleo tion declared against the sale of intox- cants, will not dare cast their votes in January against the prohibition bill. They say that the statewide bill will be passed by safe majority in both houses. An swering this claim, the dispensaryites as- sert that there will come a change of feel ing with the resultant loss of revenue from the dispensaries. Anyway, the fight is on, and 1t remains to be seen whether another southern state will be added to the vast territory declared dry within the past few years.