The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-02
Question To Be Settled
 Tuesday.
lwENTY-oNE COUNTIES VOTE
At Present State is Half And
 Half"
Prohibitionists Would Abolish Dispen- '.r'e- wAieA Net state '1o''o'' |. Revenues sAnnually-Another
 Chapter in Long Fight.

Columbia. s. C., Aug. 1.--On Tues day of this week South Carolina will be added to the fold of statewide pro- hibition territory which now embraces well nigh all of the Southeastern States. However. the drouth in this State Is to be temporary--uniess the voters in the twsnty-one wet counties that are to hold local option elections on Tuesday. August IF, declare for per- petuai dryness.
 Due to the strategy of the prohibi- tionists in the South Carolina Legis- lature, the drys have all to gain and nothing to lose in the approaching contests. Literally, this state is half and half" twenfy-one counties being already in the prohibition camp and exactly the same number being official- iy engaged in the sale of intoxicants under what is known as the county dispensary system. The law enacted at the last session of the Legislature took no account of the territory aI- ready dry. providing only for elections m 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 or prohibition before depositing their ballots, the prbhibitionists had if nro- vided that all dispensaries shall close sWo weeks before the elections and remain closed until the result of the elections is known.
 A howl went up from the vets when Attorney General Lyon delivered an opinion to the effect that the result of the elections would not be "known until ofhcially declared by the State Board of Canvassers, which means that county grog shops will be closed Tor at least month. As Governor An- sel has concurred in this opinion. it s.ands. and any attempt to ope many dispensary before the vote is ofYfcIaiIv declared would unquestionably mean the dismissal from oflce of the of- Tending dispensary commissioner.
 County Votes aa Unit.
 In the elections each countv ycsas as unit and 1t is admitted thaf \ numb of them will set the seal ef aisapprovel upon the sale of intoxf- cants within their borders. gRichiand. in which Columbia is situated ans Charleston are among the counties which will participate in the elections
 The county dispensary is fine o,,t- growth of the late State disnens rv system of which Governor TilIman now United States Senator was the accredited daddy" and which waa wrecked on the rocks of political strifa and internal corruption. After th,. Teen perilous years, at one fine c,,i- minating in riot with resultant hiood- shed, and calling forth iron, the tbar governor Tillman a proclamation of martial law and the mobfIizing tr Darlington, Columbia and other noints or such of the State troops as did moi iay uown tneir arms and coiors when n AuH shell a law which was renurnsnt to mem; later seeing rebeliious Charjes- ton patrolled by State police in n fruit- less emort by Tillman's Successor s, governor to enforce the unnonuisr State liquor system in the metronoiIs of the State. and followed in succeed- ing years by the staying of perhaps q 1ozen citizens by armed state consta- bles and the killing of a numher os these same officials. the State dispen- sary system was two years ago killed by smali majority in the Lerislatura after one of the stormiest sessions in it's history. ;"
 State 0mciaIs Tnyolved.
 half dozen of the officiais of tha state dispensary, charged with accent. ing thousands of dollars in rehstsa from whiskey houses, are now at Iih. s26. 900. '-O'OOV 70
 Since the inauguration of the county dispensary system there have been m chargeS--of corruption.
 Differing from saloons the dispen- saries are operated under control of a county board; the bartender is known as a dispenser and Is bonded. There are no screens in the dispensaries: in :. toxicants are sold only fin original packages. ranging from half pints to three gallon demijohns. and there is no drinking on the premises; the dispen. sary is opened at sunrise and closed at sundown; the purchaser Is required to sign a request blank" for each purchase, in which he must give bts age and address; minors and drunk ards are not allowed to make purchas- es. and whatever is sold in, the dispen- saries is required to be chemically pure.
 The sales of the dispensaries fin the twenty-one wet counties of the State approximate $S.000.000 annually. with net profits to the counties of approxi- kmately $700.000. The loss of this rev. snue is the principal argument urged by the anti-prohibitionists in the hope af dafaafinQ fha afFnrf rouy hat.A