The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-02-03

Secretary DispenSary Board Clarendon Co'
I therefore deemd e It most expedi-
ent to introduce bill providing for the
disposition of the stock. The bill IS as
follows:
A Bill to Authorize the Opening the County
Dispensary in Clarendon County for the pur-
pose OF selling the stock OF liquors in said DIS
penSary.
Be 1t enacted by the General Assembly Of the
State Of South Carolina.
Section. |. That Immediately after the ap-
proval Of this ACT the County Board OF Con
troll Of Clarendon County be authorized ana
empowered TO open the county dlspenSary IN
Clarendon County tor the purpose OF diSposinS
Of the stock Of liquors now on hand either IN
wholesale c. retail lots, and shall keep sald ais
peaSary open until said stock OF liquors Is en-.
tirely disposed Of and that the money derived
from the sale Of said liquors. after the payment
OF ali outstanding obligations, shall be olVloed
as now provided by law: Provided however;
That the said County Board Of Control shall
not while the said diSpensary is open, purchase
II any way whatever
The introduction of this bill brought
forth a protest from some OF the Man
ming Prohibitionists, some OF whom |
am glad to state give me credit for hon
estv Of purpose, and these I will state
also, and Prohibitions from principle:
and not from political expediency, while
some others are in the prohibition band
wagon because it is heading towards a
political Job. This class of prohibition
lists are so loud-mouthed il heir profes-
sions OF purity, they are aLout to crowd
the real, sincere Prohlbitionists OF OF
the front seat, and are making so much
noise they are about tc drown the voice
OF men who are reilgiously opposed to
the sale Of fintoXicants-men whose lives
are a living example of the principle.
The political prohibs will not admit
honesty of purpose in men who are
frank enough to differ from them; they
would monopolize all Of the virtues for
themselves, these men are intolerant,
and frequently their zeal lifts the veil
from their Hypocrisy to the extent that
! they disgust sincere Prohibltlonlsts.
Only few days ago gentleman IRON
Clarendon was in Columbia. and he IS a
Prohi bitionis5, in conversation with me
said, II am a Prohi bitionist from prin-
ciple and would be gratlhed 70 have the
experiment tried, but I am disguised
with the intolerance and fanaticism l
see monifested. Why do not these pro-
Tossing moralists turn their attention to
other evils besides whiskey drinking,
they have nothing TO say about paying
their debts, and some Of them will not
pay debt. I regard a man who will not
pay his debts as worse than the man who
sells or drinks whiskey: when man at
tempts to 90 out on moral crusade he
should first clense himself not only OF
the evils OF LIQUOR drinking, but he
should have regard for honesty, chastl-
tv and decent conduct in private as we'll
public" agree with this man exactly.
I have no patience with the man who IS
moral leper, who rides at the head OF
the procession in crusade against whls-
key: man should not in my opinion, be
potential force in the prohibition cause
whose breath stinks from ordered, or
blind tiger whiskey, who leads a disso-
lutte life in private, and because the law
cannot reach him destroys the conf
dence of a neighbor when trusted for a
few dollars-perhaps the food he eats,
and the clothes upon his back. However,
stand at attention. with uncovered
head to he who comes to me clear IN
in heart and purpose, and will give the
views Of such my most careful and re-
specvful attention. I will, if possible
| without violating my conscience, en-
deavor to ind way to agree to help
him in his purpose.
The bill above reproduced, as will be
seen, only had for its purpose to reopen
the dispensary to sell what is now IN
that establishment and no more, but OBJ
| lection is made from some Of the citl-
zens of Manning. A delegation of Man
ningites, self appointed l presume, as |
have not heard of any meeting to dele
gate them, came to Columbia to protest
against the bill. There presence was
altogether unnecessary, nor did these
protestents have any weight with the
committee in its conclusion to report
my bill uniavorable. The chairman OF
| this committee, who is Prohibltlonlst
informed me before the bill was ever re-
ferred to his committee that it would
receive an unfavorable report from him
but inasmuch as he had promised TO give
the parties obiectlng hearing, he
would not hand in his report until they
| have been heard.
The gentlemen who appeared were
Messrs. P. B. Mouzon, Charlton Du-
Rant, J. Il. Lesesne, joseph Sprott, c..
r. Sprott, J. W. Rigby and r. D. Clark.
| They broughtwith them petition sign
ed by citizens of Manning, and I think
TWO persons outside of Manning protest
ing against the reopening of the dispen-
sary. will state that some of the sign
ers of the petition expressed to me per-
sonally the Sunday before, just the re-
verse OF what the petition sets out, and
since then some of these same petition
e,s told me they signed the petition up
on certain representations made to them,
the representations they claim that
were made to them and not in accord
ance with facts. The representation
made, as I understand them, was that
the county board could have sold the
stock at but a small 6lscount-about >
| per cent discount and the offer was re-
| jected. If this is the representation
made, and it was this that induced some
Of the signatures, the facts were GER
tainly misrepresented: if the statements
given to me by a member of the board
is true. However, the petition nor the
delegation brought about the unfaTor-
able report OF the bill When the com
mittee made its report had the bill
placed on the calendar, since then
have prepared another bill which / like
better, but this too has an unfavoraDle
report from the same committee. 1t is
now a second reading on the calendar,
and I propose to substitute it for my
first. II provides for a removal of the
board Of control, and turn the dispen-
sary over to one man to dispose OF the
property in the dlspensary, and instead
Of paying salary, he will get his COM
| lnensa ton from, q commission of three