The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1909-04-07

aCcOruIQg 10 IL mum Vi llS HNC'e1LS'
is the only hope and mainstay OF The
people for education, industry and gen
eral prosperity, yet there are hundred:
who firmly believe that prohibition,
whether it really prohibits altogether
or only partially prohibits, viii result
in more financial benefit TO the county
at large. and that more money Will be
spent for food. clothing, education and
other necessities that is now sent OIL fol
the 5000, 200 worth of the whisker that
we get $4,000 profits cut Of.
So far as the city schools OF Sumter
are concerned, the voting out OF the
! idispensary will not have any effect at
ali upon the educational institutions OF
this city Our public school houses were
built entirely by voluntary bond issues
overwhelmingly voted by the taxpayers
of Sumter. The Sumter public schools
are supported by extra tax levies for
school purposes. The little revenue re-
ceived from dispensary profits by sum
ter schools is mere bagatelle and there
would be 20 difficulty in getting Sumter
citizens 10 vote for doubling the number
of school houses and doubling the tax
levies for school purposes if the increas-
ed school enrolment required it, dis
pensary or no dispensary.
The voting out Of the dispensarv
would not cripple the Sumter school
system in the least. There is not dol
lar of dispensary money in our magnif-
cent school building. The writer heard
very ardent advocate of the dispensary
make the mistake OF saving Just look
at the splendid school buildings erected
in Sumter with dispensary profits" :"
That is a mistake. Our school houses
are monuments to the intelligence, cul-
ture. progress and refinement OF the
Sumter taxpayers, but are not monu-
ments to the dispensary.
That the loss of the dispensary reve-
nues will mean an increase OF taxes IN
Sumter city is almost certain The city
has been assisted materially by dispen-
sary profits in municipal improvements.
That the municipal government has
based certain financial operations on the
prospects of the S25. 900 annual dispen-
sary profits is true. That this financial
loss must be made up either by increas-
ed taxation or by reducing expenses and
cutting off contemplated municipal I'M
be disputed.
With these facts staring Us in the
face, even then there are hundreds who
are willing to place principle ABOVE the
dollar and to accept conditions as they
come or to accept increased tax levles
in preference to the dispensary or It's
revenues.
But will majority be willing to do
this? That is the question. Now as to
the chances OF the dispensary being vot-
ed cut.
Sumter is church-going city. 1t is q
city magnificent church edifces. a city
with big church memberships and with
the reputation of having brilliant and
weIl-paid ministers A city of big Sun-
day school memberships. \ city IN
which the influence of the churches is
very great indeed.
Sumter is city in which the young
men are prominently to the front in the
churches. in business, in politics, and
in every other way. The Younger men
are greatly under the influence and
teachings OF the churches. The young
men OF Sumter by an overwhelming ma
jority are sober men. They have to be
in oder to be in the front ranks of busi-
ness.
The church membership is largely
made up of young men. The older men
OF the churches are also sober men. The
ladies of the churches are undoubtedly
against the sale and drinking of whis-
key. Their influence against whiskey is
going to be a hard blow to The dlspen-
sary in the August election. The lotlu-
ence of the average Sumter mother,
wife, sister and sweetheart is unques-
tionably great with Sumter men. young
and old. And most particularly IN mat
ters of moral questions. That the church
eS Of Sumter are against the dlspensary
is admitted. The average church man,
and mind you, most Sumter voters are
church members, has to decide the
question for himself as to whether as a
church member he can conscientlously
vote for the sale of whiskey solely be
cause it brings in so much revenue, and
when he knows that every dollar of that
revenue stands for opposition to moral
ity, that the sale OF whiskeY means the
tempting of his fellow men, his son, his
father, his brother, and all other Of his
fellow men; that tae whiskey traffic
means thousands of orcken-hearted wo-
men, brutality to women and children,
misery, crime, criminals, murderers,
thieves, and that by voting for the dis
pensary he is going contrary to the OBJ
legations he assumed as a church mem
ber.
Is he doing his duty as a Christian
and as a father in voting for the sale OF
whiskey? Would he not feel better if
he voted against the dispensary even if
hundreds of men do send off for their
whiskey? Would tae church member
be responsible for man getting drunk
with whiskey which the drunkard sent
off for? And is not every man who votes
for the dispensary responsible for the
man who purchases his whiskey from
dispensary voted for by him?
Can a man be consistent church
member and vote for the dispensary or
for the sale of whist;ey?
Those are few of the questions
which some OF the ministers, the women
and the prohibitionists are putting to
the church members and which great
many church members are putting to
themselves.
Is the revenue from whiskey para
mount to principle? Will a little in-
crease in taxes bankrupt the city or the
county? Is Sumter county so poor that
it has to be supported BY whiskey rev.
enues? Are the men of Sumter county
so poor or so penurious that they prefer
to educate 5helr children with money
taken from the drunkard's wife and
children? Does Sumter county need the
dispensary profits so much? Could not
Sumter county bull: better roads: have
just as good schools. and are not the
men OF Sumter county intelligent
enough, industrious enough and manly
enough to continue to have just as pros
porous a county and just as fine and
progressive a county-seat as Sumter IS,
even though they don't get $50, 900 from
the dispensary?
Such questions of those handed out
are having great weight against, the
dispensary The revenue feature, which
is about the strongest feature used by
the dispensarv advocates, is weakening
IN +hic county Observe tiOns amODp the