The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-04-14
REJ0IHDER OF REV. A. H. BEST.

fair method in writing OF u temperance
meeting at Mccormick, and treatment Of
my reply, I must ask space for a further
word. For the information Of the public,
wish to say that it's the editor Of the Press
and Banner and his c~o-workers, and not
the people of Mccormick, who are respon.
sible for this agitation o. the ~dispensaryi in
Abbeville County %springing up at McCor-
mick just at this time. There has been q
Chapter Of temperance workers here at
Mccormick for some time. At the Febru.
airy meeting we were speaking Of some
plans looking to the organization Of the
prohibitionists for the fight against the sale
of whiskey in Abbeville County, in order
that we might get the people ready for the
election in August, a report OF this meet
ing reaching the editor Of the Press and
how he got his information) and he, as
seems to have been his custom, felt called
upon to strike q blow at what he seems to
regard the budding Of the fight for voting
out the d%ispensary in Abbeville County
and the bringing in of prohibition. In or
der to accomplish his purpose, he adopts
the method OF ridicule and fun making of
honest, respectable Christian people, work
ing for the suppression Of what they know
to be one Of the greatest evils OF our day.
Then when I find it necessary to use plain
ldlR uhSo w duSWcl LILO ullCdliCu " dB-
tack upon US, the editor begins to write
about manifesting a gentlemanly spirit
when writing for his paper in order to get
g~entlemanly treatment from him. I am
perfectly willing for the public after care
fully reading the editors first article INC
Cormick's Mutual Admiration Society,""
March 18th, and my reply to that, and his
to me March 91st, to say who failed to
manifest a gentlemanly spirit. You speak
Of lowering the dignity and high calling Of
the pulpit by methods that you do not
approve. / suppose some Of the people
around about Jerusalem thought when the
critics" that he was lowering the dignity Of
his calling. Those who are opposed to pro-
hibition legislation or the enactment Of any
laws looking to the betterment Of the NOR
ais of the people, are constantly volunteer
ing advice as to what the ministry should
or should not do. I wish to say that we
did not receive our call from them, neither
do we look to them for u commission.
Bishop Morrison, when presiding over the
session Of our conference at Gaffney, In
speaking to the report Of the committee
on temperance said, that il you call work.
ing for prohibition going into politics then
l want all the preachers to go into politics
and work until prohibition wins.
AS to the success Of prohibition in this
State and Georgia: l gave the names Of
parties vouching for the improved condi-
lions under prohibition and the success Of
the law. And nowI call upon those saying
that prohibition is a failure to give the
facts and the names of the parties vouch-
ing for the facts. If I had the space I
could give the facts from the very best au-
thority as to the success OF prohibition In
Knoxville, Tenn, where over one hundred
barrooms were closed.
Now, as to the failure Of prohibition In
Abbeville: In one sentence you say that a
prohibition law is enforced better when 1t
Is first passed. And then you say that In
less than a year after the law was passed,
Vile, a Presbyterian elder was going
around with a petition to get the law re-
pealed. Now q Ve1y pertinent question is,
what support did the press OF Abbeville
give to the enforcement Of the law2 Again
you must remember that it must have been
over twenty years ago since Abbeville tried
the experiment with prohibition. I sup
pose there Is no question upon which pub
lie sentiment has changed more in South
Carolina in that length Of time than the
question Of the possibility OF prohibiting
the sale of whiskey. About twenty years
ago / heard a Methodist minister Of the s.
G.. Conference say, "Does prohibition pro
hibit?" And then tauntlngly answered,
"No." Where Is the preacher in the Meth.
odist Church In South Carolina who would
dare to repeat that in one Of our pulpits to-
day?
Again: You speak Of the time when the
Courts held up the ~dispensary and Of the
fearful conditions which threatened Able.
Vile at that time. You must know that the
political conditions were such then as to
make that no fair test Of prohibition.
Then, with the great majority OF u peo-
plea Tillmanite-was q dispensaryite,
while an anti Tllmanite was against the
~dispensary. I understand that Abbeville
County has always been very strong In the
Tillman column, and therefore, they would
resist any interference with the d~ispensary
system by the Courts: Buttime has taught
our people some things, and one Of the
things our best and most thoughtful peo-
Die are learning Is, however much we may
differ on some questions, we must agree
when it comes to the suppression OF the
monster evil, the whiskey traffic. II the
people of Abbeville County are behind the
rest of the State in this respect then I must
believe it is because the press OF Abbeville
has been all on one side, and have failed to
give the people the light as to conditions
In other places. For I believe the people
of Abbeville are 10 ready to do the right
thing when they see 1t as any people OF
our State. You, Mr.. Editor, speak Of me
as a "traducer'' OF the good people OF Alb.
beville, You hold up the failure OF the PEG,
pie Of more than twenty years ago to en-
force prohibition as q proof OF what the
people Of today would do. You say that
the Town Council Of sixteen or seventeen
years ago granted indulgences to q few
white men in order to suppress q dozen OF
more negro blind tigers In the shape OF
restaurants, and that the people wlnked at
il. And the inference Is that you would
have the world believe that the people OF
Abbeville OF today, If prohibition was to
win and the ~dispensary was closed up.
would sit down and let a few negro blind
tigers, backed as they often are by un.
ity the law prohibiting the sale OF whiskey,
I have q better opinion Of the people OF
Abbeville Of today. Therefore, / contend
that it is you, Mr.. Editor, not I who must
stand convicted as a "traducer" Of the peo'
pie of Abbeville. You say, IF Abbeville is
the only place on the Seaboard Air Line
Railway from New Orleans to Richmond
where whiskey is legally sold, then 1t iE
not true that Abbeville is the only city be-
tween the points mentioned, where liquor
is not illegally sold" No, l can not say
that liquor is not Illegally sold In Able
Vile. But / can say that 1 am reliably in.
formed that the d%ispensary at AbbeVille is
furnishing the whiskey Of the blind tigers
who are operating in the adjoining coun,
ties in this State and across the line in
Georgia. 1t is a noted fact that the dis
pensary is the mother Of blind tigers,
And Just as the dispensary Of North Au-
gusta is contributing largely to making
prohibition ineffective in Augusta, SO it is
that the Abbeville d~ispensary Is selling q
great deal of the whiskey that is giving
trouble to the surrounding territory.
AS to what you say OF the board Of mis-
sions OF the A. R. P. Church, I will say that
I suppose that church is perfectly compe-
tent to take care Of itself. My knowledge