The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1910-07-12


old dispensary law that man had a
right to bring in liquor from another
State and have it for his own person
al use. and that it was no violation
of the law to have liquor in your pos
session for your own personal use,
and that is the law in those counties
which have dispensaries, but it is not
the law in the counties which have no
dispensaries, such as Sumter county,
and the reason of that is this: That
the interstate commerce clause Of the
constitution of the United States, de-
signed to protect commerce between
the States, (protect their commerce Of
any article coming from one State
into another State,) that the State in
which it is received can not place any
greater restriction upon that article
coming from another State than it had
on the articles produced by the State
and offered for sale in the State it.
self, without there being law against
selling it in this State; that is, in 9TH
er words, as under the dispensary law,
the State offered liquor for sale, and
man could go to the dispensary and
buy liquor and keep it in his possess
sion and store it for his own personal
use The laws of the United States
said that to prohibit a man from
bringing liquor from another State
and keeping it in his possession and
using it for his personal use would
be a discrimination against the other
State in favor of this State, which the
laws of the United States prohibit.
They prohibit that one State shall
favor the sale Of stuff in that State as
against the sale or use or consumption
of stuff brought from another State;
but they hold that q State has the
right to absolutely prohibit anything
like liquor, which is declared to be
detrimental to the public health, and
so declared in this statute, and de-
clared to be contraband. The States
have a right to prohibit the bringing
in and use of it altogether, and so
that when a State absolutely prohibits
the bringing in of the stuff and the use
of it by it's own citizens and the SELL
ing of it under any law in any State,
there is no discrimination as between
the State and other States, and the
laws of the interstate commerce are
not interfered win. But when State
undertakes to absolutely prohibit, as
it does in this section of the act that
have read to you, as to the acceptance
and receipt or storage or keeping in
possession of liquor, absolutely and
entirely, whether it is another State
which sends liquor into this State,
such State is not Disseminated against
in any shape or form, and liquor
coming from another State, even
though for personal use, is contraband
under this statute, and no man has a
right to keep it in his possession for
personal use or otherwise.
"There was law known as the Will
son act, first passed which allowed IL
quor to be brought into State which
itself authorized the sale of liquor, as
was the law under the old dispen-
sary act. and allowed it to be sold in
the original packages in which it was
brought, but there was an amendment
to that statute which made the liquor
as soon as it got into the State and
was delivered to the consignee amen
able to the State law, and therefore,
if the LIQUOR was ever brought from
another State into this State, strictly
bona fde for personal use, why then
the Interstate commerce law protect
ed it for personal use and while being
brought from another State into our
own State, and as the counties that
have a dispensary, protect the liquor
bought from the State or county dis
pensary, protect it in the possession
of another for personal use, the trans
action was absolutely even. But as I
stated to you. it simply means this, the
law that I have read to you, in coun-
tv where you have no dispensary, no
State nor a county in competition
with the importation of liquor from
another State and the selling of liquor
and protecting it for personal use;
where you have a county absolutely
prohibiting the sale of liquor under
the terms of this statute, as I have
read 70 you, then that matter of per-
sonal use no longer protects the liquor
for consumption 1t does protect it to
the extent of delivery TO the consignee,
but does not protect it for the, pur-