The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-12-20


rest Of the world will be glad to come
to see us.
i"As to the police department. again
the first test will be efficiency. 1t
has been sadly demoraiixed, not, how
ever. In my judgment due in any way
% the personality Of Chief Boyle, but
because he has been hampered until
his heart IL sick Of the whole busi-
mesa The police force under my ad-
ministration will take its orders from
but one man. the chief, who will, un-
der the general direction of the May
or ard Council. carry out certain poll
cles without the slightest ,vacillation.
The main genius Of these will be. as
We said 20 often in the campaign,
Equal rights to all. special privileges
to none We will bring the police
force to d state Of efficiency unequall-
ed since the .days Of Golden and will
take II entirely out OF. politics. New
er again wfil there be such scenes as
were enacted at the ballot box on
November 2. That was a case Of
whore the strong arm Of the law at
once became nothing but strong arm
politics. Don't let us even refer to
that outrage again.
II am asked about my policy az
In Hind tt~or~ u< ~aaxn. 80 49, shoA
this 10 rather an add question to pu,
to man who has never In his lie
held an oficial position. Do. they ex-
ist. and have they existed under this
administration and in the past ad-
ministrations? Can I say that I will
condone law breaking. and in the next
three days take an oath faithfully to
administer the laws Certainly this is
perplexing. But again. let us not he
hypocritical. II II q fact that blind
users do exist and have existed ever
since the iniQuitous dispensary law
was foisted upon us. The seed OF the
blind tiger b the dispensary. In fact.
At the bottom Of al iawlessness in
Charleston is.the dispensary. It seems
Ike . bold assertion for me to make
70 ssy that would rather begin my
administration without the huge 90
caAk 'proflts' arising from the dis
Rsnsarys Il - . compensation there
Ter ] coold set desired relief in our
|sianor laws. than to hold on to the~e
|ptodS while at the same time con.
tjnuInD iths cursssa 81, tAa. displnsary.
But such b true. In my opinion the
dispenary has no redssming feature.
II pollutee everything 1t touches and
while II lasts we will have blind tigers
galore. because It encourages them:
1t sells to them: In fact. they are its
auxiliarisA Let us get rid Of the
dispensary. In a manly way putting
our case before The Legislature.
Show that body to what perverse ex,
tent the people Of Charleston and Of
all cities have gone and will go when
In this matter they are trammelled by
legislation arising either in ignorance
OF life In seaport or in some frantic
and fanatic bel that morals can be
legislated into a people.
"One Of the curses Of the present
condition is an abominable system OF
graft which has existed from the
foundation Of the dispensary-not
only in the dispensary itself, but in
the so-called efforts made to suppress
the Illicit sale Of liquor. The present
constabulary Is but a graft-grabbing
contingent. grabbing money from all
sides and. according to authentic in
formation. distributing II in high
sources. Isn't that simply awful to
contemplate? SO that TO answer
your question, while will deal with
the blind tigers drastically whenever
they exceed the bounds. will at
tempt nothing more radical In this
NfNNesVh thou
cessor. l will. however. apply myself
diligently to the eradication Of the
evil. namely. by abolishing the dis
pensary. and In Its place will advo-
cate a. rational system suited to the
needs OF u cosmopolitan city.
"As to the question of streets
which. Of course. comes at present
under the Jurisdiction Of the board Of
public works. bequeathed to me by
the present administration, which
even In its dying hours made desper-
ate efforts to AK It against my con-
troll j shall have little al present to
say. will take up streets only when
the power OF handling the situation
has been placed in my hands. which,
however. will soon be the case. One