The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-08-13

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 have been absent from the city fol several day ss l have just noticed the in terview of Hon. Jones G. Moore, chair nan of the local option campaign com mittee, published in The Age-Herald, on fhe subject of the dispensary Mr. Moore refers to the conditions that have ob- tained in South Carolina. where the dls- pensary las been in force for several years. MT. Moore makes serious mls- take, however, in supposing that there IS any analogy between the conditions in , south Carolina and those which obtain in the state of Alabama.
 Conditions Different In south Carolina
 The dispensary came in South Garollhd as a result of the Till1nan agitation, whlch overthrow the old aristocratic regime which had ruled that state for more than century. Every proposition brought forward by Senator Tillman was bitterly oorosed by the men whom he had over thrown His bill did not there, as the Parks bill docs here, provide for local option on that question, but the dlspen- sary was imposed upon the people or Charleston, Columbia and other places without a vote of the people and con- trary to their known wishes in the mat ter His plan aroused the bitterest an tagonism, and strong and active interests ccnspired to it's discredit when they were rot able to accomplish it's overthrow.
 But notwithstanding the bitter opposi- ton of a political nature, and also the bitterest opposition of special interests, the dispensary has survived a O-years' warfare in South Carolina, and has been succeeded in no instance by the saloon. In many cases under the local option sys- tenn prohibition has driven out the dis pensary, as it has the saloon, but In no instance has the saloon supplanted the dispensary.
 Conditions in Alabama
 The conditions in Alabama are essential l,- different. The people here are given their free choice, not only upon the ques- tior as to whether we shall have prohi- btion or not. but also upon the manner O. sale in the event we decide to do away with statutory prohibition. Under this bill the people of Mobile, Montgom- cry and some other counties have chosen the saloons in preference to the dispen- sary, Just as they had a right to do un- der the terms of the law. In this county the question simply Is which method shall we adopt for the regulation of the sale of liquor provided we abandon prohibition as a policy? The dispensary cannot be adopted here as it was in South Carolina, against the will of the people interested.
 
 vestigation just little further he would have found a complete answer to every thing he has had to say on the subject of the dispensary. In places where the people have freely adopted it, they have in many counties in this state. and in other states, prior to the statewide prohibition law, 1t has proven d conspic- uous success. and none of the imaginary evils attributed to it by interested parties have ever been realized.
 While looking for instances of the effect and opera tion of the dispensary, why should Chairman Moore go to South Carolina? Why not go to Tus- caloosa and Walker counties, which surround Jefferson on the south and west, in addition to Madison and other counties, which had flourishing and successful dispensaries for years prior to 1907. It has been established that s- the dispensary when freely adopted by the people has greatly promoted tn, cause of .temperance and greatly re strained.sthe spirit of lawlessness.
 Graft
 It is said that the dispensaries il South Carolina have been infested witt graft It has already been pointed ou that there was a state wide law ad ministered by a state constabulary system peculiarly and highly obnoXiou. to the people of many counties, anC there was systematic effort on tn, A part of certain interests to discredi 1t. It is not to be doubted that there were instances in South Carolina, and under similar circumstances there will be instances anywhere. that a certain amount of graft will get into the sys- tenn. But here l again appeal to tn 6 difference in the conditions. The dis pensary, if adopted by the people ol Jefferson county, would be under the sole control of the three commission ar n ha fiTN nf if1r han If the highest character and capacity. There would be but II dispensaries in the city of Birmingham, and perhaps only two or three more in other DOT tions of the county. The dispensers and purchasing agents would be em- ployed by and subject to removal by the city commissioners. There is no more reason to apprehend graft under that system than there Is reason to apprehend graft in the other affairs of the city of Birmingham.
 Today we have a purchasing agent for other city departments, handling large sums of money and making val uable and important contracts. Should !. we happen hereafter to have a pur- chasing agent who is dishonest and an auditing system which is loose and in adequate, we might evidence of graft, and probably would in other city departments under these conditions We
 
 we base our reliance not only upon the known character of the city commits lsioners, but also upon the capacity of the auditing department of the city whose business 1t Is especially to check against matters of this kind.
 Nearly every city in the United States from New York to Dadeville and Syla- cauga have adopted municipal owner hip of water works or other public utilities in some form or another. These departments of the various cities Of the United States are just as free from graft as the other departments of the city, and the tendency throughout the country has been and is to extend and not to reduce the system of municipal ownership. No city in the country has taken a backward step on that mat ter. If they discover graft, as, for ex- ample. in Pittsburg recently, the graft CTS are simply indicted and punished but the government goes on. If graft exists without discovery, as for a Him. ited time 1t may, it is at the very least not any worse in public than 1t is in private affairs, and under the watch