The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-02-04

| CITY AiioH oruereu nquOr brought into
dry county or If liquor were found
| III any mans possession in a dry"
| county and this amendment was on
| posed by the Anti-Saloon League and
| oe1eated because the Anti-Saloon
| League realized the fact that while
| people will vote for prohibition they
VIII not vote for it if it promises to
| prohibit the voter from supplying his
| own requirements.
Inc men VINO are connected with
League have made a study of pro-
hlpftlon from the records Of the past
| and we know that the movement in
the 3os and in the sos, and in the
Sos had no effect on consumption and
did not bring about any reduction in
drunkenness so far as statistics show.
put these movements cost millions of
! dollars In revenue and millions of dol
| lars in private property DESTROYED. and
millions of dollars expended in seitat-
ing the question and they brought
about lifelong enmities between form
er friends and they disrupted commu-
mites and they destroyed revenue for
law.
we knew that the movement, which
was started by the Anti-Saloon League
about fifteen yearss ago, would be as
barren Of good results as the preced-
| ing ones and that Il would be a much
easier matter in these DAYS than in
the past to establish mail-order chan
nels with which to supply consumers
IN so-called dry territory.
We knew, furthermore. that w.here
| people purchase their liquor by the
| case, whether Of beer or whislSev.
| they would consume far more beer
and whiskey than where they pur-
chased it by the glass, as they might
| require it, just as men consume more
cigars where they purchase them bv
by the box than where they purchase
| cigar as they need 1t.
We know that while prohibition
| might destroy the property Of saloon
| keepers. and wholesalers, and distil-
lers, and brewers, in certain States
and counties, 1t would not hurt the
business as a whole but would really
enlarge its possibilities. We did not
suppose, however, that the increase
| holic beverages would be so tremen-
| dous on account of prohibition as the
figures Of the Internal Revenue De-
| partment show that it has been. AS
an aggregate this increase is enor
nous.
Here in Kentucky. during the last
| seven years, the consumptive demand
for whiskey made in this State but
shipped to all of the States has in
creased from 22,000,O00 to $4,000, 900
gallons, and this fiscal year the con-
| sumption promises to run to $4,000. 900
| gallons and in anticipation Of a steady
! increase the production in Kentucky
| this year will run over 4O,OOO,OOO gall
| Ions
Similar increases have taken place
in Pennsylvania, in Maryland, and in
| other distilling States. Throughout
| the United States the increased con-
| sumption, as shown by actual tax
| payments Of distilled spirits during
| the last fiscal year and as against the
previous year, amounted to about L.
100000 gallons per month, and dur
ing the year the increase in the con-
sumption Of beer, as shown by the
| taXpayments as against the previous
year, amounted in the aggregate to
| about 90,0OO,00" gallons.
| These figures are stupendous and
| they are indisputable, and they are
| attracting the attention of the press
| throughout the country and they are
! proving conclusively that prohibition,
whether in North Carolina, or Geor-
] gia, or Alabama or Tennessee, or Ok
| lahoma; and local option, whatever
the unit may be, have proved to be
! an absolute failure as a means of
| lessening the demand and the con-
sumption Of whiskey, wine and beer.
| Prohibition can destroy private prop
! erty and revenues and respect for law
| and the peace of communities and
| inf
trums and otherwise sedate ministers
of the Gospel into bowling political
Dervishes, but when it undertakes to
| interfere with the inalienable right of
| American men and women to order
their lives as they see fit, it is inVar!-
| ably rejected, ignored, evaded or
trampled upon as the occasion may
! suggest or demand.