Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1912-05-01
THE CORNER STORE

fastened by strong drink. Now /
have heard men say that conditions
are as bad as they were during dis
pensary times. Well I deny that such
is the case. / know they are bad
enough, and this is certainly very un
fortunate, but men of Edgefeld
have you ever sat down and given
this matter faithful unbiased in
vestigation, or have you simply
made this assertion just because you
see drunken man every week or
so? I know that while standing in a
group of men, l have heard one re-
mark that there was just al much
whiskey sold now as when we had
the dispensary and 1 have been so
thoughtless as to say yes, it does
look So" Now this was speaking
without giving the matter serious
thought, and | sincerely beg your
pardon for allowing myself to join
in and sanction SUCH remark. How
thoughtless we are sometimes!
Well, my dear Edgefeld friends,
let US grant that there is nearly as
much whiskey drank now as when
the dispensary was going. l will
still have the most convincing ar
gument that the dispensary is a CO.
lossal evil. I could sit here writing
until night, making out a strong
argument against its operation and
if those who read it were not al
ready predetermined, they would
have to admit its truthfulness. One
tremendous and momentus fact,
which have always tried to cause
our Christian citizenship to look at
is, that while much whiskey may
be sold and drank by the people, it
does not receive the sanction of
those who wish to uphold the law.
This thing of church members and
a Christian citizenship sanctioning
such a colossal evil by their votes is
what makes me feel sad and alb
solutely puzzled.
Now let me cite you to some
things which l witnessed during
the days of the dispensary, which
1 saw with my own eyes and per-
haps some who read these lines wit
messed also. Here they are. In going
in to Edgefeld from this side of
the county, say passing Will Reels
about 8 or O'Clock in the after
noon during the fall when perhaps
twenty-five wagons and a good
many buggies would be returning
from Edgefeld, where they had
been to carry a load of cotton or
cotton seed as the case may be, l
would begin meeting wagon after
wagon and in many of them would
be five or six negroes and often a
white man, and l have had to give
them the road and be in a hurry
about it. Ofttimes some of them
would hold up a bottle while my
wife and daughters, who perhaps
accompanied me, would be looking
on, and then they would be cursing
and mistreating the mules, and l
sometimes wondered how many wo-
men who very often made the trip
by themselves managed to escape
being run over by some of these
wagons who would often be driving
at break neck speed.
Gentlemen have you forgotten
all this in such a short time? Don't
you know that some Saturdays dur
ing October that at least hundred
negroes and perhaps half that many
white men, would 60 into Edgefeld
from this side and the great majori-
ty of the negroes would step around
and get pint or half pint before
they would leave town.
Now, on the other hand hao oc-
casion to make several trips at the
same time of the year and at about
the same hour when I would meet
perhaps this same crowd, and l
could not help remarking on what
a wonderful change, there had been.
You see the whiskey was SO easy to