The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-06-28

PEOPLE OF SUMTER TO HAVE
OPPORTUNITY TO VOTE ON
DISPENSARY ISSUE.
supervisors Work on Petition and
Registration Books Reveals Fact
That More Than II Third of Quail
fled Voters Had Signed Petition for
an Election.

supervisor Pitts stated Tuesday af-
ternoOn that he would order an cleo
ton on the dispensary, to be held on
the third Tuesday in August. After
going over the names on the dispen-
sary petition, the registration books
and comparing them with the county
treasurer's execution books it was
found that more than One-third of
the qualified voters of the county had
signed the petition and there was
nothing left then for the supervisor 20
do but order the election.
For the past three weeks Super
sor Pitts and Mr.. r. l.. Mcleod have
been working on the petition, the reg
istration books and the county treas
urer's execution books and have had
hardly any time for anything else
They have been busy, probably the
hardest part Of their duty being in
answering the thousand and one
questions which the prohibitionists;
dispensaryites and persons just out
OF curiosity had to ask concerning
what the supervisor was doing in
connection with the matter and what
he would do in future. 1t Is safe to
say that the course taken by Super
visor Pitts, while it might not meet
the appreciation of all the most ar
dent workers on either side, is as fair
a one as could have been devised
His idea was to find out whether
one-third of the qualified voters of
the county had signed the petition and
he found out that they had. He first
took the petition and carefully COM
pared it with the registration books,
removing all names which were not
to be found on the registration books,
as only qualified voters were wanted.
He then went over the list and COM
pared 1t with the names of those
registered voters who had not paid
their poll taxes before the fifteenth of
March, eliminating all names of
those who had not paid their poll
tax Six months before the time OF
the election. Next he went over the
registration books, removing ALL
names of those who were known to be
dead or moved away from the coun-
ty. The registration books were then
compared with the poll tax executions.
of the county treasurer and the
names OF those nOn-signers of the.
dispensary petition who had not paid
their poll taxes six months before the
date of the proposed election were eli
minated. Before this task was COM
pleted it was found that more than a
third OF the qualified voters Of the
county had signed the petition and
Supervisor Pitts left off his COMPARE
sons and ellminations. -.. r
There were left on the dispensary
petition 1913 names. The names Of
the fifty persons who had signed the
dispensary and nti-dispensary peti-
tions were removed from the dispen-
sary petition. When Supervisor Pitts
left off his work of comparison Of
the tax execution books and the reg
istration books, with six townships
still to be compared, he had left 1876
names Of qualified voters on the reg
istratiOn books. OF course this num-
ber would be considerably reduced if
the comparison was continued to the
end. However, this final comparison
was not necessary and SUPERVISOR
Pitts did not think it any use 20 go
further than to find out for GER
tainty that more than "a third Of the
qualified voters had signed the peti-
tion asking for an election on the dis
pcnsary question, of whether or not
Sumter County should reestablish the
dispensary.
The decision to order an election
will no doubt be the signal for the
commencement of one of the hottest
campaigns ever held in this county
between the prohibitionists and the
i-prOhibitionists. The election will
be on the third Tuesday in August
and it is probable that the hot wealth
or will be made even more hot by
the ringing campaign speeches and the
earnest fight which will be put up.