The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-07-05
Baptist Courier Draws Line
For State Wide Prohibition

From il somewhat careful reading.
it would appear tha. The Baptist
Courier has come out for t'ias a.
Smith for governor. The following
editorial appeared this week:
Til" baptist Courier has 10 candi-
date for governor and takes no part
in the party. personal or facti0nal pot
'ficH Of the state. Ours Is another
task. But we have very profound
cnnccrn for one oi the i5:ues in the
r.rsrni campaign in which the moral
""lIHrr Oi the Ytatc is involved and
whic'i is in danger OF .;.inr uuilcly
'L" tracked. We refer to statewide
! p, oh ;bitiOn
The cHor, just now is To- put COM
puIso:y education in the ccnic OF the
age and rclcgAte pohibition to Il side
roo" behind the ":I:!I,i. That which
MAX IA" Sitnn'!un the more alarm
ing is the seeming ucquiesccncc in
:i:g ar'angcmrn: on the par: of the
I, mpclancc forces.
The Anti-SalOon League. the official
| guardian Of the prohibition interests
III ;ilc suite. has not spoken and so far
80 We know. is tLkln. no. part in this
| 'amraign. II would. we know. he
IMPROPER aud unwise for this Organi
! Imtion 10 give It's influence 10 any ont
! candidate But we believe that II is
Eot only proper aud wise. but tho
hUl;nd"n duty Of i!c Anti Saloon
League 10 bring the Issue of state
wide prohibit ion to the forefront at
irast to see to il that it is not ignored
What %e are saying may not be need
! cG Gy this organization. Let this be
hnown We are not criticising the An
| :: S...,t,n .r1 ;'' Is course OF -
l"ncc a, This time is perhaps the
course il '.''iiS ID IL the wI.est Ior
prohibition. Or. perhaps it secs no
danger In the present situation to the
cause it represents. We certainly
have the highest regard for the men
who guide the league In this state.
But we believe that they and all
temperance workers need to be arOus-
ed. Statewide prohibition is 1T Il
crisis. II its friends do not crowd
II to the front no one else will render
this "orvicc. II it Is to reach it's
dc"tination in South Carolina II will
not do so sitting on Il side-track. We
feel that we must speak.
There are three main issues before
the people in this campaign. law en-
forcement. compulsory education and
statewide prohibition.
There X no possible antagonism
between law enforcement and state
wide prohibition. We feel that il
can be demonstrated that those who
want the one cannot afford to be
against the C:ler.
1t might also be thought that COM
pulsory education and state wide pro-
hibitiOn. are reforms that can 20 to-
gcther, and that there can be no an
tngonism between them. We suppose
that 1t Is true that those candidates
who favor compulsory education
would not oppose wide prohibi-
ton. We do not question their mo-
tives. but what we do affirm is
that these two reforms cannot come
together in South Carolina unless
statewide prohibition is placed frat
and settled first. II the present ef-
fort to force compulsory education
to the front succeedE It will postpone
statewide prohibition for years to
come and will certainly tend to in
crease our wet territory.
Our reason for saying this Is not
because there is any essential antag-
Onism between compulsory education
and statewide prohibition. On the
contrary whatever helps our educa-
tive work will ultimately rcdown to
the furtherance of temperance The
trouble tc to be found In tho fact that
our present dispensary laws turn the
profits Of whiskcy selling in South
Carolina very largely to the swelling
Of the school fund.
Compulsory education, whatver else
1t may or may not do. will certainly
do these two thipgc: "a 1t will in
crease our present school tax and (2)
~ VIII enlarge the burden :rr the
white inan is now bearing for the
education Of the children OF negroes.
We arc not saying that either or both
OF there things ought not to be done.
This paper does not fight negro edu-
cation. But we ask that these facts
be dulty considered in their relation
to statewide prohibition.
Almost every county in South Car
olina where the dispcnsary exists
went wet by the use Of two argu-
ments. which were. (1) I'VE need the
school money which the dispensaries
furnirh," and. (2) Practically the
only way we can get any money from
the negroes for public purposes is
through the dispensaries; they pat
ronize them and the profits go to pay
ing for their schools"
we nave no sympathy with these
arguments. But every temperance
worker In the, state knows what tre-
mendous use was made OF them.
Now what we ask prohibitionists to
do is to consider what the effect will
be II the school tax Is greatly in
creased and the burden for negro edu-
cation is enlarged. In other words
we ask what will be the effect of com
pnylsDry education. which will GER
tainH do There two things on state