The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1915-09-09
Dispensary or Prohibition.

Solomon, the wisest man, says:
"The drunkard and the glutton shall
come to poverty" prov. 23:2D.
This is true with the drunkard in
morals, health and wealth.
Drunkenness is justly chargeable
with large percentage of the crime
of today. Few well-informed per-
sons will place this at less than 50
per cent; some place it as high as 95
per cent. Drunkenness rots the
moral fibre of the soul.
Drunkenness shortens life. No
insurance company cen insure drunk
ards as cheaply as it can tctal ab-
stainers, because the average length
of the drunkard's life is more than
20 years less than that of the total
abstainer.
Drunkenness consumes wealth and
hinders it's increase. The bill OF the
United States for alcoholic liquors
consumed, much of which is an eco
nomic waste, is about $4,000, 900, 600
per annum; the indirect cost in de-
creased efficiency of workers lin
cluding sickness and death from al
cohoD is probably greater than the
direct cost. The vice president OF
the c. Iron Works said that his
company could have afforded to pay
it's employees S25O,O0O more than
their wages while Billy Sunday was
working among them because MIR
Sunday got them on the water
wagon" and accidents decreased and
efficiency increased. Total abstinence
pays morally, hygienically and finan-
cially, while drunkenness means
broken hearts, ruined homes, crimes,
poverty, disgrace, disease and often
premature death.
What method shall the State Of
South Carolina adopt to combat the
evils of drunkenness? On Septem-
Der "A it must choose either a con-
tinuation of the dispensary or pro-
hibition.
In the dispensary the entire
State--every man, woman and
child-is engaged through their
representative, the dispenser, in SELL
ing intoxicants for profit, even when
the sale and profits are confined to
single county. In this system the
State furnishes its citizens the
temptation to become drunkards,
l
and it is responsible to God for the
evils resulting from the intoxlcants
it sells. In every crime resulting
from such sales the State is part
ner and it will receive it's portion of
punishment in due time from the
Righteous Judge.
Though the mills of God grind slowly,
They grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stants waiting,
With eXactness grinds He all. -
The profits from the dispensary,
too, are misleading, because it is the
States wealth, though in the pos
session of it's citizens. which is large
ly wasted in making the profits.
The unearned wealth of the State
unearned because Of the decreased
efficiency of citizens resulting from
intoxicants-is probably greater
than the entire profits of the dis
pensary. The pig story aptly illus
trates dispensary profits. A man
buys a pig for $3.50, feeds it $500
worth of corn and then sells it for
$3.50. While he loses on the corn
he makes $500 on the pig, besides
having the pleasure of a hog as
companion and the odor of the pig
sty for many months.
Under a wise prohibition law
faithfully executed one may safely
predict decrease in crime. increase
in longevity and such ar increase of
taxible wealth as shall more than
compensate for the loss of dispen-
sary profits. A higher order of