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The Lancaster News LEDGER 1852 REVIEW I37($ ENTERPRISE 1891 VOL. I. NO. 79. SEMI-WEEKLY LANCASTEIl. S C., JUT Y II. 1906. Di>ife_cim Tillman on the Dispensary The Senator's Address at Saml\r TPlot Qolm-^nu A IUI VJC\iui uay poses County Dispensaries and Outlines his Plan to Purify the State Dispensary. Senator Tillman ma ie his fi>>t speech ol the campaign lasl !S<turday at Sandy Fl u, Greenville county. It is est mat "I thai 4000 persons were present. The subject of the Senator's address w;ts the Dispensary. lie spoke as follows: There is but one important issue involved in this campaign, so tar as State affairs go, and as for my own candidacy it rests on the record which I have made since I entered public life sixteen years ago and the intimate knowledge which the people ol the State have of my character, personality and qualifications. I am willing to leave it there with out. discussion or presentation The fight is State dispensary vs county dispensary, (or no one expects the prohibition candidate*, however worthy and well qualified they may be, to receive very much support. With all their efforts (and they have been many and long continued) the newspapers which have always fought the dispensary have not S been able'to drum up a candi date lor Governor who advocates local option straight as against dispensary and prohibition, and only in Charleston does What idea have any men offering for office under it. The local option offered the people is between prohibition and county (lispen sury, and the whole fight is to destroy the State dispensary first, with no other purpose than to then obtain the privilege of reopening the old bar rooms onderjhe guise of liquor stores, "selling under constitutional limitations " The real fight is for the control of the Le?ri?l iture. because tho Governor cannot make or change the laws, and can only try to enforce them His only influence oyer le.:i-lution would be in the use of the veto power. Hut it is all important to go' a strong and good man tor Governor. The timef distinctly demand one. BAYS COUNTY DISPKNSAHIKS WON*! 1>0. In any event some counties will stand by prohibition with its blind j figets and heavy jug trade by ex? pres^ ut tier counties will vote foi coniily dispensaries and the oil ies fh ere 1 lie principal newspaper! are published will have the fighi ' on I he issno of Slate dispen-arj or county dispensary, with the ultimate purpose of having the / county dispensaries turned intf licensed bar rooms if I he count} dispensaries are abolished- Th< scheme is to restore th< sale ol liquor to pr v do individuals rather than let it remain in the haudt of State ofli'dals Tlioso who clam f> or lor county dispensaries instead o' one Stale dispensary mud demount rate how it. is easier to : prevent corruption among the , thirty or forty county boards thun to slop it in one State hoard. I have great laith in the good common sen^e of tho people, and do not believe they can he persuaded to destroy the State dispensary, fciul leave each county to purchase and sell its own liquor. Yet the State and News and Courier, which have always hated the dispensary "WorRe than the devil ha'cMh >'y water"' *1 ire advocating candidates who lavor county dispensaries. The only possible good reason t at can be advanced on I his line is that the prohibition counties under the Constitution receive a part of the profits which arise from tlie sale of liquor in the other couLties. This is unjust, as everyone mu^t acknowledge, but it can be remedied very easily by having the State dispensary make no profits other than a lew thousand dollars above its run iniij^ da^ciiscb, iiius leaving uie counties and Iho towns to divide the profits between them. This can be easily done and when we consider the expense of buying liquor in retail quantities and paying local freight on it instead of buying carload lots and paying through freights the county dis pensary cannot stand the comparison. But this is not t he great , est objection. The leakage or stealage in bitt ling of liqu? r at each county dispensary would be immense, and . I know of no way that it could be prevented, nor do I know any by which it would be possible to prevent the whiskey being wat,'ered, bottles refilled, relabeled 'and other schemes of making I money dishonest I v. il the sv#ii>m 1 wore adopted. It is not possible to prevent it and I do not think anv sensible man who considers 1 the question will seriously coni tend thai it is. Even it one hall of the counties in t he Slate should adopt the prohibition-blind-tiger I ju_r trade programme it would be better, more economical, and . there would he les-> j os-ibility ol , cor; option and p eolation in tie purchase and handling ol liquor I in the other dispensary counties, i it i he buying, bottling and ship ping should he done at one cent al depot, instead of in each county. j KKFKKKNCK To CM Mtl.KSTON. 1| It must not he forgotten, he niii>o it was I he understanding r (and a bargain was made) duiiuu i the fi.lii in the legislature las' i winter a.'ainst ihe Stale dispen I sary. tliat the ul'imde purpose ' is to have Charleston wholesale > liquor dealers supply the county i J dispensaries, as well as Ihe .jug J tmulo I." I? < i ' >?i '? i a i'irnn III 11 I v ruil>ltl*'K| ' and whdo this would be better ? than to have this liquor shipped F in from North Carolina audGe ?r-*uia, is it now is, because it would i keep the money at home, I do not believo that the people of the S'ate are no v willing, or will ev'? r l>e willing, t<> see the Siale dispensary destroyed, with the inevitah e result that !i<| r selling wi I. graduallv go I>?.? k to the old sv--t-ii) ot priva'e contiol. 1 would he glad to have Charleston pro-pur, but it is not the loss ot the liquor trade that has hurt I Charleston. Other things are to I hlame. Toe issue between private conj trol and control by Slate officials must hinge at last on the question of whether or not t he people ot ffouth Carolina shall determine ! ihat we cannot find honest men enough to carry on the dispensary system and device laws to make those who are dishonest afraid. 1 say we can. 1 do not believe that every man who handles whiskey must become a thief. I believe that the people only need to see and know that the dispensary system can be re-1 formed and cleansed of corruption to make them stand by it. I will proceed to {jive the plan which appears to me after a ^reat deal of thoneht anri lien of suggest ions from very many sources to be Hie best. We will begin on the counties, now TO CURE THE DISI'KNSATY County dispensers should be elected in the Democratic primary, the same as other officers. The county board should be composed of the mayor of the town in which a dispensary is located, the supervisor of the county, who is the business agent ot the county, and one man appointed hv the Governor. The county dispenser should tie removable by the Governor for cause. The State board of control ought to be elected by the Legislature, but i'S duty should tie confined to general direction and miiiA-viiinii i\f ilm K. w .. -v.. W 4 Miu the same as the Peniten'iary ami 11 ospi t a I for the Insane are run It should not purchase any whiskey or any!hint: else required in the business. Everything rc <pited, including the whiskey, should i?e bought under annua1 contracts made as follows: Alter the slate commissioner has ad vertised in the manner presrcribe 1 by law (and this ought to be v?*iy c'ear an 1 specific, leaving nothing to t lie discretion of any one, and going lull v into details) the bids should be opened in public by three men se'ecled just before tin date lixcd by theCiovi enior and I lie con' ract in nle with j the lowest bidder by the year for 1 the supplies lo be ordered out by | the commissioner as needed. | These three men are to serve only once, and iiinually there shall he three new men chosen to I make the contracts. The bidders | will not know who will make the j award* and, therefore, cannot !enter into collusion in a lvance, and even should tlio Governor, which is intonceivahle, he willing to select a heard which would act corruptly, the specilications i of fl e bidding made with minute no** and the publicity would prevent any graft No whiskey or liquor should | be purchased except from Cx jCrnment bonded ware hous lit the case ot wines and beer 1 brewers should alone furnish \ second direct r in the breweri and t lie small quantity ol t he o or used could be hedged about the advertisement soastoinsi lionestv and the purest and b j article. For the information those who are not posted, will say that the Governnn I bonded ware bouses are un< tlie control of the United Sta internal revenue olbcials eotir< and whiskey deposited in tin comes directly from the still, a the owner is not permittted manipulate it or handle it in a way until the tax is paid and is removed. We thus get a gi I ... ramee oi absolute purity withi a chemical analysis and such qtiors are as much staple artic of commerce as corn, wheat bacon. It is the blended a rectified whiskeys that are ad terated and where the cheati comes in. The blending and m ing. could be done in the St: dispensary, where there wo' tie no incentive to increase p fits by adulterations, besides 1 law would provide severe pen ties for that kind of thing. The county dispensers, be elected by the people, will anxious to please the people they will be b^a'en at the pe if they do not do their duty. I county board chosen as indiea will be responsible to the peo also, with every incentive tog a good administration. The wl key purchased in that way v be as pure and as good as < be obtained under any possi conditions, and there is absolu ly no way in which corrupt can creep in, it there is the le etVort on the part of the peo and the Governor to prevent i SLAI'S AT TUP. GOVERNORS The trouble with the disp sir.v now is that our Govern* have neglected their duties fl have not kept supervision o the workings of the local disp *ers and the Stat?? board, lvvc may be found for this by .say the Legislature put the (lisp sary l.eyond the Governor's c,< trol. This is true in a way an( was a very great mistake, the Governor's oath of oflice i| i ires Li in t<> th tt the hi are executed in mercy/' A wi It the power t?? appoint c stables at his discretion and leelives also when needed, cannot be denied that, the moraliza'ion hii 1 corrupt which have been ?o much I evidence would have been | vented b\ the <i tvernors us | tru-'e 1 airents to keep super I sinn over the lispc ua.y syst< j and *ee whether the law ^ ! being carried out. 1 did this, ! mv successors seem to hi thought it unnecessary or | much labor. I not only watel the dispensers, but 1 watel th* constables too through a tective who reported to me ale ' The necessity tor the more ri ' enforcement ol a'l law ma i nivb -1 V I? VLI1 13 KCH tUI;Y. I )v | the coming election for Governor es. J important. Things have b-?a the run too loosely ai d too liu e die 1 regard paid to enforcing the law. es, | I criticise no one, but simply th- give the people the tacts as I see in them, ami, of course, they alone ire i can apply the remedy. We est should elect the Governor who ot: will do this aud'do it fearlessly , I and zealously, but there is still iiit small opportunity for graft, in ler scheme outlined, provided ti?e tea Legislative committee which elv superintends the other State inem stitutions and the grand juries nd of the various counties pay h.to tention to their duties. No govny ernment has ever been devise 1 it that would run itself and every ia government is an index of the "Hit i III pit uronco " ? '-1 " ' ' . ? jiuuin; spirit a u u li- patriotism of its j eople. If the les people are ignorant and indiffer or ent, and cease to watch and look .nd after their affairs, the governnl ment ^tliey give themselves is ng inevitably bad and they can ix- blame no one but themselves, ate HAPS Til K LKOISLATURK J Id ro- ^ie conditions in the dispense 8arY now are directly tracea^'e a], to the blundering and neglect oi the Legislature. That body placed the^; State dispensary in the hands of three politicians, elect eu wmiou' consideration to bta* ness, experience or character, 'he t'irew 110 restrictions whatever (ed ?round the administration, le:t pie t!,e ^"or w^e open, limited the ive 8a,Hry to $400 and now we see li the'resnll. I have always said yj]] and believed it was designed]/ 'an ,0 clet?tr<>y it- Politics an 1 hie not fi'ness have most always je controlled. the Legislative ole> jon tions. but no amount of salary Kt., alone would cure the evil of pie vv^'c^ we complain, j 'J'he original hoard was composed o! the Governor. Attorney General and Comptroller Generen al, three o! our highest State ors officials'elected by the peop,e, md hut tlie vital mistake was in not ver making s'riol rule-' an 1 regu i en- tions for t lie]purchase of whiskey, u-o The enemies of the dispens try i"g declare that it cannot be pu ien tied. This cry is indicative th>t in- those who thus contend prac-i1 it c illy conies- tlr?t they have lo-A yet alh faith in the honesty ol man :r re-1 of the ability <>t" men to give Ill's I >!.? 1 ? - - - - 1 ' 11n- him* i \ t: *> , u*>L iJ 11.* ,i >!! eSL f?0 7>-*?tl eminent. 1 for one do not b do*ve on- that all of the honest men are <le- j dead, it ' I PKOI'I.K ARK RIOHTI.V niSUl'STKD. deion Pe?P'c :irp disgusted a .d jn they have n tiiiht to l?e, ' )re ! one rnnie which i?o-y shorn <* ?t j?,f forgive is the failure ol the last Legislature to change the lav; em 'a9 *? prevent any further v;isjingand to restore the dispensary !,?! system to its original purpose, lVP that ol co; r ling whiskey and minimizing he evils inseparable lied from its sale and u-e. The ene I . ? . mies or the (tippet sarv wore boi t do- ?!l killing it, and the cnmbinat:'?n ?no ot P?li'ical and other inlltien "8 ?j(j in the H<?u?e having failed m kes| (Concluded on 1* ?ge Kight.