Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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r.eate. I have not heard anything, cut I just smell something up the creek. (Laughter.) I want it to in- I vestigate the Richland Distillery com- S pany, find out how it came to be or- t ganized, who were the original F stockers, how much stock they I took, and all about it. A voice: You will play the devil if you do that. Tillman: I am i. the humor 'co 1 play the devil with any thief that I can catch, big, little, old or young. (Laughter and cheers.) Let this committee find out that 1 stinck up th.e creek, and quit talking about t so much. Do you know how much the state is credited with on the books of the commissioner as having in possession, over $Soo,ooo worth of whiskey, $400,000 scattered all over the state and $4oo,00o in Co iumbia. What do they want with so mudh. They are on a cash basis, they can order liquor from any source they choose by the car load, get it here and bottle it and distribute it in 30 days. Then I hear, I don't know how true it is, but I want this com mittee to tell us who is responsible for such a stock of unsaleable stuff. I ,notice that they have what they call "live stock" and "dead stock," stock they can sell and stock they cannot sell. Who bought any dead whiskey, and what sort of whiskey is it that nobody will buy it. Senator Tillman here took up the reading of his manuscript but he did not stick to the text all the way through and interpolated some re marks which were even warmer than the "distilled hell fire from his pen." He said in one side remark that if the dispensary is selling after sun down, that is another place where "slack twisted administration has wrought demoralization." He declared that he was not stir ring up factionalism. "I am not, so help me God, but if I must de it or take to the woods, I will take down the tom tom and sound it." "The man who gets me out of my position will have to fight for it, so help me God," he said, and the boys yelled. Somebody said the state should make its own liquor. Tillman retor ed: "Then this crowd which is hol aering blood money would go to the asylumu." At another place he said that in the linmited time in which he had pre pared the dispensary law b might have ma k mistakes for "I wasn't do ing any stealing myself and didn't think of the kg.slature putting men in there who would go to stealing. 1 don't know that there is any steal ing," he said naively, "but I have heard thac there is somethiing rotten up the creek." Tackles no Legislature. "God knows what will become of this poor ol<d town," he said. ''They might have better streets than they have, but the town does not levy any4 ta:e now." J Aingly, he said thut he ought to sue this old tow'n for very nearly costin.; the life of a ':nited States senator for he was injured1 quite serious .lately. He r ectlled the fact that jfn Y894 the law w :s de clared unosittoa and the sta'e ha'd prohibition for four mon.hs and the blind tige:s broke out then and. he took to the woods with the .aw to kept them from killing it entirely. One blind tiger came out then and .y as he went out of ofhice so,n after wards they had nobody to put theirt eyes out. He does not mean to brag, but his suctessors perhaps had not i felt that they should do so much f .drudgery. H--~ told what he had done e as govern.- with the assistance of a his private secreatty inl keeping track of the dispene:'ry constables.s The legislature had tinkered with i the law so much that they had got i the law qui'.' different from the orig- a ina!. He declare'l that the o-iginal r law placed the gove2rning !)cer in the hands of men e!eeted by th,: peo ple. WVhat we want is a legislature that b will take the law back to its original li moorings. Who, under his adminis- v tration, had h.eard of habitual drunk- g ards getting liquor. Some drunk- a ards in this county had become al- c most his personal enemies,.t He derided the recent pronounce- t ment of the directors of 'the dispen- c sary to the effect that they would b go back to the use of the request e books. Why did they ever drop the vse of the books? They had no such '] right to do so. It Was His Work. In th-: con -itutional convention of 895 there was a fight on the dispen ary question. It was the desire or he dispensary advocates to incor orate the dispensary law body and reeches into the organic law. He cot up when prodded to do so, and aid that he would be glad to have he law incorporated in the constitu ion, but the matter was before the Jnited States supreme court and if t should be declared unconstitution L, the state would have rock-ribbed >rohibition forever. He asked for the lebate to be adjourned and he pre ared the section in article 8 of the :onstitution which refers to the dis )ensary law. If we get to high license, and that is hiat this hullyballoo's about, the :own of Edgefield cannot issue that icense and it must be granted by he authorities at Columbia. He referred to the fact that many >f the people of Edgefield cannot rote on the dispensary under the Brice law because they have no reg istration certificates. About 25,000 )eople would be barred from express ng their wishes. Again, the Brice aw does not provide for voting out i istilleries. All the blind tigers in Pickens would have to do would be to drive up to one of these distilleries in a hollow and load up on illicit' hiskey. Following is the part wthich he read: Advice to the Committee. rfTe newspapers state that the leg slative investigating committee will ommence its work at Spartanburg next Tuesday. I do not wish to ap pear officious and indulge in criti cism until I am certain it is deserved but I feel sure that others besides myself have been disquietde and some what disconcerted, to use no strong tr terms, by the reports which came :o us that this comittee has already exhausted its expense fund of $3,000 and there is the probability that its work will be hindered or prevented for lack of money. I hope these were idle rumors without foundation >ecause it would be little short of a candal if the committee charged with such important work should fail to do it and go ';o the legislature with uch a fiasco as that. Newspapers have led us to suppose that there ould c be startling disclos,ures as to ie corruption in Spartanbuirg and we iave been treated to a sort of opera ouffe performance in the litigation nstituted to secure possession of Mr. arnum's pape-s. I feel that I voice he opinion of a great many thous nds of my fellow citizens when I y that while we are interested in .tnearthing corruption in any and very department of the dispensary :hat the people are not very much :oncerned about the misdoings of Jo :al dispensers. T'1e dissatisfaction 'iTh the dispensary does not rest up n these. There are a great many stories Lfoat and I have heard any num1ber if these and I therefore presume to ake some suggestions and I know hat all right thinking men. includ rig those most interested will thank, ather than blame, me for doing That I shall because I shall do so be ause n'o one else seems willing to ischarge the ungracious task. There as been talk almost universally of he 'sudden wealth or evidences of ac money beling in the hands of wo high dispensary offici'als. One f these is living and can take care of iimsef The other is dead, and h.is riends among whom I count myself n, desire to have the truth knowni ndd his memory cleared from what - believe to be a vile and malicious lander. It ought to be easy to find u from the banks an:d the records i the clerk's office whether there is< ny foundation in fact for these oft mepeted stories. "How False ~and Infamous." Mr. Hubert Evans. chairman of the oard of dispensary directors, is the vg man who will,!I am sure, gfadlyt -lome the most searching inivesti aiion into his financial condition t rid the lamented H. H. Crum is thet ier. His friends will, I know,e rnrk me for giving them the oppor mniy to prove how false and infamn as are the statements which havet ee sent broadcast about his large tate. Then we have reports thar Mr. owil, another director, accepts a er -n o-e from some whisker inal'. in Kc-:i:.::cty ar a 1)r(Se1l1. :v l 1ir. ..kin. the other member of th board of directors. was drummer io some one or two whiskey houses be Fore he was placed on the board Have those houses hr d any undu share of the trade of the dispensary Why is it necessary to keep on han such a large stock at the state dis pensary when it is on a cash basi and goods can be ordered ou. an distributed in 30 days? Who is re sponsible for such a large stock c unsaleable goods when whiskey is s:aple article and a good brand c is just as saleable one day as ar other? Has all the whiskey that ha been bought been distributed to tin local dispensers or is it a stock? Ha there been no loss, or to put it plair ly, no stealage in this way? We war light gentlemen of the committee, an we ought to have had it before an of these elections were held. Talks of Old Times. I wish to call attention to a phaf of the liquor question which ma have been lost sight of by many an at this junction it is well to refres the minds of th+e people by a stat< ment of fact. When the dispensary law first wet into operation The News aand Cou: ier, The State, and the Greenvil News along with many other new papers turned with chke most virulet abuse of the state government and < all persons who lad anything to d with the law's enforcement. The constables were called "spie! and the people were urged to resi with all their might and in evei way possible the enforcement of ti law. Law+essnes was considered 1 those newspapers as a badge of s1 periority, the constables were houn4 ed beyond endurance and the Dax ington riot followed as the natur and inevitable result. For three four years this policy was kept up at every possible influence was brougi to bear by these newspapers to brea down the dispensary system. Ar number of lies were told about at and everybody concerned with ti administration of the a wand it w, only after repeated defeats at ti polls by overwhelming majoriti< that any semblance of decency in a tending to the dispensary and the o ficials connected with it obtaine, The armory of abuse and slander w; exhausted but the lying continued go on; by insinuation, innuendo ar falsehood the system has been a tacked; and of course, as founder ar father of 'the dispensary, I have bee abused and lied on as no other ma in the state's history ever was. "Deep Laid Scheme to Destroy." In 1902 al1l political oppositior eased and no man was bold enoug to offer for office in the state as a anti-dispensary candidate. I do n< wish to revive fac'tionalism. I do n< wish to be compelled to have the ai pearance of doing so, but the trut demands of me this statement ~the during the last six years and eve before the majority of the Sout Carolina legisla7ture has been con! posed f those who were once ant ilimanites or Conversatives, and if: be true that bad men have been elec1 ed to control and direct the affair of the dispensary, the Conservitie of the state are responsible for it. believe that there has been a dee aaid scheme 'to destroy the system b ijsmanageent and the charge tha it is a political machine may be wel austained by the fact that these sam Conservative legislatures amende :he law to provide that the count; boards of control should be ap ponted by the recommendation c che members of the general assemi bly, thus placing its administratio n the counties in thie hands of polh :ans and their satellites. I am awar hat many of the strongest supporter >f the dispensary now are men wh< r-ere and are yet probably Conser rativ.es while some of its most bit :er antagonists are former Reform urs. It, therefore, cannot be charge< hat I am endeavoring to draw th< >ld lines which rent the State i maiin, but there is every ind.icatior :o show ttat the present onslaugh n the dispensary is being engineere4 Lnd led by those who have been, art tow, and wilU ever be my most bit er political opponents. The mor renomous of these men have no iesitated recently to say in the pres: ndd in other places that they regard he dispensary as the main prop o ilman's poiica one and that i W eei~ End Ratcs, C., N. & L. Cm.rnmencing June 3rd, and continu _ ing un:il and including September 2nd, 1905, the following week-end e rates will be on sale to the following ? points, via the Columbia, Newberry and Laurens, railroad to - Isle of Palms, $5.15 s Sullivans Island 5.15 d Charleston 5.15 Wilmington 5.15 iThe Right e F Turnir e Gilder, Weep d 1785 College of CGr.A.M.EM 120th Year Begim e Letters, Science, Engineering. One i ;- county of South Carolina. Tuition $40. it tory $10 to $12 a month. All candidate: for vacant Boyce scholarships which Littletoq Fn .y 1e Splendid location. Health res Y year. High grade of work. High 2 Conservatory advantages in Musi - locution. Hot water heat. Ele< l- provements. al Remarkable health record; only >r Close personal attention to the heali d pupil. High standard of scholarsb it public occasions. CHARGES VE] k 24th Annual Session will begit y address, REV. J. M. R Ls WHEN V Something I d CALi 6. 0. DA' There you will find fresh and nice. Headq Tetley's Tea, Asparagt. French Peas, A pric Grated and Slict Shrimp, Sali Chipped Frent * always swei S White House Coffee, White C: SCorn, Lobsters, Tripe, Ham New crop New SPhone 110.. SFOR BARGA II FURNI HOUSEHOI COMI Kibler,De INEWBER Waterloo 2.00 Cross I-ill 2.00 Glenn Springs 2.10 Spar:anburg 2.ro Greenville 2.10 White Stone 2.10 Tickets to the above points will be sold on aSturdays good to return on the following Tuesdays, for schedules and further information telephone or write, J. W. Denning, Ageut. Drug Store! Seed. ;s & Hunter. " Charleston 1905 ITOmr. S. C. September 29th. cholarship giving free tuition to each Board and furnished room in Dormi for admission are permitted to compete FUISON RANDOLPH, President. uale College! )rt. Over 2oo boarding pupils last standard of culture and social life. Advanced courses in Art and :tric lights and other modern im one death among pupils in 23 years. :h and social development of every ip. All pupils dress alike on all ZY LOW. Sept. 13th, 1905. For catalogue IODES, A. M., PRESIDEnm, Littleton, N. C. IANTING Iood to Eat .ON IENPORT. verything up-to-date, uarters for s Tips, >ts, d Pineapple, non, Roast Mutton, and Roast Beef, h Sardines, idfish Balls, Lunch Tongue, Cheese, Kingan 's Reliable Hams, t and juicy. erries, Peaches, Mushroons, Loaf, Veal Loaf, Slice H-am Orleans Syrup. Newberry, S. C._ INS TUR E .D GOODS RY. S. C.