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"DOW, JR.," COMES BACK. Renews Discussion of Prohibition With the Editor of the New berry Observer. 'To the Editor of The State: The "short, patent sermon" de livered through 'the columns of your paper of Sunday last by Dow, Jr., was done more in a spirit of mis ehief, as a sort of a guy ait the old soldier, and my comrade in arms mishap, than anything else. However, as Ben Tillman would say in his ."rambling" mood-, got after injus tice and "cussedness in general' -and had a fling at the town authori ties and -the nrohibition preis. In this way it came about that low ask ed the Newberry Observer a- few questions. The council of this city is as fine a body of yrung nen, pro gressive, sober and competent, as any. that has ever held the reins of government in my 40 years of exper ience. No disrespeot or discourtesy was intended. As ito Mr. W. H. Wallace. editor of the Observer, he is, as I said before, my close personal frieAd and hope will always remain so. I have often spoken, with pride, of his high order of intellect. his ability as an editor and was sorry indeed when ill health forced him from a higher field of usefulness. He knows me too well to think, had I enmity at any one. I would resort -to 'the col umns of a newspaper to fight him. There would be other ways found to meet him. A1nd fa;rthermore 3fr. Wallace is too old an editor to pre tend to believe. I had allusion to him, personally. He knew full well . it was at the tone and attitude of his paper, upon which strictures were made. The whole article of "Dow, Jr.." was more in a. spirit of Christ mas fun than sincerity. But as Mr. Wal.lace seems to take it all in earn est. we will look through his article and see what we can see. Now be fore I begin we drop my friend. Mr. Wallace. entirely out of the contro *versy a-d speak of the Observer. This is a pro'bition newspaper, said 'to be in the interest of temperance, good morals and pure politics. That is -all good. But 'there is some one 'in that 'office who is freakish:. times or a jgker of a dangerous 'type. all of which I hope to point out .as we go along down the columns in treply to "Dow, Jr." T>a.t was a 'good piece, too, that reply to "Dow, r,f the Observer is no slouch, if he 'is generally wrong in his ideas and policies, and furthermore I have no objection 'to its being read in the Sunday schools. We will skip the "Smith" and "'Riehard." no use lug any more in this trouble. The Observer and his al1y. the Anderson Mail, are enough. 'We can't drop old "R.ural" yet and, by .the way, I wonder if he ever -dreams of 'what fun we are having with him down here. But then he started this racket or 'helped i't on by hsage deliberations, that men -ought not to drink liquor without they wanted it or needed i.t and then go and hire a doc'tor to tell him when he should w'an.t it. The idea! Nc vonder' the Observer sticks to him and so often quo,tes the enlightened remarks ofl old "Rural.'' Yes, let -him stay ini a wh'1ile longer, a t -least .during this set-to. We will drop out 'the drug hait. 'The Observ'er sax's all is .ovelv' in that direction "and the goose hangs high."' That 's good. too. We will al so skip the great white plague that's -no issue, no politics and of course nci * pay. no use running after a jack-o ' lantern, when so much is at stake "with "'boys and booze." No ob.iee tion can be found to that either. We -will drop everything now but the 'question of booze and "taking car 'of .the boys." Lest. I be misunderstood, allow me just at this point to set mysell straight before the publie and the Observer on my sfand and attitude tc tihe liquor question. If, by a seratch 'of a pen, I could empty every drol 'in the sea and keep it forever ont o human reach. I would scrateh it .if my life pa.id the forfeit the nexi momnent. I call upon hig'h heaven to 'bear witness that if, by giving my old worthless life, I could save ha' mainity 'in all future ages from the 'curse, the heart a.ches, the sorrows -and sin that liquor entails upon tha hiuma.n race. I would gladly place my neck upon the block and feel that ] had 'made myself a saint. But wouli such sacrifice or any sacrifice be ol :any avail ? No. The liquor, like tha -negro, is with us to stay; "no longe 'a theory 'but a condition." The very laws of nature proclaim the fact tha 'where there is a demand there wil 'be a supply. Look at the matter sane -ly and act rationally, let no mem ories or political plunderers lead peo pie astray. So much for that. "Dow" asked .the Observer som M-qeston tat were too hard for i to answer right off hand, but knew the Observer was game and perhaps would give a shy at tham, but it an swers all in platitudes. It asked "Dow" this question, "Did the old guard fall under the old dispensation or the new?" That's easy. Undei ,the old, as I plainly stated, "of a surety some will fall, always did and always will;" it is natura's law. Will the Observer go on record a, saying none will fall under the new dispensation, "under tthe soothing in fluence of prohibition?" . The last question asked the Ob. server was to explain why was il that -the first 20,000 young men and boys sent to the front in the 60c by 'this State made sueh soldiers a they proved themselves- to be, whilc during the formative period of thei ycPu.g manhood liquor was sold prac tically everywhere and was kept ir almost every home. That if it was n,ever "kept away from the boys' that proved themselves such men in the war, as well as peace, ito what in fluence is due the fact that it musl be kept away from our great army of young men of today? Were the young men of the former ae betteri Or those of the latter worse? Nov; here is where I say the Observez was buncoed. Some one answered for Mr. Wallace "because they wer Sou;th Carolinians and Anglo-Sax Ion." This answer does no credit tc I the intelligence of those who edil that paper. I must think the offiez boy slipped 'that answer in as a joke on the ''cap'n.'' '"Dow" knows pretty well whai Mr. Wallace wrote or intended tc write as his answer and it would have been true, too. Bht I really wish those jokers had stayed out a while and given old "Rural" of An derson a try at it. He would have jumped at it. like a duck at a June bug. A paper that can set forth such wise maxims as "no man shall drink whiskey. but those who need it and want it," would not have kept the world long in darkness as ito its wis dom. But laying all jest aside, just would-n 't ;everybodly, prohibition or anti, just like to have heard how old "R. F. D." would have floundered about and tied himself pp. But we must be merciful; we can't get all we want. Now here is what Mr. Wallace wrote or ait least I .think so: ''Be cause those boys of ante-bellum days were born and reared by pure Chris tian mothers, who taught th:em from infancy to be truthful and manly and above all to be a gentleman and a Christian. His father was his confi dant and a companion, taught him lofty ideals (never distracting his boy) and by precepts and example, how to stand alone a man among men and to be honest with himself and loyal to his friends. ''It was t.hrough the influence of a pure and unselfish Christian church, led by an untrained and pa'triotic elergy, who not only preached to the boys, when t:he crisis came, wen! with them to the front, there prayed with them, and showed them how t< live,- how -to fight and how to die." That was it. Not just because they were ''South Carolinians, and An. I h-Saxons.'' Oh. no: that won 't do for mauv. even the pure breed1. have dong~ time~ in pr-ison and hnUU fol hiorse stealing. Now. that same influence whieh md th by great iln war is 2th( rin fluence th at guidg's. directs and gover-ns our greast army - of voung men today. They need no watching "nor keeping it away." They don'i want to. nor do athey thank you o1 any one else for forever singing il abroad. '"our young men must b< saved:'' "they are weak, and liom m-at be kept out of his reach.' What talk is this 'to young men ol self respect. T:he home is the place to teach prohibition, not in nolitica] papers or the legislative halls. 1The Observer speaks in gleeful ter-ms of the noble character "of the v'oung men of .this county, and attri butes all this goodness to "our goot. and soothing influence of prohibi tion." What folly! What folly What does the Observer call prohibi tion anyway? Is it a town or city wherec one can't get whisker for' the( 1money? Is 'thait it? Then Newberry lacks long links of being prohibition Go down to the express office, lool up the guide. pick out what you want corn or rye, lay $2 down and 5 eents for order, then before you ca.n say Jack Robinson the old. jug or booz4 is at your door. Don 't even have -t< go after it. What difference does i' make where the booze comes from Yupay for it here and get it here It mig-ht be a fine point in law, bu Ithe money talks and t-he liquor walk --right to your door. T s a prohibition town one in whiel no liquor is drunk ? Then coud~i New h)errv out. Why there 3:cs enoi!e Sliquor brought to this t>wn drn n~ecmber to float tihe new cour house, if it was on a smooth keel. I can't say who drank it-the negroe didn't, the boys didn't, nr I didn't -well, not very much. Then what went with it? Bah! I am sick of the very word prohibition. I will not a.sk ;th Observor any more hard questions, but merely sur gest a question to any good prohibi tion paper in a good prohibition town. If liquor is the root of all evil, and the foundation of most of the crimes, upon what hypothesis can you explain the fact of 21 of "your boys, everybody's boys.'' ;standing before the bar of justice in this good old prohibition year of 1908 in the good old prohibition town of Newberry, to answer for the crime of murder. "What is that. 21 ap for murder. had a riot, or been kuk1uxii.t azain?" No. None of that. They didn't all come at once, but each got his man. Five at the spring term, six at the summer. and ten at the fall term of court. Now. if this is the result of :the Observer all the time fighting, fighting to "save the boys,'" th.ere is not much in its handiwork to be proud of. Hold the slate higher, so old "Rural'". and the whole Staite can see what prohibition has done for us. Are the negroes growing worse by education and th-2 moral influence of the prohibition newspaper? Then it is time to stop both. More murders in one dry year than in any five during Reconstrue tion days, when liquor was "wide open." The Observer closes its raply to! "Dow, Jr." by quoting an Hon. Wm.i Smi,th of Georgia as saying something like this: "Besides, it is not making criminals of them, they are already common criminals, made so by the old license system, a disgrace to Georgia." While Mr. Smith was do ing this fine talking the State pub lished an extract from a sermon preached in Augusta, 'Ga.,.by one of it-he State's most able divnes. in which he was daploring the horrors of prohibtion; said it was making criminals of honest men, lawbreakers of the majority and the whole prohi bition movement was a farce and a mockery; then pointing his trembling fingers toward our own State begged that all 'the sister States eome and look at Georgia, before taking the fatal step. A correspondent of the Observr in a late issue speaks of geeing children peddling liqu.or on the streets of Savannah in full view of the police. Now, Mr. Observer.' take your choice-Mr. Smith or -the able divine and your own correspo-nd ent. This about winds up the discussion as far as "Dow, Jr.,'' is concerned. N,hl on. What was that the Ob server said in his reply to "Dow"' about his always fighting, in season and out, his coat always shed for pro hibition? It says: "The ~Observer began this fight when prohibition was not popular, when the dominant element wa.s for liquor-s.elling. with an overwheming and overbearing Will have ti Coal that r buy in a fE $5.75 RE delivered in TERMS 'Baxter PHONI * The First Cough B vex though not severe, has a * tive membranes of the throat Coug1gs then come easy all win S slightest cold. Cure the first c * aet up an inftamation in the deli g lungs. The best remedy is SYRUP. It at once gets right Smoves the cause. It is free fr.i * a child as for an adult. 25 cen1 1 MAYES' DR majority. It held t.he offices and di rected the policy of the State." Well, such conduct of "an overhearing najority" was enough to make any body fight. And you out fighting this fight. single-handed, for "the bovs?'' Well, while you were out in all this fray, somabody slipped ; joker in the deck. You certainly have a hoo-doo somewhere. Some think it was a whiskey drummer, but [ have a sneaking idea it was old "Rural," envious of your victories In your hard, single-handed "fight for the )oys.'' Now, jusit listen what a joker they slipped in on you in the issue of the Observer of Jan uary 12, 1893. Speaking of the dis pensary law: "Our observation is that with the exception of the bar keepers there is no kicking of any consequence and that a large major ity of ithe business men and leading citizens are heartily in favor of the dispensary law, as against the sa loon." Was there ever such wicked men to blacken a man's name while he is out fighting for prohibition? "No kicking," mind you. Oh, such blasphemy ! But listen at the wretch again. Do mind, he says "we' just like an edi tor would start off on a piece, just in from a fray with some ona for pro hibition: "Wh sincerely hope the ispensary act will stand the test of the courts and that all good citizens will unite in seeing that it has a full nd fair experiment.' Now that stuff was actually in the Observer of January 12, 1893. I only wish I knew some other enss words. other than I am now familiar with. I would eartainly give that joker a few. Those that I know and in gen eral use are too light and common place to do justice. Hunt him down, Mr. Observer, bunt him down: the wretch that would take the advantage of a tired and worn out old man-absent-out fighting, fighting for the boys, 'to shove such a joker in your paper, de serves death. Run him off the planet and until then I am happy to sign myself. Dow, Jr. Newberry, S. C. ANXIOUS FOR INQUIRY. Tilman Will Introduce Resolution to Have Himself Investigated if no One Else Will. / Washington, January 16.-Based apon a report which reached Senator 'illman today that the senate does not intend to accede to his request for an investigation of thra charges made against him 'by Presidenit Roosevelt, in connection with the Oregon land eases, the senator an nounced today that if neeessary to obtain an inquiry he would himself introduce a resolution providing for Q. G. SALE, Lawycr, office old court house fiormerly superintendent of education's offiee. le best Soft roney can - w days at LR TON your yard. CASH. & Son. 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