Dispensary System
in liquor legislation, the sale of intoxicants by city or state. In 1893 the state of South Carolina decided to take over the sale of liquors. Saloonkeepers were given six months' notice to get out of business. The state dispensaries opened for business July 1, 1893. Among the features of the system are:
1. Sale by salaried officials. Under this method of compensation attendants have no financial purpose in increasing sales. 2. Liquors of known and guaranteed quality are sold. It is claimed that adulterated liquors are particularly harmful in effect. 3. Liquors are sold only between sunrise and sunset. This to put a stop to midnight carousing. 4. Liquors are sold only for cash. A workingman cannot drink up his wages in advance. 5. Liquors are sold only in sealed packages holding not less than one-half pint and not to exceed one and seven-eighths gallons. 6. No liquor may be drunk on the premises.
Among the gains growing out of the dispensary system in actual operation, its advocates point out: the absence of saloons and public loafing places; a decrease in the number of persons directly interested in the sale of liquors; the removal of glamour by putting liquor on the same basis as groceries or pickles; a marked decrease in the consumption of liquors, and an actual revenue to the state of $500,000 a year. When the last census was taken there were 534 retail dealers and 13 wholesale dealers in South Carolina. The recognized agencies of the state were 146 retailers and 12 wholesalers. This means that 1 wholesale house and 388 "blind pigs" did business in defiance of the law.
The new system was fought by prohibitionists because it was not total prohibition; by the saloon-keepers because it drove them out of business; by extreme personal liberty people because it forbade engaging in trade; by certain politicians because it removed one means of controlling voters. The law was fought persistently at the polls and in the courts and in the legislature. In 1906 the state system was given over. The several counties were authorized to maintain county dispensaries and shut out saloons. The state sells to the county dispensary at a profit of six to ten per cent, netting the school fund (1907) $125,000 a year. The local dispensary is allowed to charge a profit of sixteen per cent, which, after deducting expenses, is divided between the county and the municipality in which the "county saloon" is located. See Gothenburg System