1901 Opening of the Roanoke Dispensary, Randolph, Alabama http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/randolph/newspapers/dispensary.txt ============================================= USGENWEB PROJECT NOTICE: In keeping with the USGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Project Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file is copyrighted and contributed by: William Fischer, Jr. ============================================= December 2001 THE DISPENSARY ---------------------------- The mayor and city council have organized and established a dispensary for Roanoke, under the law recently enacted by the [Alabama] legislature. The bars all closed December 31st -- C S HANNERS having sold out and closed some days before. On January 1st representatives of the municipality began taking stock with J M BELCHER and T L BELCHSR [sic], having bought out their stocks of whiskey. J M BELCHER has been selected as dispenser, and the business will be conducted at his old stand. He will be paid a salary of $1000 and will be allowed $100 to hire rough help. As soon as the necessary papers have been secured the dispensary will open for business -- probably in a very few days. [From The Randolph Leader (Roanoke, Randolph County, Alabama), 2 Jan 1901, p.3] -------------------------------- DISPENSARY INCOME -------------------------------- Our readers will probably be surprised to learn what a large figure represents the actual income of the Roanoke Dispensary for the first month of its existence, which was really not a complete month. It began business January 4, 1901, and at the close of the last day, Jan 31, the total receipts, as furnished The Leader by Mr. BELCHER, the dispenser, footed up $2,822.25. This is an average of almost $118 for each business day since the dispensary began operation. With this rate as a criterion sales for the entire year would amount to about $33,865. You can make your own figures and draw your own conclusions as to the beauties of the dispensary and as to the amount of whiskey going down the throats of fathers and sons in this section of the country. [From The Randolph Leader (Roanoke, Randolph County, Alabama), 6 Feb 1901, p.3] -------------------------------- FROM WEHADKEE -------------------------------- Feb 11.-- We notice in The Leader of last week the monthly report of the Roanoke dispensary. Does that report indicate a remedial decrease in drinking, as claimed for the dispensary? We think not; yet this dispensary example is what many of our people have urged as a compromise, and substitute for barroom drinking, and many of our brethren have claimed the dispensary to be a worthy and acceptable business for christian [sic] men to enter into. Will such brethren explain the difference in being a bar tender for a saloon and a bar tender for the state? We see no difference. The advocacy of the dispensary in the hands of good men seems to us like a preacher going around with packs of cards in his satchel to distribute for gambling dens, but not to play himself. Our Savior did not approve such conduct and christian [sic] men have no right to engage in it. S D LEWIS [From The Randolph Leader (Roanoke, Randolph County, Alabama), 13 Feb 1901, p.2] --------- Jeff. M. BELCHER, 31 Jul 1868--1 Apr 1935, T. L. BELCHER, 25 Sep 1859--23 Oct 1937, Both interred in Cedarwood Cemetery, Roanoke, Alabama.