The Coming of Southern Prohibition: The Dispensary System and the Battle over Liquor in South Carolina, 1907–1915 by Michael Lewis (review)

In this cogently argued book, Michael Lewis makes a substantial contribution to the study of the American prohibition movement. He successfully incorporates the story of South Carolina's dispensary system (a scheme of state-run liquor stores) into the broader narrative about the development of prohibition in the South and elsewhere during the Progressive era. During the long history of the antiliquor movement in the United States, most temperance advocates had generally focused on a limited set of policy options: regulation through licensing, laws authorizing localities to ban or permit liquor retailing (local option), and state bans on the sale or manufacturing of liquor. At first glance, then, South Carolina's adoption of a state dispensary system seems to be an anomalous development, one that reflected a set of unique circumstances only present in South Carolina. However, as Lewis's book makes clear, the development of dispensaries reflected the pragmatism of southern antiliquor activists, who in addressing the liquor problem were much more willing to experiment with different policies than were their northern counterparts.

Although South Carolina had the most extensive experience with dispensaries before national prohibition, dozens of southern communities operated publicly owned liquor stores during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In fact, as Lewis points out, the Athens, Georgia, dispensary preceded South Carolina governor Benjamin R. Tillman's proposal to replace barrooms with state-run liquor stores in his state. The South Carolina legislature enacted this measure in 1893 and even agreed to establish a state constabulary system to police illicit private liquor sales. Thus, despite the South's deeply ingrained tradition of localism, Tillman (temporarily) succeeded in constructing a highly centralized antiliquor regime in South Carolina policed by state officials.

However, this state-controlled dispensary system was not to last. Indeed, as South Carolinians became more familiar with the flaws and corruption of the dispensary system, antidispensary forces secured support for a 1904 local option law, the Brice Act, which empowered counties to vote out their dispensaries through referenda. A few years later, in 1907, the state legislature adopted the Carey-Cothran bill that abolished the state dispensary and authorized the establishment of dispensaries in every county that chose to remain wet. Of course, citizens of the Palmetto State soon discovered that prohibition through local option was not a panacea either. One of the strengths of The Coming of Southern Prohibition: The Dispensary System and the Battle over Liquor in South Carolina, 1907–1915 is that it depicts antiliquor advocates as rational actors who weighed the costs and benefits of prohibitory policies rather than as individuals driven by religious fanaticism or status anxiety. Through Lewis's case study of North Augusta, South Carolina, and nearby Augusta, Georgia, he demonstrates that temperate citizens often favored other Progressive reforms, such as improved roads and better schools, and frequently considered both the feasibility of prohibition and the costs of antiliquor legislation, such as the loss of public revenue from dispensaries and liquor licenses, when making decisions about what was best for their communities.

Ultimately, Lewis contends that dispensary systems and other modest prohibitory measures lost ground to prohibition after Congress adopted the Webb-Kenyon Act in 1913. Through this act the federal government endorsed the states' rights to control the delivery, distribution, and consumption of alcoholic beverages within their boundaries. While dry activists certainly welcomed this measure, Lewis somewhat overstates its importance for the prohibition movement. After all, the constitutionality of the Webb-Kenyon Act was in doubt until 1917, leaving its utility in limbo until then. Otherwise, The Coming of Southern Prohibition is a well-researched, clearly written volume that illustrates the importance of local interests in shaping the development of national social movements.