Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1849-06-02

a much greater inequality of property ex-
lists in the South than in the North. But
although | do not possess exact knowl-
edge on this point, there is enough known
to prove that this cannot be the case
The State of Virginia allows none to ex-
ercise the elective franchise but white
freeholders, leaseholders of five wears
and housekeepers who are heads of fami.
hes. Now it appears by the returns of
the Presidential election of 1874, that
Virginia gave about 95 900 votes allow
ing 10000 for voters who did not attend
the polls. and it appears that there are
10000 free white males in that State
who are either freeholders, leaseholders.
housekeepers and heads of families, and
by the census of 1910 there were only
l579S9 white males in the State above
the age of 2l i; so that two thirds of them
are either freeholders, leaseholders or
housekeepers. ] do nos know what pro-
portion of the Northern States are free
holders, but have seen a detailed state
ment from one of the interior counties of
New York, from which it appears that
only half OF the voters were freeholders
! and when we consider that the cities of
New York and Boston contain nearly
half the property of the States to which
they respectively belong, and that in those
cities pauperism prevails to a greater ex-
tent than any where else in the Union, it
is very clear that great inequality Of { pro
perty prevails. ssss,S i.
The State of Ohio, a new State and
an agricultural one, and very prosperous,
may be presumed to enjoy a tolerable
equal distribution of property. There
are in this State, by the last assessment,
about fifty thousand pleasure carriages,
and the possession Of one of these, is an
indication of a comfortable condition of a
family. Virginia, there were in SAT,
over 10000 ; and that in white popula-
ton about one third as great as ours is
now. This proves that the degree of
comfort which such establishments indi-
Gates, is more diffused in Virginia than in
Ohio. The proportion of dwellings built
in year. is another indication ofconfort,
and the degree ofits diffusion among the
people. According to the returns Of the
marshals in 1910, Massachusetts,, whose
white population is nearly the same with
that of Virginia. built 324 brick houses
in that year. Virginia built 402, or near
ly one fourth more. Massachusetts, built
l,249 wooden houses in the same year,
Virginia, 1904, or more than double.
The cost of the houses in Massachusetts,
was $2,7e7,1s4: in Virginia, only ST.
367, 1893, or about one half. Now if this
excess in the cost of the houses of Ma Vs.
achusetts besattributoble to the excess of
business, or manufacturing structures
among them, it swells The proportion of
dwellings built in Virginia, and thus dis
plays still greater progress in comfort
among the population of the latter. But
if the excess Of cost in Massachusetts, is
owing TO the superior style of her dwell
ilngs, it proves, since the number is so
much less, a still greater inequality of
property. A comparison of the houses
built in New York, the same year with
those of Virginia. exhibits similar results.
And / will add that the same thinp is
true, by comparison between Virginia
and Ohio. although one is considered the
most declining, the other the most advan-
cling State in the Union one supposed to
be the most unequal in the distribution
OF property the other the reverse. In
lS40 Ohio built 97O brick, and 2.784
wooden houses, at the cost of $3,77e..
S23. Thus, whilst we had twice the
white population, we built only fourth
more of houses. Kentucky, also, as well
as Virginia, surpassed Ohio in this re.
spect. Kentucky built 445 brick, and
1857 wooden Houses thus with onlv
40 per cent. of 0hio's white population,
she built rs per cent. of the number Of
houses Ohio did. The fact is that Is that
Virginia and Kentucky constructed in
that year, more buildings in proportion
to the whole population, black and white
than Ohio and Massachusetts,. This re-.
suit does not appear, indeed, in the citiesg
or IN the principal streets Of cities, and
therefore has not come to the knowles, 81
OF fugitive and super6cia! Observers, on
newspaper itemrnongers, but 1t is demon.
strated by labors of che officers of GOV.
ernmegit who were required to visit the
country aswell as the towns, the by.ws.vs
and the high-ways, and it Is triumphant