Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-12-03


plain improvements in the methods of in
struction. They should be allowed, while
on duty, duringthe recess of the Legislature.
the pay and mileageof members. Hitherto
they have received no compensation beyond
that which arises from the consciousness oi
rendering good service to the State, and
kind Offices to the interesting objects of theil
care.
THE De LA HOWE SCHOOL AT LETHE
During the last Summer, in making a
military tour through the State, day was
devoted to the school at Lethe, in Abbeville
District, founded by the will of DIR. John
De La Howe, at the close of thela century.
He devises the land on which he resided,
with all his land adjacent, his library, &c.,
&C., for the purpose of keeping up the farm
and establishing school for the support and
education Of twelve boys and twelve girls,
of Abbeville District, so as to qualify them
to make intelligent and useful farmers and
farmers wives, and especially recommends
that the principles of chemistry be taught,
so far as they are applicable to practical
agriculture and domestic economy. Thus it
is, indeed, valuable nucleus of agricultural
education, worthy of the consideration and
enlightened patronage of the General As.
sembly. 1t is the foundation of a benevo-
lent foreigner, whose remains are there en-
tombed, and whose example is entitled to
lasting honor and influence. have recon-
mended to the worthy Commissioners, who
now devote their time and attention to its
interests, to raise the standard of education
in proportion as their means will allow. A
difficulty in the way of their greater useful
ness, they represent to me, lies in their want
of places for their pupils after completing
their term of four years. If they were au-
thorized, by law, to send one of their young
men annually to the Arsenal Academy, at
Columbia, or four, or even two in the course
of four years, and also within the same term,
four ofthe girls to Normal School, in order to
learn the art teaching, this obstacle mightul-
timately be passed. Their teacher, this
year, is young man, formerly one of their
pupils, who has passed successfully through
the four years course of the State Academies.
Itwould contribute materially to theprogress Of
that kind of education, which has so long been
desired in Carolina, if this young man
could be sent to an Agricultural School in
Europe for two years. and return to take
charge of the Lethe School four years, in
compensation.
FINANCE AND BANKs.-The financial
condition of the State is sound, though at
the present moment necessarily somewhat
embarrassed. Without including the sur
pins revenue, 81 ,O5l ,422 90, which is held
on deposit, the debt of the State amounts to
s3,05S,6S1 80, drawing interest at rate
varying from to 6 per cent. The taxes
returned for the last fiscal year are s463,-
Ia IS. The ordinary annual expenses do
not exceed S350,000 But the payments
out of the Treasury the past year far exceed
that sum. For particulars, I refer to the
report of the Comptroller General.
The same report will present the monthly
exhibit of the condition of the Banks
Within ten years the number of Banks has
been increased to twenty, which arereturned
monthly, with an aggregate capital of sl4,-
S37, GIL 25, with specie basis in Septem-
Der of s999, ,399 76, and line of domestic
exchange amounting to SO, ,265, $50 9S.-
OF the last sum six of the Banks in the
commercial city Of Charleston, having a
capital af sS,l37,6 ,642 25, returned for their
part only s3,027,G 7,G57 73 The capital of
the ten Banks first named in the exhibit
amounts to $40, l97, ,642 25 y; their circula-
tion for September was s3,3S9, ,S26; their
specie on hand, for the same month, $751;
949 Is. The circulation of the same Banks,
as shown in the month of October, was
s3,S06, ,5O4, and their specie amounted to
s43G,S03 95. The ten Banks last named,
having together capital Of s4,70O,OOO
returned for their circulation in September
s3,7l5,344 specie on hand, s4Ol ,45O 2l.
The circulation of the same Banks, as
shown in the October exhibit, was S3,2lS,-
315 so ; specie on hand, s2G7 ,S07 II.
In the first half of the year, l was pleased
to learn that the bills of the principal Banks
in South Carolina constituted still portion
of the most approved currency in the West,
and were available, also, to travellers as far
North as the city of New York. Those of
some of the smaller Banks, it was said, were
sometimes found, at certain points in the
Western States, circulating too freely and in
too great numbers. In granting aracters
hereafter, shink it would be we'll to confne
the Banks to dealing in exchange, discount
and deposit. The issue of bills for cur
rency should be the prerogative of the Bank
of the State, which, in its turn, should be
denied the privilege of discounting notes or
dealing in domestic exchange. The corpo-
rations which demand circulating medium
for their business, should apply to the State
authority for the same, depositing one-third
of the amount desired in specie, and the re-
maiuder in satisfactory securities, so as to
assure the public of the souudness and con-
vertiblity of mixed currency. This sug-
gestion is made on the supposition that the
State will adhere to the Bank of the State
as its fiscal agent, not because prefer it as
such. Unless some such modification of the
system be adopted, I am Of opinion that it
would conduce to the soundness of the cur