The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-10-25
Correspond denco of the Pheniz.
GREENWOOD, 8. c., October 81.

Correspondence, OF the Phenix.
GREENwo@, s. c., October 21.
. MEssRs. Et tTToRs: It is generally
conceded thai q newspaper expresses
the sentiments of the community in
which it is published. If SO, L, for
one,' must protest against such arti-
cles as your 'leader," of the 18th
INST, headed Dead Capital" being
construed as Indicative of the senti-
ments, wishes or hctions of the plant
ers of South Ciroina. You assert
that the land-hblders of this State
shave made nd effort whatever to
convert their hufdreds and thousands
OF uncultlvated acres into living,
active capital. This is q mistake,
Tor know of both individual and
combined effortshaving been made.
but as yet with doubtful success. I,
myself, positively engaged several
1aml!les TO comefrom the vicinity of
Portland, Maine; but the great fire,
1 suppose, preysnted their coming
South. Other gntlemen have done,
and are doing, tie same in this Dis
trlct. In feet, SEVERAL planters have
received foreignGs, and were unable
as well as unwilling to keep them.
The State did appoint q Commits
sioner of immigration, and did ap-
propriate $1,000 to organize a
scheme that it viii require millions to
perfect; but if she. in her great
desire for recuparation, could only
appropriate $1Op0O, how much can
be reasonably expected from indi-
vidual planters, most of whom have
scarcely been abe to subsist them
selves and familbs for the past two
yearsP Certainly not an advance of
forty dollars Currency per head for
laborers, as is ftquired by the State
Commissioner inhis circular, and for
!aborers, too, who, though they may
nave seen cornt growing, certainly
never saw cotton, peas, cane, sweet
potatoes, or most of our Southern
vegetables, under cultivation; all of
whom would be entirely unaccus-
toned to our habits of life, and most
OF whom, in O tvelve-month, would
be unable to understand the simplest
direction, or ask, IN English, for their
simplest want
For such laboers, the Commits.
sioner thinks it but reasonable to ad.
vance forty dollars per head to import
them, and then tooontract with them
at one hundred and fifty dollars pe,.
dnnun', for men, and one hundred
dollars for women. AS well might
you be expected tc pay journeyman's
wages to your depl.
You instance tb success of Viroi.
mia in the importation of labor.
This is no encouragement for South
Carolina "to go and do likewise" for
the climate, soil aid staple products
of Virginia are vey similar to those
of the valleys ofSSwitzerland. Vir-
ginia is essentiallya grass, grain and
stock-growing State, with q climate
similar, and q soil hyperion, to that of
the Swiss. And yet, you ad7ise
South Carolina, Z more Southern
State, with hotter climate and less
fertile soil. and tohlly different pro-
ducts, to 60 to nore Northern En- Flu.
AoP@an S'uhCiJ rr laDOrerS. Ihe
effort had bette be made from
France, Italy, Mobcco. yes and Cor.
60. am sure wesre better prepared
Just now to manage the immigrants
from the last aentioned country
than we are to adapt ourselves to the
changes which would necessarily
arise from the inflx of the hordes of
Germans and Irhhmen into South
Carolina, that you would seem to
have come amongus.
True, Messrs. I.itors, we have the
land, and that land is "dead capital" {"
but it is perfectly impossible for the
owners to conveft it into kcing capi.
tal by adopting the scheme proposed
by the Commissibner, and advocated
by you. AS we'll might you be ex-