The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-07-11

jfwages, the number and class of me-
chanics needed in the several Coun-
ties, and the price of land, and the
terms upon which it can be rented.
Their report should be furnished to
the Trades Unions of this country
aud Europe.
This information, ii properly dis
tributed, will, I feel assured, start q
tide Of emigration that will flow into
and greatly enrich the State. The
German and French grape-growers
will find in our upper tier of Coun-
ties soil and climate as genial to the
grape as their own vine-clad hills,
being precisely on the same parallel
If latitude as the great wine making
districts of Spain and Portugal. The
Swede and the Dane will find ample
scope and verge for their talents for
mining in our gold and iron and lead
regions, while even the Hollander
may exercise his cunning in draining
the marsh lands of our low country,
which he may get almost for the ask
ing. Our rivers, abounding with
noble falls, are running to waste,
when they should resound with the
hum of thousands of busy spindles.
These invite the manufacturer of the
North, who will find labor among lis
abundant and cheap, and may look
| from his own door upon fields white
with the cotton that supplies his mill.
| RAILROADS..
According to the eighth census of
the United States. there were 0S7 miles
of railroad in South Carolina, at the
close of the year 1860, built at cost
of $22.3S5, 900.
1t may be interesting to observe
that tho Charleston and Hamburg
Road was the first passenger railway
constructed in the United States.
1t was commenced in the spring of
1929, and six miles were completed
in that year. It is noteworthy fact,
that before the use of locomotives
was established in Great Britain, or
they were known in the United
States, the directors of this road de-
termined, under the advice of their
engineer, Mr.. Horatio Allen, to make
them exclusively the motive power.
The same gentleman, in the winter
of 1929, made the drawings of the
first American steam locomotive,
called tho ''Best Friend" which was
planned by Mr.. E. L. Miller, of
Charleston. Upon the Charleston
and Hamburg Road was introduced,
in 1881, for the first time on any
railroad in the world, the important
arrangement of two four-wheeled
trucks for locomotives and long pas
senger cars.
The facts here stated are designed
to show that the State has never been
wanting in men of mechanical
genius, with the capacity to achieve
the greatest enterprises, if properly
encouraged. South Carolina, al
though the first to initiate railway
system, has prosecuted it to very
limited extent; compared with the
demands of her commerce and the
resources of her soil. The facility
with which railroads can be bulls in
this State, is evidenced by the fact
that the railroads of South Carolina
have cost in their construction less
per mile than any of equal length in
the United States. / would recon-
mend the fostering of these great and
beneficent public enterprises by the
State, so far as may be consistent
with the proper maintenance of other
important public interests. At the
same time that railroad corporations
should be generously, but judicious-
ly, fostered, yet suitable laws should
be enacted to regulate their tariff of
charges for freights and passengers,
or otherwise they may oppress all
classes by their excessive rates, and
check the trade and enterprise of the
people.
Railroads are the main arteries of
commerce. They stimulate produc-
tion by bringing the market within
easy reach of the producer. They
give m impetus to every branch of
trade, while they promote unity and
good will among great populations,
by enabling them to circulate freely
among each other. I would espe-
cially recommend that the State
should furnish all the aid that it can
expediently for the speedy compile
tion of the Blue Ridge Railroad.
The Importance of that road to the
people of the State at large cannot
well be er-estimated. Starting at
Anderson Court House, as pro-
longation of the Westerly branch of
the Greenville and Columbia Rail
road, it will traverse portions of the
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