The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-04-10

A Charleston correspondent OF thas Balti
more Gazette writes under date Of the s.
| instant
If the activity which prevails at the Charles
| TON 1n Hetsl is aay sign CT the condition OF tn,
City OF Charleston itself, it is far from belns
still the dead place which it was repr esented tt
t, ne, ana % wheh nc 1T 1t indeed was for two years afe
seems always to be FULL The tables ia tht
large dining room are crowded at meal times
and the coaches which go or como at the de
almost always carry full loads. The people
who come, too, are all travellers who bring
money; men and women from the North some
with carpet bags, some with trunks, and some
| even with babies and maid servants on their
way to or from Florida, or to Mobile or to the
| interior, or on o round to see what there is Ia
pc seen, which. is very little, or what chance
there Is to make money, which some people
And it is very evident that great deal of
money has been made during tho past wear in
south Carolina. Cotton fields have been culti-
vated. rice lands, which are safe from floods
and not liable 10 salt water freshets, have beon
planted, and pine lands which were formerly
untouched have been turn ID into turpentine
farms; The amount of thrifiness which has
been developed in Sou b Carolina is extraor-
dinary, even among those people who were
bred to luxury and used, from their childhood.
10 the enjoyment of large incomes. The eager
deslre manfested after the close Of the war to
have died out The disastrous failures. coise.
quent upon the efforts made at planting on a
large scale. arising from floods and caterpillar
ana asaond difficulty OF controlling labor have
and the most enterprising now are salts,
fed to aim only at that which they know thew
can control and to plant what they feel they
VIII De able to reap. The one idea now seems
to be to m Ike money, and, no matter how little
Is made, to spend little less. You 20 from
house to house, when you know the inmates
are at homo, and yet you find each one as quiet
rs dweiilng in Belgravia, out of season.
was almost Princely are now conducted on o
most modest scale, and members of the fam
lly evidently give an eye to domestic duties,
Whicn W were once entrusted to humble officials.
Nothing shows the total change IN high life in
Charleston moro than the total absence ofcar-
rlages. There seems to be scarcely q private
esqulpage among any Of the we'll known fami-
which used to be lined OF afternoons with yehi.
cles, not one single private one is now to be
seen. " oo
Economy is the order Of the day, and If over
South Carolina, S is the one that tells us that
"a penny saved is two-pence made" Pennies
are saved IN every possible way, and in cases
wbere parties have been hampered with heavy
debts, the Bankrupt law is reeorted to as q
short road to o settlement of accounts. prepar
atory to making fresh start, in a country
where ruin has been so widespread that mn.
PAID debt entails no dishonor. Indeed, the
come rather fashionable, from the fact that
large sums OF money, which are returned on
the schedules, are due to Northern creditors.
principally for advances made immediately
credit given by some speculative Northerners
to enthusiastic Sontherners, in elpootatinn nf
large returns, is simply marvellous. In one
the world to recommend him but a large and
very poor family connection and q tOlerably
GLIB tongue, succeeded in obtaining credit for
oyer $l50 600, which he now returns to court,
his assets beng in reality aaal
But it is not only. with Northerners that
some Southerners have learned to settle old
scores IN an expeditions way. Where the
Bankrupt law is found too sweeping, other de-
woes are sometimes resOrted to; perhaps from
the fact that necessity is supposed to know no
law, or perhaps because general ruin has pro-
duced widespread Generalization. It Is very
certain that measures are now occasionally re-
sorted to, in the desire to wipe out everything
connected with the past, which would not have
been employed ten years AGO., All contracts
Tor the purchase OF slaves during the war are
1epudiated under the new State laws. and even
in cases where slaves were sold before the war
but we're not paid for, payment has been re-
fused. on the ground that Judgment was not
obtained until after the time included in the
new statutes. In other cases, private advances
winch were made, in sterling, during the war,
have been settled for in full, at fifty cents on
the dollar, and anything seems to be regarded
as proper which settles old debts, puts stop
to litigation and payes the way for new start
in the world. What with carpet-bag officials,
scalawag judges, and negro representatives
aad jurymen, there is but one liberty left in
South Carolina. That is the liberty Of making
money, and OF this the Carolinans are bent on
awaiting themselves.
1t is quite wonderful to see the stimulus
which Jas been infused into the people here
by the receipts from the sale of good crop.
An immense amount Of money has been ex-
pended in fertilizers and agricultural imple-
ments, @ great deal OF money has been inves-
ted in gold, and considerable amounts are left
to lie idle In the hands or bankers and COM
mission merchants. so great is the distrust
OF anything like paper currency, and SO nncer-
tain are people about Investments, while the
State is at the mercy Of Radical adventures,
that there appears to be the greatest unwil-
iingness to lock up funds in any way, No rate
pie to part with their money. They prefer,
strange to say, to leave it in the hands Of their
own merchant, who holds it in national bank
notes, to trusting il to parties who offer them
BILE IN exactly the same currency.
1t ia very evident that In South Carolina as
other cotton States the tide has turned. The
old families, comparatively few in number, will
never regain their former influences; but the
mercantile and middle classes are already be-
ginning to prosper, and agriculturists who are
able to work advantageously, and who know
nOW 10 i've economically, must pc certain TO
thrive. Few Of the most despondent, even,
look for long continuance Of the present mis-
rule. Capital, industry and population must,
they think, tell in the end, and even the North
erners. who SO South to settle, as soon as they
invest their capital, will take part against the
carpet-baggerS. The idea that there can bs
the slightest ground for holding the Southern
States under Congressional subjection is at
once refuted by the fact that you may travel
for hundreds of milea without seeing soldier,
and that the most disaffected city on the con-
tinent is held under degrading despotism by
mere handful OF troops, who are scarcely
ever seen. seit tsta@' ~ s4,.- stltt 4e.i5F
One more good crop will mako world Of
difference in South Carolina, and the change
for the better which Is now marked will be
then most decided. The assistance given by
Baltimore TO the Southern people in the shape
Of charity, OF assistance, and of schooling for
:hi!drsn, has Been most timely and most use
full. It WAS given TO them in the most trying
hours of advorsty5 and at q time when syrnpa.
thy and encouragement were most welcome.
The educational aid given during the past two
years has been especially beneficial. 1t has
ven heart to people who were almost friend
less and hopeless, and it has, infused life and
spirit into those who were sad and disheart-
ened. Already those who ayear ago were PEN
ni'ess are contributing iberalIy TO- the support