The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1869-12-23
ANDERSON S. G. THURSDAY DECEMBER %, 1859.

soy.
the coast, comprising, at least, 100000
OF acres of surface, and each acre may be
calculated on for from 500 to 1000 tons of
phosphate, making an aggregate of 1885,
06O OF tons. Compare the difference be-
tween this immense quantity of phosphate
at twenty cents per ton, the price propos-
ed to be paid to the State, and the four,to
six dollars per ton, what it is worth to the
individuals, named in the grant. For be
it recolected, that this immense treasure
is now the property of the State, and, it
may be asked, is she in condition to di-
vest herself of il for the benefit of few
favored individuals? If this franchise
was disposed of at public sale, it would
relieve South Carolina of her entire State
debt in a single year.
A correspondent of the Charleston Re
publican, over the signature of "a Work
ing Man," writes as follows on this SUBJ
ject:
Iregret to notice that party, COM
posed of two entire mercantile firms of
this city, and two members of a manufac-
turing firm in Massachusetts,, have petit
toned our Legislature for the sole right
to dig phosphates within the public wa
ters Of the State, offering the very mod
est sum Of twenty cents per ton royalty.
Now, Messrs. Editors, | trust you will
oppose the nefarious job. AS Providence
has placed in the hands of the present
Legislature such a valuable interest, /
trust it will not be thrown into the hands
of few individuals, but left open to all
who choose to enter into the enterprise,
and requiring from each one who engages
in the business license and royalty OF
fifty cents per ton, to so into the Golfers
of the State, and bo made sinking fund
for all future time to pay the interest on
the State debt.
Let our Governor look into this matter,
and we venture to say that on the pas
sage of such an act it will do more to on
nance the value of our securities than all
the coin bills the Legislature may pass.
AS poor man, l protest against oil
such monopolies to rich men who have
not put one dollar into any of the phos-
phate manufacturing interests of theState,
and who would use their monopoly to
prevent our farmers from getting cheap
fertilizers, and myself, and evory man
who owns canoe, from digging phos-
pilates. and selling them to the highest
bidder.
Let the State act in this matter, as
Virginia does with her oyster beds, and
derive revenue from it.
Per contra, we give the report of the
Senate Judiciary Committee, recommen-
ding that the bill do pass:
The Committee recommend.tbe passage
of this Bill, mainly for the reason that it
is designed to secure TO the State the bene-
fit of these Phosphates, which now are
being clandestinely removed; but which
still, in greater or less quantities, lie buri-
ed in the beds of the rivers and waters of
the State. They cannot bc digged and
mined except at large expense, and of
right only by consent of the State. If
there is value in them the State should
encourage its development, and offer
proper inducement to parties to engage in
the enterprise, at the same preserving the
streams as public highways, and the rights
of riparian owners.
lis believed by your Committee that
forty cents per ton is fair value to be
paid the State, instead of twenty-five
cents, as in the original Bill.
1t is true that Phosphate Rock, lying
on the surface of very shallow stream.
could probably afford to pay more than
this, but this is not generally, as we are
informed, the condition of the Phosphate
Beds. They are in docp water, as we'll
as shallow, and the labor required to mine
them is difficult, and the expense great.
1t will also be borne i'm mind, that, even
if the phosphates come to the surface at
low tide, they will bo covered with
water one-half of the time, nearly three,
four or five feet, and that as soon as min
ing commences, and any rock is removed,
at every step the work becomes more
difficult.
These considerations, in brief, lead
your Committee to the conclusion that
the terms are fair and just, and that it
will be greatly to the advantage OF the
State, to make the grant.
Report of State Inspector of Guano and
Fertilizers.
TO His Ercellcncy Governor Scott :,