The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-02-02
s. c.
Friday Morning, February 2. 1879.


dustry in the South which has suffered
more by reason of the late war, and its
consequences, and which has bad more
to retard it's progress and cripple it's re.
munerative energies since peace, So
called, has been established, it is agri-
culture. The old system of labor has
been overthrown and no new system has,
as yet. been devised to fulfill, even to q
measurable extent, its conditions and re.
quirements. Our planters are, indeed,
without any regular or reliable labor;
their lands are worn and impoverished;
many have been laboring under the bur-
den of old debts, and various other griev-
Gus, though legitimate causes, have COM
bined to render the pursuit of their bu-
siness Improbable aud not unfrequently
ruinous. Taxation. too, has been made
to bear most heavily upon them, under
the new-fangled mode of al Dalorem as
sessments; and the agricultural interest
no longer receives that fostering care
from the State which it properly did in
days past, when its Importance was duly
estimated and the object of legislation
was the States prosperity and not her
purse. All of these obstacles and un
toward circumstances have aided to chill
the enterprise Of. and dishearten, our
landed proprietors in their efforts to re-
build their broken fortunes. But there
is another grievance to call attention to,
which, with faint hope of it's correc-
tion, is the object Of this article. We
refer to the trade in seed cotton carried
on by the Infamous little country stores,
or, we might rather say, pop-skull
liquor shops, scattered now, in more or
less numbers. through every County in
the State. It is species of burter that
we might say, without much exaggera-
tion; was totally unhcard of until these
abnormal days. Every honest and in
dustrious laborer and planter, white and
black. are it's victims. and only rogues
and their abettors are profted by it.
Many instances are known where the
proprietors Of these groggeries, COM
mencing at the beginning OF the cotton
season. with capital of less than fifty
dollars invested in mean groceries and
meaner whiskey, have, by surreptitious
dealings with bad negroes and low white
men. bought up, in the aggregate. from
ten to fifteen bales of cotton before
Christmas. This cotton is stolen from
the neighboring fields and carried in
small quantities at time, generally un-
der cover of night, and bartered with the
whiskey man upon such Terms as he may
fix upon. This species of traffic puts q
bonus on idleness and vice, and is di-
rect encouragement to theft. Such is it's
tendency and effects upon the parties,
criminally engaged in carrying it on.
But, worse than that, it works u great
annoyance, positive wrong and serious
loss to tho good people in the neighbor.
hood who are honestly striving to earn 1.
livelihood by Legitimate means. We
have heard numbers of farmers say that
they have lost third of their cotton
crops Dy the thieving rendered easy and
inviting By these legalized nuisanccs-
cross-road shops. We do not mean to
condemn all country stores, for many OF
them, We are we'll aware, are of great be-
nefit in remote localities, are conducted
by worthy and upright men, and are Of
great convenience to the community.
Those only that deal in seed cotton merit
severe apprehension. Our desire is to
invite the consideration of the Legi.lu-
ture upon this subject, with view to Sc
cure proper legislation to protect the in
terests of the farmers and honest lubor.
ers in the premises
This growing evil, such fruitful
source of crime, should be checked: and
it is, in our judgment, within the pro
vince and duty of tho law making power
to do it. Let an Act be passed pro.
hibiting the sale of cotton in the seed.
except upon certain necessary conditions,
such as at public sales, in market overt,
&C., and lot its violation be visited with
sOmo severe penalty. We fnllv nnnrec;