The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-01-29
Charleston.

tonishins stride forward in any one season.
! This city has not been able to scale at a
| mighty leap the heights where rest the SUD-
stantial rewards of mercantile supremacy.
Our progress has been inch by inch, anu
foot by foot. But what ground we gain we
firmly hold. There is no slipping back.
Charleston, as surely as summer flows
spring, moves unswervingly and irresistlbly
onward. The railroads, OF which Charles
ton is the terminal point, draw, month by
month. q heavier tribute from the West and
South, and, with equal zeal, minister, as lar
as they may, to the wants OF the South Caro-
lima public. A feet Of swift steamships,
plying to the ports OF the North, bear the
aeecy wealth Of the Cotton States and the
precious products Of the Southern forests to
their distant markets, returning heavily
laden with the riches Of the Old World and
| the New. The cultivation OF fruits and
early vegetables, pursued in the face OF
many 6Hculties, is an established branch Of
the trade Of the city. Already the work OF
mining and manipulating the phosphate
deposits OF the South Carolina basin as
sumes gigantic proportions, employing
squadrons of stout vessels to bear the quick
ening freight to the sterile fields OF the
North, and to the crowded plains OF Europe.
Sulphurlc acid factories, among the largest
in the world, and companies for manulac-
turing commercial fertilizers, complete IN
every mechanical DETAIL give activity to
capital and occupation to the laborer, while
they spread the name of Charleston the
whole country over. The provision trade
grows in Importance every season; the Joo'
bing trade Is recovering it's hold upon our
neighboring States; the cotton business OF
the port Lroadens and deepens with unfiaS-
giug regularity; the receipts OF naval stores
OF rice, OF lumber, give even the chronic
grumbler no cause for complaint. A Con-
servative city government, from which much
is expected, has taken the place OF the waste
full and ignorant Council Of l86S-7l. The
city is honestly meeting her engagements;
the people are hopsf and confident. And
vet from Maine 10 the Pacific, Charleston Is
spoken OF as fallen city, as one which
lags in the race, as worn-out, oroken-down
community which has, in the present, moth
ing bright, and, in the future, no other cer'
tainty than decay and commercial death.
Norfolk and Wilmington and Savannah
have their prophets who chant their praises,
and cordially do We wish them Godspeed
Yet Charleston, which has larger commerce
than any city on the South Atlantic coast,is,
according 10 outside opinion, on the verge OF
dissolution. The reason OF this is plain.
Charleston, although steadily improving in
actual commercial prosperity, is, In appear
ance, as war-worn to-day as when the pillar
OF ire by night and the pillar OF smoke by
day gave the North the sign OF victory,
and the South the signal OF defeat. Atlanta
and Richmond are bullded up; Savannah
and Wilmington and Norfolk have fastened
to smoothe the wrinkles from their front.
But in the very heart OF Charleston, thriving
az the city is, the rank weeds flourish and
the green waters reek as they did ten years
ago. The travellers on pleasure and on
commerce bent, the newspaper-men who
think they see more in day than our own
people learn in lifetime, will not believe
that Charleston is progressive city while
the burnt district stands desolate and bare,
void OF all but the laintest show CT reBtora-
ton and improvement.
1t may be said, We know, that the burnt
district would have been rebuilt long ago
if there were o sufficient demand for
house-room to make building operations
profitable. This, in measure, Is begging
the whole question. The difficulty has been
to obtain the necessary capital at reason
able rate Of interest; for, by reason OF the
condition OF the city credit, the advances
which might be had from the city under the
Fire Loan Act could not be turned to profit
able account. There is change in the
situation. The present Council are sedulous-
ly strengthening the public credit, and, re-
cognizing the importance, from every as-
pect, of building up the city, they are taking
measures to guard the borrower from the
city against any serious loss. Another in
ducemeut is desired to be offered, viz: To
exempt from taxation for five years all build
ings put up in the burnt district. Al pres
ent, the vacant lots return a beggarly sum
to the public treasury, and il, by foregoing
all increase of taxes for short PERIOD the
city can convert bleak waste into busy
hive Of industry, the whole cummunity
must be the gamers. Apart from the en-
ployment given to mechanics and laborers,
and the strengthening OF every branch of
trade, the building up of the burnt district
would increase our population, augment the
volume Of our active capital, and place
Charleston in her true position before The
world. The appearance OF prosperity, and
the possession OF prosperity, acting togeth.
er, and reacting upon each other, would, in
a few years, cause Charleston to grow with
the rapidity of the proverbial cities OF the