The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1873-03-25
The Trade and Commerce of Charleston

n handsome pamphlet OF eighty-nVe paSes'
containing the report OF the special commit
tee OF the Chamber appointed to collect Sta
tistical information relating to the trade ana
commerce OF Charleston. This report, with
the accompanying tables, shows the course
OF business in produce and manufactures
during the past seven years, and furnishes
a sure basis for determining the condition
and prospects Of the city. 10 the opinion
OF the Committee the results are "eminently
encouraging" and no candid reader OF the
report will deny that much-decried Charles
ton has steadily improved in mercantile
strength and general prosperity.
Immediately following the formal report
OF the Committee, which is well worthy OF
an attentive perusal, come the statistics OF
The cotton trade OF the port These,
with the explanatory remarks, give
clear view OF the entire business, In long
and short cotton, for each year, from
ls65-'66 to lS7l-'72. The receipts at all
the ports each year are given; also, The
monthly receipts at Charleston, the number
of bales received by the various railroad and
steamboat lines, and the exports in each
year to foreign and domestic ports. 1t is
gratifying to note that the receipts at this
port have increased from Ill, TIA bales, or 5
per cent. OF the crop, In lS65-'66, to 2S2. .Os6
bales, or ten per cent. Of the cropin ls7l-72
The receipts of Local cotton have increased
90 900 bales. Upon the subject OF rice the
information is likewise full and complete.
The receipts and exports for the seven years
are given, and show that the receipts have
increased from 4Ol9 tierces in lS65-'66 to
42,677 tieIces In 187l-'72. In the lumber
trade the improvement is very marked; the
exports being ls,460,33s feet in ls7l-'72,
against S,3s9,l7l feet In lS65'66. The
naval stores business has developed itself
with amazing rapidity. In ls65-66 the ex'
ports were only 80, 1876 barrels; last year
they were 1890 barrels. The wholesale
jobbiug and grocery trade Is In flourish
ing condition. In the work Of rebuilding,
Charleston has made considerable progress,
az is shown by the fact that last year nearly
half million dollars were laid out for new
buildings and repairs. The work OF improV-
ing and deepening Charleston bar has
begun. Truck farming. business which
has sprung up since the war, gives employ
ment to three hundred laborers, and the
shipment OF vegetables and potatoes, last
year, amounted to 2l6,974 packages. The
land and water connections OF the city are
In o satisfactory condition, and the steam
ship lines have no superiors, il they have
any equals, on the South Atlantic coast.
The banking capital OF the city amounts to
about three and half million dollars, and
the deposits are nearly three millions. The
factories and machine shops have steadily
increased In numbers and In size; the ma
chine shops and sash and blind factories
alone turn out manufactured articles to
the value OF $780, 900 year. The mag
nitude and importance OF the trade in
South Carolina Phosphates, crude and man
uiactured, are fully explained. 1t is
shown that nearly tsro hundred and fifty
thousand tons Of crude rock have been
shipped. Six companies, with capital OF
81, 900, 600, are engaged here in the manu-
iacture Of fertilizers and acid. They have
made 10, GA tons OF sulphurlc acid, valued
at $3.50, 200, and have shipped nearly ninety
thousand tons of manufactured fertilizers,
| the basis OF which is South Carolina phos-
phate rock. The companies are now work.
Ing night and day to iii orders. The COM
mlttee also give some interesting informa-
ton concerning the Charleston Rice mills,
the state OF the Retail trade, the number OF
persons engaged in the different trades and
professions, and the like.
1t is not practicable, iD this place, to do
more than direct attention to the various de-
partments of the report, and to glance at
the general conclusions which the facts and
figures warrant. Explanatory remarks &C
company the statistical tables, and the in
formation upon every point is the fullest
that the committee could obtain. The re-
port upon the rise and progress OF the Phos-
phate business is especially full, and entities
the compiler to hearty thanks. The moral
OF the report, its practical application, is
not hard to find. 1t is not merely that
Charleston has, year by year, increased her
receipts OF Cotton and Rice and sundries.
There is something beyond this. viz: that
Charleston relies for her commercial pros
perity upon many branches OF trade, and
not upon one alone. This city is not depend
ent upon Cotton or Rice or Lumber or Phos-
pilates or Naval Stores or the Jobbing busl-
ness. It is the union and combination OF
these different branches OF trade which give
Charleston broader and deeper foundation
than is enjoyed by any other South Atlantic
city. One neigbbor may, for the moment,
exceed Charleston In the receipt OF Naval
Stores; but what has that neighbor to set
against the wholesale business OF this city
Another neighbor may receive more through
Cotton; but where ia It's Jobbing trade, its
| manufactures, it's native Phosphates. Its