Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-03-05

CluftcIS HOW cAlSrlNS III tuC ''L'Io S'' w ~
ncwcd under these provisions when they shall
have expired.
The s. C. GOvernOrship.
--The Washington correspondent Of the
New York Herald telegraphs to that paper as
follows in regard to the South Carolina Gov
ernorship:
"Thc memorial Of the ax-payers of South
Carolina will be presented to Congress and
the President this week. The colored people
ofthe State have combined to make Congress
man Elliott their candidate for Governor.
The white citizens, without regard to party,
ask Senator Robertson, to secure the support
of the administration on their side, to accept
the gubcrllatorial nomination. 1t is said that
Congressman Elliott boasts that if he can get
control of the State, he will turn the cradle
of the shareholders rebellion into the asylum
of the slaves" thereby making the State un-
nhabitablc for whites and the cl ysium Of the
negro. The contest promises to be exceeding
ly bitter, and some are predicting another lr-
repressible conhct-this time, Of races.
Amendment TO the Constitution.
- Mr.. Cochran, representative from An
derson county, has introduced Il joint resolu-
tion in the House proposing an amendment
to the Constitution in reference to the amount
of the annual levy of taxes for State purposes.
1t proposes to add the following proviso to
the end of section three, article nine of the
State Constitution:
Provided, that the annual levies for the fol-
lowing purposes shall beat the following rates,
to wit: for school purposes not less than two
mills; for expenses ofpublic printing not more
than half mill for Legislative expenses not
more than one and Il quarter mills; and when-
ever it shall happen that such ordinary ex-
penses Of the State for any yea" snail exceed
the income of the State for such year, the
General Assembly shall pr'viLu for levying
q tax for the ensuing year sufficient, with other
sources Of income, to pay the deficiency
The question Of the amendment is to be
submitted to the people at the next general
election. The resolution, however, has been
introduced so late in the session that it will
scarcely 60 through both branches in time to
become Il law.
The Postal System.
1t is understood that the Senate conf
mittec on appropriations will propose several
important changes in the post office admins
tration, which were intmated in part by Sen
ator Morrill,, of Maine, in the debate which
took place on the 23rd of January, pending
the consideration ofthe post-route bill. In that
debate Mr.. Morrill, alluded to the fact that
the Postmaster. General estimates that the
earnings of the department will be some $780,
100000, and that there will be a deficiency Of
100000 and odd, making over S36, 100000.
Not q dollar of this amount goes through the
treasury of the United States, or is subjected
to its audit or control This department,
therefore, was independent of the treasury.
If the department is to be kept within its rea-
sonable bounds SO that it will not break itself
down, this kind Of flegislation must be arrested.
A recent Washington letter says:
The committee will propose an amendment
to the laws so as to provide that after the 3Oth
of June, 1874, conveyance in the mails of
samples of merchandise, packages of clothing,
seeds, cuttings, bulbs, roots, scions, samples OF
metals ores and minerological specimens, and
bound books shall cease, and all laws author
izing such conveyance shall be repealed. The
reason for proposing such repeal is that the
mails are numbered with, among other things,
bee hives, with live bees in them, fed with
honey and sheltered by glass; boots and shoes,
groceries, and other incongruous articles,
which are sent through the mails under the
provision that everything except some dan
gcrous liquids can he sent through the mails
If not eighing over four pounds. These ar.
ticles, bulk and weghty, fill up the postal
mail cars, and are carried by our present sys-
tenn like the letter, which must go as rapidly
as possible, and to see to their immediate dis
trbution and the effect is that all the accom-
modations which the Postmaster General can
get upon the postal car system are not sufti'
cient for the adequate and rapid and satlsfac-
tory distribution Of the matter which ought to
pass through the mails alone. The railroad
companies are now paid by weight for the ex-
act amount they carry; and it is therefore
contended that if the mails shall be relieved
from the carrying Of merchandise there will
be considerable saving to the government.
The effort of the appropriation committee will
be to make the Postoftice Department medi-
UNI of simply transmitting intelligence. In
this connection some if not majority OF the
members of the committee are in favor Of abol-
ishing the postal car system and of repeating
the clause providing for the free delivery of
letters; the latter on the ground that large
sums are thus spent for the benefit of the res
idents of few cities, while the people at large
are taxed to pay for it. 1t is estimated that
such changes would well-nigh cover the
amount specified as deficiencies.
Suspensions and Failures.
- The statement Of bankruptcies and fail
ures for the past year has just been published.
1t is considerably in excess Of the usual aver
age. The chief losses of the panic, after the
great monetary firms are disposed Of have
fallen upon the great manufacturing and Ia,
bor-employing interests, whose inability to
meet notes and to pay current wages, even
with ample meaNs, led to such widespread
The following is table Of the
failures in the United States for the past few
years, as compiled from the circular of Dun
& Co., who are considered reliable authority {:
In 1870 there were 3,551 failures, amount
inc to sSS,242,OOO In 1871 2,9l5 failures,
involving So, ,252,OO0. In 1872 1909 failures,
involving sl2l ,O56,O00 In 1873 5,1S3 fail
urcs, amounting to the immense sum of $685..
400 900, almost three times greater than the
total of 1870, ar i slO7, ,433,0O0 greater than
the total of 1872. Of this increase in liabili-
ties New York city is chargcable with ST.
100000, showing that throughout the balance
of the country the increase in liabilities is only
6,OOO,O 900, which, it is assumed, is not an