The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1874-10-28
South Carolina-A Hopeful View of It's
Recuperation.

hecup6TaLlou.
A correspondent of the New York
Herald expresses himself as agreeably
surprised at tho present condition of our
State; that so far from being in ruin and
chaos, it is not even retrograding, that
it makes more cotton and wheat to the
acre, has more busy hands, more ships
in the docks, more acres under cultiva-
ton, and more varieties of products than
ever before; and that though it has sutf-
err q more rapid and radical change
Than any other community except
France at the revolution of 1850, yet that
its condition now is better settled, better
on rdered, more durable, and nearer a
la tge and long prosperity, than else
wi here in the Union, and in support of
thE Es view, lifeites the testimony of Gen.
U ershaw, who expresses the opinion
at the discovery of our natural phos-
N bates furnishes full recompense for
G loss Of our slaves; of Mr. Miles of
larleston, that social equality, after
N, has nothing in it; and many other
planters of the State, and members Of
.tl} }c State Conservative Convention, that
tl}c planting interests of the State under
the new system of labor, have suffered
nb detriment. AS showing the natural
progress Of the State he says:
"The northern part of this State has
immensely developed. pushing the cot
ton culture to the foot of the Blue Ridge,
stantly, and neither is king. That
part of the State has advanced in towns
and ready markets by the opening Of
Charlotte, and the city of Greenville is
one Of the most progressive in the South.
Spartanburg is also growing. The ten
dency of all freights is through. Here
in the Caroinians see the folly and mar
rowness of their old railroad system, 1t
was twisted to and fro between the
selfish localities without comprehensive
ness. The railroads should have been
localized at Charleston, not led to q
merely political vicnage, like Colum-
bia. The rice cultivation has fallen off,
through the disinclination of the ne
grocs to get the pneumonia by working
in the trenches in the cold winter
months of January and February, but
the. naval products of South Carolina,
tar, pitch, turpentine and rosin have
made up the difference, whereas before
they We're scarcely accounted staples at
all in this State" l-s . i9.54
, And again: -.s- ..,...o.: .. - Is
"South Carolina needs only a self-re-
specting Legislature and Executive and
Judiciary to be what she should have
been but for All exaggerated self-wor-
ship, founded on factious selfishness,
which no amount of personal chivalry
could compensate for. Think of q port
only forty-two hours by steam from the
anchorage of Havana, closer than New
York to Chicago, nearest the vast cotton
fields of the Mississippi, and still with
out line of rail to Knoxville! The
plunder of this State has been bynatives
even more than by strangers. Even
some native women join the rout. The
Petigrews and Mackeys and Meltons
and what not forget their late impor-
tance and herd together upon no social
standard for the sake of the luxurious
husks of which the swine partake. The
present standard of value in South Car
olina may we'll be compared with the
following figures for 1854, used by Help
er in his ''Impending Crisis" Seven
teen and one-third millions of acres Of
land were then assessed as worth no
more than $23,000,00O, or about $1.37!
per acre. One-third of this amount of
land in New Jersey was assessed at
1888, ,Gn0, 900, or nearly $50 all acre. SEN
ator Robertson sells half-acre building
lots on the outskirts of Columbia for
$500 a half.acre to negroes. BY an mex
orable law the plantations are being di-
vided. The time is not far distant when
every negro in the State will have a
piece of ground. O. In proportion as this
time is fastened will good government
come to blacks and whites. Honesty
without property is not to be expected
in q legislative body. The schools and
freeholds which many of the whites
grudge the negroes arc to be their own
safeguards. When the negro and the
white have more dignity they will seek
less Office.
South Carolina has in the Augusta
Fand Columbia and the Piedmont air line
railways trifle advanced upon her old
[railroad facilities. At Chester I saw a
narrow-guage railroad and train bound
finland: But much remains to be done
to'give Charleston her Importance: as,
for example, d railroad from Millen, Ga,
to Tennessee, to carry the cotton of Ma
con and Montgomery off from Savan-
nah. The area of the State is 29,3S5
square miles, or less than that of Maine
or Indiana. A dozen good navigable
rivers drain the rich interior of its pro-
ducts. Some new towns have sprung
up as by magic, like Aiken, and 1 have
observed that the three cities which were
burned in the war have experienced the
most rapid revival-Atlanta, Richmond
and Columbia. This naturally arose.
from the assemblage of mechanics and
laborers, who finally required habita-
I tions for themselves"
This gradual development of the ma
'teriaa prosperity of the State, he attrib-
utes to number of causes-to aa'''
"The hopelessness of political am
fbition among the whites, whereby they
are neglecting politics and attending to
industry, To the more perfect climate
and soil they possess over any of the
slave States. TO the discovery of vast
deposits of natural mineral manures
since the war, whereby one acre is equal
to five, and the disorganized labor equal
ly available in the ratioiof it's replace
ment by chemistry. TO the orthodoxy
and homogeneity Of the blacks, who are
without the Creole restlessness. TO the
chastened intentions of the whites, who,
having the most inevitibly inevitable
black government, are treating their
labor with most justice. TO a reflex
wave Of Immigration, .repelled from
Texas and even from Georgia, by the
barren realization. of exaggerated hopes
there. And to the increased .yersatilitv