The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-05-14
The Views of a Great Merchant.

The well-known firm of Geo. ". Williams
& Co., Charleston, celebrated its 32nd anniver-
sary on Saturday. 2nd of May, and inaugurated
the "Carolina Savings Bank" at the same time.
Mr. George w. Williams opened the ceremo-
nes by making an address full of practical
wisdom, in which he demonstrated that the
prime requisites for success in business were
health, industry, application, high character
method and true religion. After rebuking the
wild spirit of extravaganza and speculation,
which leads so many promising men to ruin
and disgrace, Mr.. Williams uttered the follow
ing sentiments in regard to the future of South
Carolina and her sister States of the South:
But word about deserting ones country.
Immediately after the there such An
overturning of society, that was not sure the
South would be desirable place in which to
live. The welfare of my children was, of
course, paramount to every other consideration
As YOU are aware, I travelled extensively in
the Old and New World, making the tour of
Europe twice since the war, and extended my
travels North, and in the West to the Rocky
Mountains. After careful study of the diff
ferent portions of the country that have vis-
itcd my convictions are that the section en-
braced in the Confederate States" is the most
desirable portion of the inhabitable globe i!
and that the best abused State in the Union, in
spite of bad legislation, and disorganized soci-
etv. is in many respects, the "Eden" of the
South. and were my lifetime earnings in gold
dollars. would, unhesitatingy, convert them
into lust such securities, real and personal as
we now possess.
The Southern States have future that is
beyond computation, embracing as they do an
area of nearly one million square miles, or
more than six hundred millions of acres of
land, with population greater than the Uni
ted States possessed when was boy. The
natural resources of the South are equal to
those of any portion of the globe, while the
climate is unsurpassed. Just one product OF
the soil (cotton) the past year will yield nearly
three hundred millions of dollars, and the day
is not far distant when the production OF cot
ton in the Southern States will amount to ten
million bales, and our sons will live to see more
cotton manufactured into yarns and cloth in
the Southern States than is now consumed IN
North America The mineral resources of
the South, especially in coal and iron ore,
slartle the imagination, while her forests will
equal those Of all Europe.
For our cotton, rice and sugar estates, there
is no labor equal to that of the freedmen.
Why should they not cooperate with us at the
ballot box as we'll as in the cotton fields.
They are as much interested in good govern
ment and wholesome laws as you or |. We
owe them debt of gratitude for their humane
consideration of the wives and children OF our
soldiers during the late war. Their subsequent
conduct has been equally creditable, especially
when YOU consider their sudden elevation from
slaves to enfranchised citizens. In my opinion,
they are more to be relied on in the rice and
cotton fields of the Carolinas than some speci-
mems of immigrants we have seen fresh from
Castle Garden. Let me not be misunderstood
my heart is in the cause of immigration;
and no one will welcome more heartily than L
steady influx of the right kind of immigrants
either from our own or foreign lands