Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1877-04-12
THE GOOD TIMES COMING!

TIE GOOD TIMES COMING!
For the purposeso ascertaining from the
capitalists and bus ness men of Charleston,
vhoss opinions are free from political intu-
ence, their views upon the financial tu.
ture of South Carolina. under the new regime
to be inspgurated by Gov, Happton,s repre-,
sentative of the Neus and Courier called up
on several of the prominent merchants and
bankers of the city, whose opinions yeyeyfreely
given Below we give the views OF a number
Of th0aa gantlamen, which. may be regarded a.
a cheering index OF. the course of Affairs in
this State 8 e ttHtnjlI3b nE-
ANDREW sIMoNDs, ESQ
Mr.. Simonds is the president of the, First
National Bank of this city, is q successful
business man and, shrewd 6nancier. who has
not only condGcted the affairs of His bank
with remarkable sagacity aud unusual ability,
Ses; 1ss; if 5 RG gr.ss b. ,us na 2s.! y will iii
generally be acknowledged as good authority
in the financial circles Of this city, more es-
pecially when they coincide so nearly with
those of ether prominent merchants and bank
ers who have been consulted on the. subject
Being asked ifhe thought that the, change in
political affairs would enable our people to.
borrow money more easily from the North
and bring Northern capital into the State, he
replied that we did not want any more capital
because the long continued stagnation of trade
had accumulated more capital here than could
be used. In his own business he would rather,
reduce than increase the amount Of capital,
;r,a.ta1 Tho o,on Ia f;or 'of id1o vnnpou
in large amounts, he considered as indicative
of an unhealthy condition of affairs! This
accumulation had taken place not only i'm
Charleston and South Carolina, but all over
the United States, and also in Europe and,
other parts Of the world. While. therefore,
our troubles may have been; and doubtless
were,aggravated by the political complications
of our l"cal governments, yet we must look
further for general cause to account jfornthe'
general trouble. He thought that tbisgeueral
stagnation in business was reaction from the
abnormal activity of past years-like the
pendulum of clock, which the higher you
raise it one sids, the further it falls on the
other..' So business, the moreit is inflated by
speculatiVe.operations the more omplese will
be the collapse when the, crisis comes. I. Mr.
Simonds expressed the opinion that while ouE
country now appears to be in very poverty
stricken and unsound financial condition. peo.
pie not paying their debts and seeming to have
no money at all, yet there can be little doubt
that money is there, boarded away lin hooks
and corners, for Use in any emergency that
might occur under the uncertain condition of j,
affairs from which We are just emerging. AS
soon as the Hampton government is in thor.
ough working order, and the people begin to
have confidence in the future they will bring
out this boarded money, pay their debts and
engage in remunerative enterprises. Lands,
too, especially in the interior of the State, will
increase in value, because for some time past
many people, becoming uneasy at the long
continuance of bad government, were prepar.
ing to leave the State, and, therefore, offered
their lands for sale. There we're no buyers in
the market, and, consequently, the price of
land became almost nominal. Now people
will have more confidence, they will withdraw
their land from market, new settlers will be
coming in who will want land, and they will
have to pay good prices for it. d '.' 3l-
:"'' Ell. PELzER, ESQ. -.
Mr.. Pelzer is the head of the wellknown
firm of cotton factors and bankers, Pelzer,
Rodgers & Co., and is also the leading spirit
in the Atlantic Phosphate Company, one of
the most successful Of the large corporations
engaged in the manufacture Of commercial
fertilizers from the phosphate rock found in
the neghborhood of Charleston. Mr.. Pelzer
himself is known to be very wealthy man,
and the annual transactions of his firm and
company amount up among the millions. On
being approached in regard to his opinion
about the effect of the withdrawal OF the
troops upon business interests and monetary
affairs, he said that his views were still those
that he had expressed to President Hayes, on
the occasion Of his late visit to Washington,
as member of the committee of Charleston
merchants. He thought that the results
would be such as naturally flow from the es.
tablishment Of State Government in which
the people governed have implicit faith and
confidence. Men of capital would more read
lily risk their money in enterprises of various
kinds, because then the legal remedies for se-
curing their rights would be strictly aud i'm
partially enforced. This would be of especial
benefit to the agricultural community, whose
interests were the most vital to the welfare of
the whole country. Incendiarism, burglary,
highway robbery and the stealing of the grow
ing or ripened crops in the field would he
greatly diminished, if they did not altogether
cease, because of the certainty of punishment
that would follow. The farmers, therefore,
would work with better heart, and as their
ability to pay their debts would thus be in.
creased, they would have greater facilities for
borrowing what money was absolutely neces-
sary to carry on their crops Heretofore, and
especially for the last two or three years,
cautious factors have endeavored to obtain
absolute security for their advances and had
not heen willing to risk anything on the sue
cess of the crops because of the innumerab!e
difficulties in the way of the farmers making.
the crop, and the probability of great part
Of it being stolen from them after it was made.
GEO. ". WILLIAMS, ESQ.
Mr.. George W. Williams, probably the
wealthiest citizen of Charleston, aid the one
most extensively engaged in business, being
the head and soul of the house of George W.
Williams & Co.-bankers, grocers, cotton
merchants and dealers in fertilizers said in
regard to the immediate effect of the change
in the political status on business affairs,
that such things were naturally slow, and
could not be seen at once. That stagna-
ton in trade was not confined to this State,
but extended over the whole world. That
as mans pulse being uuduly excited goes
up to, say seventy-6ve beats, and when the
excitement passes of, goes down to fifty, 80
business, for several years, having been in.
ordinately active, was now excessively stag
nant. He said that it must be recollected
that there had been in the last year shrink.
age of 10 per cent in the currency value of