Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1878-09-12


the remarkable hoalthfuluess of tho CITY,
tho death rate among tho whites being only
IL to tho thousand, and Charleston finds in
the past year substantial cause for deep
satisfaction.
During tho year number of business
houses which have beon staggering along
under burden Of old Indebtedness havo
gone into bankruptcy. They had hoped
against hope, waiting vainly for the coming
again of flush times that would enable them
to iiquidato every obligation fully. But
tho times when money can bo mado by tho
simple process of buying and waiting, and
the days of brilliant adventures for tho
many, are still far distant, and tho wiser
course was for the enoumbered and om..
oarassed merchant to relieve himself of his
debts in the Bankruptcy Court and begin
tho world anew, at least not handicapped in
tho raco. Tho closing up of weak con-
Germs, and tho passage through tho Bank
ruptcy Court of merchants who had been
tied hand and foot by tho claims of credi--
tors will havo good effect, in increasing
tho hcalthfulness Of trade and in onlarging
its volume. Wo feel warranted in saying
that trade in South Carolina is now aouudcr
than ever. Tho few rotton spots have been
cut out, and the constitution of the moroun.
tile body is vigorous and powerful. An
othcr cheering fact is the low cost at which
tho crop of the year has been mado in South
Carolina. For tho FIRST time, in many yoars,
the planters and farmers will havo some.
thing left when they havo paid tho ex-
penscs, and repaid the advances, of tho
season. Thoy will no longer grow poorer
by spending money that they haven't got.
Cutie tho reverse. Tho frugaity and
moderation enforced upon them sinoo 1878
will DO continued, aud at low prcos for our
produce, accompanying low prices of pro-
visions and neocssaries and low ratios Of
wages, the South Carolina farmer will really
accumulate more money, or property, than
In tho speculative periods when cotton went
up and down 10 and II conts pound in
tho course of season. Charleston grows
with the surrounding country, irrcsr octive
OF tho presence or absence of through and
foreign trade, so that it is most important 10
her that the farmer shall prosper. And
prosperity promises to return to regions
whence it had seemed to havo fled forever.
The experiments made by tho Agricultural
Society demonstrate tho pract;oablity of
making, on tho common sandy lands of tho
Carolina low. country, forty bushels Of
wheat, fifty seven bushels of oats or four
tons of good hay to the acre. a liberal
estimate is that gross outlay Of S15 IN
acre, on land worth less than SIS an acre,
will produce at least $25 an acre. |, will
take time, of course, for the farmers 10
grow accustomed to the new mode of cult
uro; but it will be adopted the low c0untrv
will rovirc, and tho trade of tho low country.
receiving aud supplying, cannot be takon
away from Charleston Yet aDother bright
sign is the successful cquippiDg and running
of Bagging Factory in Charleston, CT,
sdoylng seventy ,ivo persons, mostly women
and girls, tho class for whom it il, hardest to
obtain on honorable and comfortable liyoli-
hood. Wo could enumerate other promis-
ing Indications; but one moro must suffice.
IL had been fearnd that tho Johhinr trade
of Charleston would gradually dwindle away.
One largo firm left the city somo mouths
ago. Othor coucerns wero tempted to
follow the cxumplo. They determined,
however, to make last effort. Their
agents went out carly, ard they reduced
their quotations to minimum. The result
is that the Jobbing trade Of Charleston last
week was as good as that of any previous
week remembered by the merchants, and
larger, by far, than the trado done in any
weok in August in any previous year. Tho
oity is full of country buyers, who stay
generally at private boarding houses, and
the Jobbing merchants, as well thcy may
be, are onoe moro in high spirits and full Of
hope.
With the rast so satisfactory and the
present rich. in favorable conditions, what
is thoro to say of tho future? Much, of
course, will depend, as regards through and
foreign business, upon the nature of the
solution Of tho em mbarrassments of the South
Carolina Railroad and it's connections. Our
expectation is Tint tho proceedings now
taken will put tho South Carolina Railroad
in trim to moot, and overcome, any opposi.
ton. It's debts will be reduced, and it will
then havo an income sufficient to allow to bo
made such improvements as are requisito..
Closer connections aro inperatiyely necos.
sary, aa we'll as an independent limo to tho
West. Thesc arc in plain view, and will
become oertaintos as work progresses on
the National jettios on Charleston bar. This
work is tho handspring of Charleston life.
Without deep water tho city will oreep
along, and gradually incroose its business,
as the condition Of tho whole State, and
particularly Of the low. country, ie improved.
With thirty feet Of water on tho bar, which
will be had in two years, Charleston cannot
fail to become groat commercial city, re.,
oeiving and chipping tho Western aud
Southern produce aud receiving and dis.
tributing large part Of Tho immigrant aud
freight business Of Europe. This is The
outlook, But. aa we hnua anid lhnfnrn