Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1880-01-16

hundred horse power OF water power to DO
used or disposed Of in such manner and on
such tcrms as tho State may direct" While
tho State furnishes convict labor, which is Of
littlc or no value to it, it gets 1900 horse
power for its own use, besides Developing an
enterprise which may lead to others along tho
canal until millions may in ten years bo
invested along this canal to the great enrich
mcnt of the State. Tho canal now stands
there o sluggish, idlo stream, bringing
profit to no one. Tho starting great factory
ut the capital Of tho State may also load in
fcw years to weaving and stamping, until
tho greas profit Of our staple reapcd by tho
Northern manufacturers will DO kept at
homo.
Furthermore. tho not reserves to tho State
full right to quarry rocks at any point, pro,
vidcd it does not Interfere with The dam or
abutmcnts Of tho parties aud overy right not
injurious to the franchise conferred by the
act on tho parties mentioned in it. If the
parties fail to comply with the conditions
by developing tho canal and putting in opera
ton 10000 spindes in threo years, then the
property with all tho rights and franchises
conferred shall revert to the State
Where, now, lies the injury to the State or
tho tax payers from this act? Do not prom
iscd benefits flow from every word and limo
Of tho act, without tho cost Of dollar to the
and guarded and it is better to keep them at
work than otherwise. Tho State gets moro
actual saluo in tho water power granted to it
than tho little the convicts could ho hired for,
apart from the future benefit in increasing
tho taxable property Of tho State. Suppose
the parties do nothing, then the State loses
nothing, neither in property, convict labor nor
water power. Suppose, Oh the other hand,
the contract is carried out, then in ten years
We may sec not 10000 spindcs, but fifty or
one hundred thousand along tho banks Of
this Immense water power, with looms, and it
may be, all tho machinery for stamping
cloth.
The question is simply whether it is better
to let that canal flow along sluggishly, fur
nshinga retreat for toad and bull frogs, to
the benefit Of neither tho State nor tho tax
payers, or whether by encouraging its dc,
vclopmcnt, without any actual expenditure Of
money, we shall make it the motive power
OF huudrcda Of thousands Of dollars worth of
machinery devoted to converting our great
staple into thread and cloth and keeping the
profits at home. We advocate the latter
as tho true policy Of The State, and
wc rejoice to know that while our Senator
can say ''thou canst not say that | did
it," We can say there was II sulii-
Gent number of our members to the
Legislature who wero willing to 90
home to their constituents and tell them
that they were willing to give to North
crn strangers or Southern capitalists or
any other person tho franchises and pri,i-
lrGcs conferred by the act Oh the conditions
named in tho act
For years the canal has been open for de-
vclopmcnt by either Northern or South
ern men, and until now no ono has
offered to Go it. The terms AFRO stringent and
the rights OF the State arc pratcctcl. it can
lose nothing and may gain great deal, and
so FAR as Ncrthcru men and Nothcrn capital
arc concerned, who does not know when they
invest here III so great an enterprise thcy
become Southern men and Southern capital.
We wish we had IL thousand such companies
with Northern capital 10 be invested here in
South Carolina on tho same terms
One word more and we arc done with this
subject. If this canal should be developed
and The factory ru. in operation, as provided
in The act and tic investment should prove
as We have every reason to
believe it will, first, because the ex Srnscs Of
and shipment would be saved;
second, because by reason Of our mild climate
the mills could be run all the year, without
the heavy expense of wood or coal required
ut the North to keep the rooms at II proper
temperature, and third because aborcrs in
this mild climate can do more work than in
the freezing climate OF Massachusetts; then
there arc tho strongest grounds to expect that
other companies would invest here in similar
La taking this position We arc not
to be understood rs approving any action Of the
Legislature in refusing 70 grant reasonable
and like aid to the Blue Ridge Railroad.
We regard it an enterprise pregnant with the
highest interests of the whole State and hope
yet to sec it completed aud our connection
with the great West assured for all time. In
this matter VIC agree fully with .hc patriotic
words Of our Senator.
Mr.. d. NJ. Thompson. ono Of The parties
who propose to develop the Columbia Canal
was scronadcd at the Wheeler House in Co,
lnmbia last Saturday night. In The course
of his remarks, he stated he had been in tho
South nearly year and in Columbia eight or
nine weeks, and that WHILE before coming
here, he entertained the usual unfayorabic