The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-06-20
s:Anon'' on the Railroad Controversy.

precipitate upon my innocent head the
wrath of either Snmmerton or Panola.
! sSummerton" was sore-headed, and Panoia
yindictive. ssSummerton's' heart slckens
at deferred hopes, and Pamela" taunts HIM
with fading visions of S1C0-lots, paved
Streets brick blocks, and plate glass show
windows. .'Sumlnerton" sits in sackcioth
and ashes amidst the ruins Of his air castles;
and Pamela dances with ruthless glee over
their downfall, and points the finger OF nd
J icule at s.SummertoD, and calls hlm VS.
| ionary.
Anon" is interested in the fight, leans of
course to Sunmerton because OF personal
interest, yet kindly feeling for an esteem
ed neighbor prompts sincere consratui&-
tons should victory perch upon the banner
of Pamela. We know there is no feeling IN
the matter except friendly one, between
these knights Of the quill. "Sun!merton
! is naturally little morbid because OF hav-
ing lost the r. R.. and says some things
f; that should not hurt man who is on top;
and Panola hits back with q vim, and talis
to show the magnanimity expected TO
PROSTATE foe.
All testing aside however, and we will
come to the point al issue: Will 1t pay the
| Eutawville Road to come through Summer
ton? We think it will, because this IS the
center of the debatable ground between the
Atlantic Coast Line and Steamers on Santee.
Manning looks to the establishment OF
depot here as q menace to her commercial
interests, and while they entertain friend
ly feeling toward our locality and its people,
at the same time they very naturally 90 not
wish to see our town build up at their en-
pense, and therefore they do not hesitate to
express the hope that the line will miss
Summerton, realizing the fact that any de-
Walton, east or west Of US, would thWart the
project OF building up its rival by throwing
the lire too near competition with the A.
C.. L. on the east, or Steamboat Co. on the
west, to enable US ever hope to build up
any point So formidable as Summerton
would be, by virtue Of her location. Some
one will soy that that is exactly what 1t pro-
poses to do, catch the cotton on the wing IN
its passage to the Bluff Will getit? The
experience of the Port Royal R. T. under
identical circumstances ought to answer.
That Road was completed in 1872 under
fattering auspices; ior SO miles OF It's route
it lies parallel to Savannah river from Allen
dale to Augusta, from one to 10 miles from
the River The aggregate business, done be-
| fore the r. Z. was built along that stretcn
of territory, about equaled that done at
Wrights Bluff. The Z. R. coveted it. and
vowed it was going to run the steamers
| from the river Alively war OF rates ensued,
to the benefit Of the shippers of course; the
steamers won every time, and now new
steamers are being pct on the line, while on
the other hand the r. r. has been IN hnan-
cial straight during its entire existence: a
personal friend of the writer, two or three
winters ago. hauled one hundred bales cot
ton from Baldock Stat:on-where, by agree
ment with his renters, it had been deliver
ed-to Johnson's Landing, distance OF
| S miles, because the Steamboat offered him
| inducements to do so. Freights by water
being always cheaper when competition
comes in, the steamers on the Santee only
| want the business to be in bidding distance
to have it's share, for with only three miles
further to reach the boat load OF cotton
from about here, could easily be induced to
cross the r. R. and go on, ii one dollar
load could thereby be saved.
The r. r. is after the business OF the
country present and prospective, and we
presume it is to the latter more especially
that the eye Of the capitalist IS directed.
With our poor shipping facilities, and IN
der the paralyzipg influences OF the hen law
which gives no higher incentive to live than
simply to pay enough on this year account
to enable them to get indulgence for anotn-
er, with thousands of our best acres thus
! butchered, or even lying fallow, yet this
county produces ten thousand bales cotton,
| which means that in years from the COM
pletion of r. Il. to some central point,
| We will increase our shipments to twenty or
more thousand bales. Summertoa IS IL the
midst of finer cotton section than Sumter,
and with improved shipping facilities and
spot cotton market, there can and wll! be
just as much cotton bought and sold here
as there, and what does this development
mean Certainly, along with local en-
hancement Of values, Gncluding sales OF
those Sl00 lots you know it means also a
growing and lucrative business to the b. r..
And shall we suppose that the builders OF
these great artares of trade and commerce
will be blind to these facts? Oh well, some
one has told the writer that the E. II. 4.
officials have taken umbrage at little crlt-
cism from "Summerton," and Will punish
! US by diverting their line from US. Know
ing personally the gentleman as well as DO
l don't believe a word OF it. They are
shrewd, practical, lerel-headed men who
have relegated to grown up boys the cut
nose-spite-face policy, and who, knowing q
good thing when they see it, mean to
| weigh well and consider carefully every
! contingency possibly affecting their impor-
tant enterprise.
The amount of business done at cross
road or private country store, while 1t may
be fattering testimonial to individual en-
ergy and thrift, is no guarantee OF perma-
| uency- Until something comes along-a b.
| r. for inStaEce-to hx and establish the loca-
ton of bushes, tlat business is done here
and there, as the case may be, according to
the caprice Of tickle fortune, whose smiles
may cause this or that place to blossom to-
day as the rose, and frown cpon It's efforts
tomorrow.
! Five hundred or even two thousand bales
of cotton bought at this or that place, have
made Of neither continuing city; for who
that is acquainted with the business Of our
country for the past 25 years, cannot bear
testimony to the shifting character Of trade,
even here in hoky-poky Summerton, "whose
annual sales amount now to perhaps 10 or
II bales of cotton, fortunes have been made
and-lost.
Five years ago one man bought the bulk
of the cotton at the Bluff that is now diy.d-
ed between three or four merchants scatter
ed over large area. Well now, what does
all this signify? Simply this: the business
is here awaiting development to ten fold
it's present proportions.
ll,,% S,, h1 o. ha q