Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1913-04-02
The State Has Rendered Valuable Service

The State Has Rendered Valuable Service
If memory serves US right, several
years ago while heated municipal
campaign was on in Columbia, The
State criticised the methods of certain
individuals who took an extremely ac-
tive part in the campain. At the time
these persons claimed they had been
misrepresented and have since brought
suit against The State Company for
damages alleged to have resulted to
them because of the alleged false
sta tements which appeared in the
columns of The State. Several days
ago dispatch from Columbia announc-
ed that a verdict of S2O,OO had been
awarded the plaintiffs in this suit.
Whether the findings of the lower
court will be sustained or reversed by
the higher tribunal will be determined
later. We do not know anything as
the merits of the claim of the men
who allege injury, but we are among
those who have only hearty good
wishes for The State. We do not want
to see it handicapped in its work for
the development of South Carolina.
Within the past two decades no indi-
vidual or set of individuals, no organi-
zation or institution, has done more
for the upbuilding of South Carolina
along all lines than has The State
newspaper, which has been the pro-
duct of the genius of the Gonzales
brot hers. In the face of we'll founded
co mpetition, with limited means at its
back and with unfavorable conditions
on every side, The State came into
existence in the early nineties. Its
fou nders could never have overcome
the discouragements and the obstacles
that had to be surmounted in placing
the paper on a sound and permanent
basis had they not been spurred on by
sense of duty-lndeed by strong
conviction-that Columbia, the capital
of the state, needed strong, fearless,
uncompromising newspaper, such as
they hoped to make, and have since made,
of the then newly founded journal.
What would Columbia be to-day had
it not been for the ceaseless and un-
selfish efforts of the men who have
made The State? Instead Of progress
sive city which has grown by leaps and
bounds, with real estate values rival
ing those of cities more than ten times
its size, Columbia would to-day, COM
paratively speaking, be only small
town eking out an uncertain existence.
What would have become of South
Carolina politicallyin the past ten or
twenty years had it not been for the
work of The State? Between the dema-
gogues and the grafters, had they been
unexposed and unrestrained, there
would be littlu left but shame and
dishonor.
We would not have the enlarged
state fair, the result of it's work in
in stimulating farmers; we would not
have had the National Corn Exposi-
ton, the result of it's exploiting South
Cardinals resources to the entire coun-
try; we would not now rank as the
second state in manufacturing cotton,
this being the result of its development
along industrial lines, had it not been
for the ceaseless efforts of the makers
of The State for the past two decades.
The Advertiser has only touched upon
some of the most notable achievements
of The State. Scores of things could
be mentioned in detail did our limited
space permit.
Just as the acorn through the subtle
forces of nature unfolds itself and de.
velops into the majestic oak, so has
The State newspaper through the
ceaseless efforts of its founders grown
from small beginning into a modern
journal of great power and usefulness.
Long may it live and may the people
of South Carolina learn to fully appre-
ciate its worth!