Year: 1879




prepared to meet fully your responsibilities
and to do all that you can for the promotion
and-Seffafe oe.-the State, and to this end
you shall have my most cordla1 cooperation
NV love for South Carolina, always strong
has grown with my growth and strengthened
with my strength, until now it is one of the
strongest feelings in my heart, and l. assure
you / am prepared to unite with you, in ar
earnest effort to accomplish during this the
last session of the General Assembly Of the
present administration, such results as may
rebound to her lasting prosperity, honor ano
glory, and earnestly hope that such may be
its consummation.


In addition to the ordinary and daily duties
of the Executive, some Of which have been
difficult and perplexing, the Constitution pro
vides that the Governor "shall, from time to
time, give to the General Assembly informa
tion of the condition of the State, and recon-
mend to their consideration, such measures as
he shall Judge necessary or expedlent:" Ihls
message is intended to meet this constitutional
duty, to wit: To give you information as to
the condition of the State, and to recommend
the adoption, on your part, of such measures
as, in my judgment, may be promotive OF the
common good.


In proceeding to discharge this two fold
duty, you will permit me, first, briefly to call
your attention, by way of information, to sew.
eral matters, which seem to me, should afford
abundant cause for great congratulation, not
only on the part of the General Assembly,
but of the whole State, and especially on the
part of the General Assembly, for the reason
that some of these matters have been the di-
rect results of its previous legislation.


First, you will permit me to congratulate
you and the country, on the evidences of ag-
ricultural industry which have come up from
all parts of the State Agriculture, as all
understand, is the most important of a peoples
various interests-it is, in fact, the ground
work of all else. Let it languish and every.
thing else languishes let it flourish, and eve.
rything else Aourishes. When in successful
operation, it gives rise to all other improve
ments. 1t necessitates the building of rail-
roads, and the establishment of manufactu-
ring enterprises. 1t creates commerce, and
extended educational facilities are its legiti-
mate results. During the past Summer, this
great interest was threatened, at one time,
with serious and widespread disaster, by an
impending drouth, but at length the showers
came, and the rains descended, and this dan
ger. comparatively, passed of, and our people,
taken as whole, have been blessed with a
reasonable harvest. Their garners are gen.
orally full. have taken some pains to OBJ
tain information on this subject, and the re-
ports from the different counties show that the
people, of all classes and conditions, have been
I'D, ont
prising, in this department of industry, during
The current year, than for many years past
and I am rejoiced to believe that the new re-
lations of labor and capital, which our sudden
Transformation imposed upon US, as a people,
are beginning to adjust themselves more har-
moniously ; we have certainly touched bottom
and the rebound has commenced. These re.
ports further show that while cotton still
forms the main product, yet that the people,
all over the State, are beginning largely to
diversity their crops. More small grain, es-
pecially wheat and oats, has been cultivated
and harvested, at least in upper South Caro-.
lima, during the past year, than at any period
since the war, and greater attention is begin
ming to be paid to grasses and cattle, and the
people are generally, and wisely, | think,
coming to the conclusion that while their soil
is we'll adapted to the production of the great
staple cotton, and that this product should not
be neglected, yet that their corn cribs and
meat houses should be built on their own
lands, and under the protection of their own
eyes. When this practice is more generally
reestablished and fully adopted, our future,
agriculturally, think, will become more Sc
cure, and, while affording all of our people
the means of comfortable living, it will
largely tend to relieve them from those fear
-ful pecuniary disasters which not unfrequent-
ly occur among every people relying upon
but one industry and the cultivation of a
single staple.


In this connection, it affords me pleasure to
state that the law, known as the stock law,
passed at the last session, has fully realized
the hopes of its friends in those counties where
it has been put into operation. Of course, a
measure so radical in its character, and so
suddenly adopted, would meet with some op.
position, and, as was expected, some complaint
was made against this but this was immedi-
ately upon the passage of the Act, and before
the people had prepared themselves to meet
it. Since then it has given as nearly univer-
sal satisfaction as any law ever enacted, and
the concurring testimony, from all quarters, IS
that it is the greatest blessing to agriculture
ever bestowed by the legislature. 1t for you
to determine, whether or not, this law should
be extended to the counties not now embraced,
upon such information as you may receive
from the representatives Of these counties.


1t gives me pleasure, too, to state that the
fiery elements of party contention which have
hitherto burned in our midst and kept our
people apart, at least during election years,
and which, on account of the peculiar compo-
sition of our body polite, threatened serious
consequences in the past, if not entirely ex-
tinguished, have been held in allegiance du-
ring the present year, and our whole popula-
tion, free from those discordant antagonisms
which seemed likely to occur, have united in
a common effort for the common good. There
is apprehension, however, that in the near tu.
ture all this will be changed, and that in the
election of 1880 turmoil and party strife will
again rise to the surface. hope not. 1t is
true in that election, involving as it will, to a
great extent the future policy of the general
government, and arousing, as it must, the un.
holy ambition of the political aspirant as well
as the noble impulses of the patriotic citizen
some excitement must ensue, and we may eX'
pect that every effort will be made for party
purposes and success, outside of our limits, to
keep this excitement stirred and burning
My hope, however, is that the citizens of this
State are beginning to feel that we constitute
but one people; that our prosperity is bound
up with each other; that we are all Carolin
ians and that, while we recognize the gener
al government as supreme in its orbit, and, tc