Year: 1878

A"o Ot"Ie VI Ooutn Caroina IS at this
present time in a deplorably auomalous con.
dition. We are miserably poor, aud ire.
coverably in debt, unless something can be
done in the near future to develop our ma.
terial resources. Our legislative fathers
have hibernated at the Capitol, aud mean.
time swung another milestone around tho
necks Of tho farmers by the passage of a
second lien law. The probability is, much
OF the spring may be consumed in ATTEMPT.
Ing to prove to the people that it is more
fepugnant to morality to repudiato dis.
honest debt than it is to pay an honest one
that had been, but never should have been


hated. Time rolls ON, the deLt in.
crcases, our net income is q myth, and to-
day more than ten per cent. of the cash
market value of all the realty of the State is
obligated by reason of our past misfortuues


There are times in the history of every
country when debt is really blessing :;
but it is only when that country is in a'con-
dition of growing and increasing prosperity
If South Carolina owes $40 1000, 900 and is
not producing more than that amount an
nual'y, in net capital, her debt increases an-
nually, and she becomes poorer and less able
to meet her obligations. Is not this our
condition to-day? But, IL With that debt
uth her shoulders, she should produce an
nualIy double that amount and thereby en-
hance the market value Of her productive
resources she would be annually richer and
the better able to pay the interest upon her
debt If this were her condition now, her
lands would be increasing in value, her
multifarious resources would be developed,
and as she would be gradually growing rich
er there would be no haste in paying off, or
concern rs to how she would ultimately
liguidate her debt.


From this standpoint the questions natu-
rally arise, "can South Carolina return to
prosperity, oppressed as she is, without as.
sistance from abroad? Are her present pop
ulation capable of developing her resources
to such an extent as to enable her to survive
her debt, and become again the community
of happy homes sho once was p


We do not believe she can Nor do we
consider the vital point at issue, the presence
or absence Of cash capital. Were there
millions of paper or metallic currency
brought to-day into the State, it would be
curse rather than blessing. We are an
agricultural people, and must continue so to
be for many years. The presence of, accu-
mulated bank capital would not benefit us
whit. We have never seen n farmer in
all our experience benefited as such by the
use Of borrowed funds from banks. Nei-
ther do we believe that the panacea for our
ills is to come from the influx of moneyed
men with their pockets full of rocks."-
These men would simply give employment
to surplus labor in localities, and it would
be years before the good effects would be-
come general.


The building of factories in Greenville
does not enhance the price of real estate in
Abbeville. Nor will factory in Sumter
make Williamsburg more prosperous, any
more than Graniteville has thrown sunshine
upon the African darkness Of Beaufort's
jungles.


All these investments arc to be cncour-
aged, for they improve localities and in the
aggregate increase The value our taxable
property. But they do not now, and never
will, until We are converted into manufac.
turing people, indicate general State pros
perity. And we are tired Of waiting for
prosperity to come through these channels
We believe it can be brought about in a
much more speedy way, and feel assured
that had the two last Legislatures directed
their work to this end, we would now be so
rapidly increasing in State wealth that we
would be better able in five years to liqui-
date the entire debt of Radical rascaiity
than we will ever be by spending weeks
and months discussing whether one or the
other of two policies is the honest one.
, One sort Of recuperation is by In,migra-
tion; not that sort of spasmodic, individual
effort that has been so frequently made since
the war, where one or two men with limited
means would attempt to procure few labor
ers for whom SO little was paid, or indeed
would be paid, that nothing but the scum
Of tho purlieus of our and foreign cities
could be obtained


But We mean such Immigration as is or
should be fostered by State legislation.


For instance, the exemption by State en-
aotment for term of years from taxation
Of all the improvements erected by immi-
grants, would be one Of the steps in the
right direction, or encouragement to colo
nies by extending State aid, as has been fire.
quontly done to railroads and othor corpora
tiohs Such assistance has never been
proffered by the State. Indeed we have
never SO much as published an official circu-
lar showing to the world that we were either
willing or anxious for our innumerable re.