SOUTH CAROLINA. 



743 



The railroad law was amended so as to give 

 the railroad commissioners power to establish 

 fares and rates, under certain limitations. 



The State tax for general purposes was fixed 

 at 5 mills for the ensuing year; a regular 

 2-niiIl tax for schools is also levied. 



Almost contemporaneously with the opening 

 of the session, the Srate Supreme Court, in the 

 case of Floyd vs. Perrin, rendered an impor- 

 tant decision, which nullified all acts thereto- 

 fore done by townships in issuing bonds and 

 assessing taxes for their payment to aid in the 

 construction of railroads. The court decided 

 that the act of 1882, and acts amendatory 

 thereto, by which counties and townships 

 were authorized to subscribe to the stock of 

 railroad corporations, and for that purpose 

 were declared to be bodies politic and corpo- 

 rate with necessary powers to carry out the 

 provisions of the act, were in violation of that 

 clause of the State Constitution which permits 

 the grant to the corporate authorities of town- 

 ships of the authority to assess taxes for cor- 

 porate purposes. By this decision the liabili- 

 ty of townldps for over $900,000 of bonds 

 issued by them was destroyed. As it was 

 evidently unjust that these bonds, purchased 

 in good faith by the bondholders, should be 

 repudiated, several measures were introduced 

 into the Legislature to restore the liability of 

 the townships. After considerable discussion 

 and much opposition, the Legislature finally 

 passed an act declaring that where the railroad 

 had already been constructed, the principal 

 sum of the township bonds issued should be a 

 debt of the township issuing them, for the 

 payment of which with interest a tax might 

 be levied. An important act to regulate and 

 protect primary elections, based upon the Xew 

 York law, was passed. The sum of $77,250, 

 received from the United States for rent of and 

 damage to the State Military Academy build- 

 ing by United States troops, was appropriated 

 to public uses. 



Education. The total enrollment of school 

 children for 1887-'88 was 193,434, an increase 

 of 18,417 over the previous year. Of these 

 children 103,334 were colored and 90.100 were 

 white. The average attendance for the year 

 was 139.557, an increase of 14,036 over 1886- 

 '87. There were 4,203 teachers employed, re- 

 ceiving $381,837.31 in salaries a gain of 209 

 in the number of teachers over the previous 

 year, but a decrease of $3.419.41 in salaries; 

 2,611 teachers were white and 1.592 were col- 

 ored; 2.242 were men and 1,961 women. In 

 one county, Georgetown, there were no public 

 schools during the year: twenty-one counties 

 report an increase in the number of public 

 schools and ten report a decrease. Eighty-six 

 new school-houses were erected during the 

 year at a cost of $31,486.22, so that the total 

 number of school-houses is 3,280, valued at 

 $435,455.36; 757 are log buildings, 1,856 

 frame buildings, and 33 brick or stone. The 

 statement of receipts for school purposes dur- 



ing the year were $466,619.78 ; the expendi- 

 tures, $430,669.28. 



The last session of the university was the 

 first under the new system requiring pay- 

 ment of tuition fees. The attendance was 

 large (170), and the number withdrawing dur- 

 ing the year was smaller than ever before. 

 At the end of the year 221 students were en- 

 rolled. Sixty-eight have asked for a remis>ion 

 of tuition fees. The university has 28 teach- 

 ers. The expenses for 1887-'88 amounted to 

 $50,230, of which $41,500 was paid in salaries. 



Claflin College, devoted to the education of 

 colored people, had an enrollment of 946. a 

 large gain over any previous year, with 55 

 teachers and superintendents. The State ap- 

 propriates $5,000 annually to this institution. 



Militia. Companies have been organized in 

 every county in the State but three, and inter- 

 est in military affairs is everywhere increasing. 

 There are now 92 companies in the State, with 

 341 officers and 4,743 men. A movement has 

 been made to uniform the troops with the 

 regular United States Army uniform, which is 

 furnished free by tht General Government. 

 Twelve companies have been so uniformed. 



State Institutions. The Penitentiary contained 

 at the close of the year 894 convicts, of whom 843 

 were colored and 51 white. Of these 217 are 

 at work on phosphate-mines near Summer- 

 ville, 199 are employed on shoe and hosiery 

 contracts inside the prison, and the others are 

 at work on the farms connected with the insti- 

 tution. All the convicts are now being worked 

 under the sole control and supervision of the 

 officers of the Penitentiary, and are paid for by 

 the contractors at a stated price per capita per 

 day. The prison is on a self-supporting basis, 

 and there was an excess of receipts over ex- 

 penditures for the year of $3,444.23. 



The State Lunatic Asylum has 680 inmates, 

 an increase of 31 over 1887, of which 393 are 

 white and 287 are colored. The present build- 

 ings are crowded. It is proposed to build a 

 separate hospital for the colored insane. 



There are 102 pupils in the Institution for 

 the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind. Here, too, a sep- 

 arate school for colored children is proposed. 



Pensions. Under the act of 1887, providing a 

 pension of five dollars a month for disabled 

 Confederate soldiers and the widows of those 

 killed in the Confederate service, an unexpect- 

 edly large number of claimants appeared. Up 

 to September 30, 2,623 applications had been 

 filed, of which the pension-board had approved 

 2,025, 1,492 being in favor of widows and 533 

 in favor of soldiers. In the payment of these 

 approved claims the annual appropriation of 

 $50,000 was not only expended, but the Gov- 

 ernor, in accordance with the law, borrowed 

 $50,000 additional, which was nearly exhausted 

 at the close of the year. 



Political. A Republican State Convention 

 met at Columbia on May 1, nominated dele- 

 gates to the National Convention, and adopted 

 a platform containing the following: 



