744 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



After meeting all the demands of the fiscal 

 year, there is a cash balance in the Treasury, 

 available for the ensuing year's expenses, of 

 $98,017.47. The estimated annual expenses of 

 the government, including those of the Legis- 

 lature, amount to $305,460, which, with the 

 interest on the debt, $394,509.53, makes the 

 total amount to $699,969.53. 



Speaking of the indebtedness of South Car- 

 olina, Fisk and Hatch say : 



The interest on the State debt is promptly and regu- 

 larly paid every January and July on the consols 

 either at the State Treasury or in New York, and on 

 the " deficiencies " at the State Treasury. . . . The 

 present government seem to be in earnest in their in- 

 tention to keep faith with the public creditors. The 

 taxes are honestly levied and carefully collected. The 

 revenue is kept at a point where all claims can be un- 

 doubtedly met, and the affairs of the State are eco- 

 nomically administered. 



EDUCATIONAL. During the year there has 

 been a marked increase in the number of schools, 

 in the number of teachers employed, in the 

 school attendance, and in the school fund. The 

 number of schools is 3,183; of teachers em- 

 ployed, 3,413, of whom 1,287 were colored ; of 

 school attendance, 65,399 white, and 80,575 col- 

 ored. The exact amount of the school fund for 

 1882 has not been ascertained, as full reports of 

 the school taxes collected during the fiscal year 

 have not been made to the Comptroller- Gen- 

 eral; but sufficient is known to warrant the 

 conclusion that the fund is considerably in ex- 

 cess of that reported last year, which amounted 

 to $452,965.44. The average length of the 

 school session throughout the State has been 

 four and one half months. The school law of 

 1878 created a State Board of Examiners, con- 

 sisting of the State Superintendent of Educa- 

 tion and four persons appointed by the Gov- 

 ernor, by and with the advice and consent of 

 the Senate, who constitute an advisory body, 

 with power to review all decisions of the 

 county boards, to adopt rules for the govern- 

 ment of public schools, to prescribe rules for 

 the examination of teachers, to prescribe and 

 enforce the course of study, and to appoint in 

 each county two persons who, with the County 

 School Commissioners, shall constitute the 

 Board of Examiners of the several counties of 

 the State. Marked improvement is observable 

 in the character and attainments of the teachers, 

 owing to the good effects produced by the State 

 Normal Institutes one for white and one for 

 colored teachers maintained in part by State 

 appropriations and in part by the trustees of 

 the Peabody fund. By constitutional provis- 

 ion it is made the duty of the Boards of County 

 Commissioners of the several counties to levy 

 and collect an annual tax of not less than two 

 mills on the dollar of all the taxable property 

 in their respective counties for the support of 

 the public schools. The proceeds of this tax 

 and of the poll-tax constitute the school fund. 

 Since the adoption of this amendment of the 

 Constitution the school-tax has steadily in- 

 creased every year, owing in great measure to 



the increasing wealth and prosperity of the 

 State, and partly to a more rigid and honest 

 collection of the poll-tax. The opportunities 

 now offered for higher education in South Car- 

 olina are greater than at any time in her past 

 history. The South Carolina College and the 

 State Military Academy have been placed, by 

 liberal appropriations by the General Assem- 

 bly, upon a broad and liberal basis, and a large 

 number of students are now in attendance at 

 both institutions. The branch of the univer- 

 sity, known as the South Carolina College, sit- 

 uated at Columbia, is endowed with the por- 

 tion of the fund donated by Congress which is 

 set apart for the benefit of white students. It 

 was reorganized in the spring of this year by 

 the establishment of five additional professor- 

 ships, making ten in all, and one of which is 

 agriculture and horticulture. It opened with 

 one hundred and forty-eight students in at- 

 tendance. Governor Hagood made the follow- 

 ing suggestions in his last message to the Leg- 

 islature in regard to the course of instruction 

 to be pursued : 



The development hereafter to "be given to this insti- 

 tution should, in order to meet the just expectations 

 and demands of the age and the requirements of the 

 Act of Congress, to which it owes all of its permanent 

 endowment, be largely in the direction of applied 

 science. It should be made the home of the practical 

 arts and sciences as well as of the classics. It should 

 be able to send forth the youth of the State well 

 equipped for the practical pursuits and avocations of 

 life, and hence technical training should be as anx- 

 iously provided for as liberal culture. 



The agricultural department should be so developed 

 as to materially aid in building up the agricultural in- 

 terests of the State. Not only should the opportunity 

 be given to the rising generation of farmers to acquire 

 the scientific principles upon which their calling is 

 based, but the farmers themselves should have the 

 benefit of the experiments and tests of a Avell-con- 

 ducted experimental farm located in their midst. 



The Military Academy, which, previous to 

 the war, was second only in thoroughness of 

 instruction to that at West Point, and whose 

 active operations were interrupted in 1865 by 

 the Federal Government taking possession of 

 its building, known as the Citadel, was re- 

 opened on the 2d of October, the building 

 having been restored to the State in March. 

 There are 177 cadets in attendance, of whom 

 68 two from each county are maintained 

 by the State as beneficiaries, and are required 

 for two years after their graduation to teach 

 in the public schools of the county from which 

 they receive their appointment. They are 

 taught, clothed, subsisted, and supplied with 

 the necessary academic appliances free of 

 charge. The other students pay $300 per 

 annum, which is the estimated cost of the 

 institution of each cadet. The Academy has 

 been made by law a branch of the univer- 

 sity. In addition to these State institutions, 

 there are also in active operation the College 

 of Charleston, Furman university at Green- 

 ville, Erskine College at Due West, Wofford 

 College at Spartanburg, Newberry College at 

 Newberry, and Adger College at Walhalla. 



