SOUTH CAROLINA. 



691* 



the State board took charge in localities where 

 there were no local boards, but were hampered, in 

 their work, the Governor says, by want of funds 

 and of sufficient authority; and the epidemic had 

 not, been wholly conquered at the close of the year. 



Industries and Resources. During the cotton 

 year ending Aug. 31, 1898, new spindles to the 

 "number of 211,532 were added to the factory facili- 

 ties of the State, and new looms to the number of 

 7,950. 



The cotton crop is given as 1,003,000 bales, and 

 the corn crop as 17.500,000 bushels. 



In an article on the resources of the State, the 

 president of the Agricultural College for colored 

 students, at Orangeburg, gives a partial list of the 

 water powers, showing a total of 33,261 horse power 

 developed and 74,617 undeveloped. 



The report of the phosphate inspector says that 

 the several companies lost in production about 

 8,000 tons by two disastrous storms in August and 

 October and in all ways about 25.000 tons : but 

 still the total production was 99,315 tons, an in- 

 crease over 1897 of 23,002 tons. The total ship- 

 ments were 94,098.24, a decrease of 1,138.96. The 

 inspector urges a small appropriation to be used 

 for examining for phosphate deposits the beds of 

 the creeks intersecting the marsh lands of the 

 State. 



The Dispensary. The Governor's message has 

 a great deal on this subject, from which the follow- 

 ing details are taken : 



" This method of controlling the liquor traffic 

 has now been in force for five and a half years, 

 and the protracted and bitter struggle between 

 its friends and its foes has reached a critical 

 stage. At the last session of the Legislature the 

 litigation instituted in the United States Circuit 

 Court by Vandercook had reached the Supreme 

 Court of the United States, on appeal from Judge 

 Simonton's decision. For almost a year there had 

 been absolute paralysis of the dispensary law, so far 

 as its punitive features were concerned, and the 

 constables had all been discharged. The dispen- 

 saries had been forced to fight free whisky on terms 

 of absolute equality; yet, strange to say, they 

 fought it successfully; for while the profits were 

 reduced by this lawless competition, there was still 

 enough business to make the dispensary self-sup- 

 porting and leave a small margin of profit. In 

 May last the Supreme Court at Washington handed 

 down its decision, sustaining the constitutionality 

 of the dispensary law in all its features, with the 

 limitation only as to importation for personal use. 

 The constabulary was reorganized and put to work, 

 and from that time to this the force has been kept 

 busy trying to destroy the unlawful traffic." 



The report of the Board of Control says, in part : 



" During Mr. Traxler's administration, covering a 

 period of nineteen months, the net profits to the 

 State, counties, and towns amounted to $125,328.- 

 40. During the administration of Mr. Mixson, 

 covering a period of fourteen months, the net prof- 

 its to the State, counties, and towns amounted to 

 $313,974.08. Total profits for both of these per- 

 iods, covering thirty-three months, $439,302.48. 

 During the incumbency of the State Board of Con- 

 trol, a period covering thirty-three months, the 

 total net profits to the State, counties, and towns 

 have amounted to $853,219.95. This result has 

 been obtained at a considerably reduced scale of 

 profits and prices to consumers, with a volume of 

 business increased but little." 



Railroads. The Railroad Commission says in 

 its report : 



"At the last session of the General Assembly an 

 act was passed putting the express and telegraph 

 companies under the supervision and control of the 



Railroad Commission, and requiring t hi* Uurd t<> 

 make rules for the government of, and rates of toll 

 to be charged by, these companies on all business 

 done in this State. Under this law the following 

 tariff was issued, to be used by the express company 

 of this State, which makes a considerable reduction 

 in the express rates: The rate from 1 to 25 miles 

 was reduced from 40 cents to 30 cents per hundred, 

 and the 50-cent rate reduced to 40 cents, making 

 a uniform tariff for all shipjiers." 



Statistics are given of many of the roads. The 

 Atlantic Coast Line of South' Carolina has 928.91 

 miles operated in the State; its net income for the 

 year ending June 30, 1898, was $186,319.28, an in- 

 crease of $128,109.22 over 1897. The Southern 

 Railway's income decreased from $710.144,19 in 



1897 to $606,344.89 in 1898. The South Carolina 

 and Georgia has been greatly improved since 1894. 

 The Charleston and Savannah, 102 miles, with 

 branch roads of over 40 miles, is in good condition 

 and is constantly improving. The Florida Central 

 and Peninsular has 103 miles of track in the State ; 

 its net income shows an increase over 1897 of $19,- 

 344.49. The Columbia, Newberry and Laurent, 

 having 75 miles, shows an increase of $3,642.26. 

 The Seaboard Air Line has 136A miles in the State, 

 and the net earnings show a slight increase. The 

 Carolina and Northwestern had a net income in 



1898 of $10,554.37, an increase of $282.93 over 1897. 

 The Lancaster and Chester, 28 miles, has been im- 

 proved under the present management. The Caro- 

 lina Midland had in 1898 a net income of $14,921.- 

 45, an increase of $678.87. It is 72 miles long, 17 

 miles have been finished this year. The George- 

 town and Western Carolina shows a falling off of 

 $439.18 in its net income. The Wilson and Sura- 

 merton has 50.92 miles. Its net income for 1898 

 was $14.907.68, an increase of $204.81. The Blue 

 Ridge, 34 miles long, is the only one in the State 

 now in the hands of a receiver. 



Signers of the Ordinance of Secession.. At 

 the last session of the General Assembly permission 

 was granted to a committee of ladies to place a 

 mural tablet in the Statehouse commemorating the 

 signers of the ordinance of secession ; and the tab- 

 let was unveiled Dec. 20, the thirty-eighth anniver- 

 sary of the signing. 



Mob Law. In a report giving the number of 

 lynchings in each State in 1898, South Carolina was 

 credited with 14 executions by mobs. In his mes- 

 sage the Governor recommended that it should be 

 made a crime for an officer to allow a prisoner to 

 be taken from him by violence; that any county 

 where a lynching has occurred should be liable to 

 the heir of the victim in the sum of $5,000; and 

 that men convicted of participation in such an act 

 should be disfranchised. 



A most brutal and unprovoked murder was com- 

 mitted Feb. 22 by a mob at Lake City, Williams- 

 burg County. A negro, Fraser Baker, wjis appoint- 

 ed postmaster of the town in July, 1897. There 

 was nothing to be said against his character, but 

 indignation was expressed at the appointment of a 

 negro, and the United States Senators of the State 

 and one of the members of Congress had asked, it is 

 said, to have him removed. He had been fired at 

 twice by concealed assassins, and on the night of 

 Feb. 21-22 a mob surrounded his house, poured oil 

 upon it, and set it on fire. When the family at- 

 tempted to escape, the murderers opened fire upon 

 them, killing the postmaster and his youngest 

 child, two years old, and wounding his wife. son. 

 and two daughters so that they are maimed for 

 life. Six men were arrested at Lake City, Jinn- . - 

 by United States authorities, charged with being 

 the leaders of the mob. They were taken to Charles- 

 ton and bound over for trial after a prelimin- 



