

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. (SOUTH CAROLINA.) 



797 



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and improvements, excepting buildings; $26,955,- 

 670, value of buildings. The labor to work the 

 farms cost $6,107,700. 



Of the farms, a large majority, 112,822, were 

 devoted to cotton-raising, and these were worked 

 by 46,137 whites and 66,685 negroes. The growth 

 of the mill industry, drawing labor away from 

 the fields, has retarded progress in farming. 



The report of the cotton-crop of 1901-'02 cred- 

 ited this State with 925,000 bales, against 911,000 

 the year next preceding. The consumption in the 

 State mills was 614,065 bales, an increase of 103,- 

 579. The number of mills was 134, with 57,852 

 looms and 2,179,328 spindles. 



The tobacco-crop of 1899 was valued at $1,297,- 

 293, the State standing tenth in the value of the 

 crop. The value of the sweet-potato crop the 

 same year was $1,528,205. 



South Carolina claims to have the only tea 

 plantation in America, and its product is said 

 to bring the highest price of any sold here. 



From a view of mill construction in 1901 it ap- 

 pears that there were established here 6 textile 

 mills, with 1,200 looms and 62,748 spindles. In 

 the first eleven months of 1902 the Secretary of 

 State issued charters and commissions to 18 new 

 cotton-mills, with a total capitalization of $3- 

 880,000. 



In the first half of the year 4 new cottonseed- 

 mills were established, with $110,000 capital. 



The question of child labor in the mills is at- 

 tracting much interest. The growth of the cot- 

 ton-mill industry has been phenomenal from 

 $2,500,000 capital in all textile industries twenty 

 years ago to $35,000,000 at present. And this 

 has drawn attention and raised the question how 

 much cheap labor has had to do with the rapid 

 progress. Naturally those interested in the pros- 

 perity of the mills do not credit the opponents of 

 child labor with motives of. unmixed philan- 

 thropy. So far it seems that there has been no 

 State legislation against it; a bill introduced at 

 the session this year was defeated. According to 

 the mill-owners, the number of children under 

 twelve employed is less than 4 per cent. Twelve 

 years is, however, a rather low age limit. 



The royalties from the phosphate industry this 

 year were a little less than those of 1901 about 

 $25,OOQ. 



The State-House. This building, so long un- 

 finished, was completed and accepted in May. 

 The recent outlay upon it was $173,623. 



Railroads. The mileage of the railroads is 

 more than 3,000, the gross earnings nearly $12,- 

 000,000, and the income, less operating expenses 

 and taxes, near $4,000.000. 



The alleged discrimination of the Southern 

 Railway Company against the city of Charleston 

 had a thorough hearing and investigation, result- 

 ing in a decision not wholly in favor of either side. 



The Southern Railway has taken in four roads, 

 all but one of which were already operated by 

 it. The Atlantic Coast Line and the Plant sys- 

 tem were consolidated also. 



Banks. The aggregate capital of new banks 

 organized this year, up to Dec. 13, is $671,000. 



Insurance. The preliminary report of the 

 American insurance companies doing business in 

 the State shows a total of premiums in 1901 of 

 $941,746, and of losses paid $534.712. The for- 

 eign companies received $316,117.80 in premiums, 

 .nd paid $198,826.47 in losses. 



Lawlessness. Four negroes were implicated 

 in the murder of a woman at New Road, near 

 Charleston, in June. One was killed while trying 

 to escape arrest; two of the others were lynched. 



An atrocious murder was committed near Troy 



in December. W. K. Jay, a young farmer, was 

 shot in his own yard by a negro or his wife, both 

 of them living on the place. Both of the negroes 

 were lynched at midnight. 



Legislative Session. The General Assembly 

 was in session from Jan. 14 to Feb. 22. W. F. 

 Stevenson was Speaker of the House. 



At the opening of the session the Governor 

 sent in vetoes of two of the acts of the session 

 of 1901. One was a local bill; the other was the 

 act repealing the antifree-pass act. 



The dispensary officials were all reelected: H. 

 H. Crum for Commissioner, Leon J. Williams for 

 chairman, and H. H. Evans and A. F. H. Dukes 

 members of the Board of Control. 



Ira B. Jones was reelected Associate Justice of 

 the Supreme Court. For Circuit Judges, Charles 

 G. Dantzler, James Aldrich, R. O. Purdy, R. C. 

 Watts, G. W. Gage, and J. C. Klugh were elected. 



W. B. Love and W. D. Mann were reelected 

 directors of the Penitentiary; and John T. Sloan 

 and Robert MacFarland trustees of the South 

 Carolina College; J. E. Breazeale and Willie 

 Jones were elected trustees of Winthrop College; 

 and for trustees of Clemson College, L. A. Sease, 

 Augustine T. Smythe, W. D. Evans, and John S. 

 Garris were elected; and for trustees of the 

 State Colored College A. L. Dukes and Cole T. 

 Blease. Miss L. H. Laborde was elected to fill 

 the unexpired term of the former State librarian. 



The acts and joint resolutions of the session 

 numbered 175. 



The congressional districts were redivided. 



A constitutional amendment was proposed. It 

 is for the relief of townships that issued bonds 

 for railroads that have not been built or have 

 been abandoned. The amendment provides for 

 destroying the corporate existence of the town- 

 ships, abolishing all township affairs, and remov- 

 ing all corporate agents. The United States 

 courts have held that the obligation is legal, so 

 that the townships saw no other way to obtain 

 relief. Eight townships were affected. 



An act " to further define connecting lines of 

 common carriers and fix their liabilities " was 

 passed. The object of the act is to facilitate the 

 collection for loss or damages to freight by ship- 

 pers and consignees, by requiring the delivering 

 carrier to make settlement, instead of compelling 

 the one who claims from finding out the particu- 

 lar carrier by which the loss or damage was sus- 

 tained. 



Other acts affecting railroads were: To pro- 

 vide the measure of damage to which any com- 

 mon carrier may be held for the conversion to 

 its own use of any property held by it on con- 

 signment or in course of consignment; to incor- 

 porate the French Broad and Southern Railroad- 

 Company; to authorize the consolidation or 

 merger of the capital stocks, franchises, and 

 properties of the Asheville and Spartanburg Rail- 

 road Company, the South Carolina and Georgia 

 Railroad Company, the South Carolina and 

 Georgia Railroad Extension Company, and the 

 Carolina Midland Railway Company under the 

 laws of this State, and to authorize and empower 

 such consolidated company to make a lease of its 

 railroad properties and franchises to the South- 

 ern Railway Company; and to require electric 

 street-railway companies to provide cars with 

 vestibules for the protection of motormen. 



The existing road law having been pronounced 

 unconstitutional, in that it had different service 

 on the roads for different counties, an amend- 

 ment left the exact number of days to the county 

 commissioners, and fixed a maximum and a mini- 

 mum service. 



