SOUTH CAROLINA 



5456 



SOUTH CAROLINA 



Size and Location. Lying on the Atlantic 

 coast, between North Carolina on the north 

 and Georgia on the south, the state covers a 

 triangular area of 30,989 square miles, of which 

 494 square miles are water. It is about seven 

 times the size of the state of Connecticut and 

 ranks thirty-ninth in area among the states. 



People. With the exception of Mississippi, 

 South Carolina is the only state in the Union 

 in which the colored population exceeds the 

 white. In 1910 the total number of inhabit- 

 ants was 1,515,400; of these 835,843 were ne- 

 groes. In 1914 the negro population exceeded 

 the white by 165,813. The total number of in- 

 habitants January 1, 1917, was estimated to be 

 1,634,340. There is a very small percentage of 

 foreigners. Over four-fifths of the population 

 live on farms and plantations or in rural vil- 

 lages. Charleston is the only city having a 

 population of over 50,000. Other large cities 

 are Columbia, the capital, Spartanburg, Green- 

 ville, Anderson and Sumter, each of which is 

 described under its title. 



The Methodist and Baptist denominations are 

 the largest, followed by the Presbyterian, Lu- 

 theran, Roman Catholic and Episcopal bodies. 



Education. The predominance of the negro 

 population has presented great difficulties in 

 the matter of organizing an efficient educa- 

 tional system, and the illiteracy in the state 

 is greater than in any of the other common- 

 wealths but Louisiana. However, the fact that 

 these . problems are being handled successfully 

 is shqwn in the statement that the illiteracy 

 decreased from 35.9 per cent in 1900 to 25.7 

 per cent in 1910. The present system was es- 

 tablished in 1868, but the high schools were 

 not organized until 1907. Public education is 

 administered by a state superintendent and a 

 board of education consisting of the governor 

 and seven members appointed by him. School . 

 attendance was not compulsory until 1915, but 

 there had been a law prohibiting the employ- 

 ment of illiterate children in factories and mines. 

 Separate schools are provided for all colored 

 pupils. 



The Normal Industrial, Agricultural and Me- 

 chanical College for the colored at Orangeburg, 

 the Winthrop Normal and Industrial College 

 at Rock Hill, the state university at Colum- 

 bia, a military academy at Charleston, and 

 Clemson Agricultural College at Clemson are 

 maintained by the state. There are many 

 other institutions of higher education, includ- 

 ing Charleston City College, Erskine College 

 at Due West, Wofford College at Spartanburg, 



Newberry College at Newberry, Presbyterian 

 College of South Carolina at Clinton, and Fur- 

 man University at Greenville; for the colored, 

 there are Allen University and Benedict Col- 

 lege at Columbia, Claflin University at Orange- 

 burg, Ferguson-Williams College at Abbeville, 

 Friendship College at Rock H.ll, Harbison Col- 

 lege at Ermo and Vorhees College at Denmark. 



Charities and Corrections. A state board of 

 charities and corrections was created in 1915. 

 The public institutions for the dependent, de- 

 fective and delinquent include an asylum for 

 the insane, a Confederate infirmary, a reforma- 

 tory for negro boys and a penitentiary, all at 

 Columbia; an industrial school at Florence; an 

 institution for the deaf, dumb and blind at 

 Cedar Springs. There is a state tuberculosis 

 sanitarium, but it is not a charitable institu- 

 tion. In 1913 contract labor was abolished in 

 the penitentiary. There was notable legisla- 

 tion in 1915 relating to the care of the insane, 

 and an appropriation of $600,000 for a period 

 of four years was provided. 



The Land. Except for a short distance in 

 the north, the wide coastal plain is bordered 

 by low islands, penetrated by winding creeks. 



"Sinuous southward and sinuous northward, the 



shimmering band 



Of the sand beach fastens the fringe of marsh 

 to the folds of the land." 



Along the southern coast there are dense groves 

 of palmettos and magnolias. The vast marshes 

 of reeds or of live oaks, gum trees and cypress, 

 draped with moss and interwoven with vines, 

 meet a sandy region known as the Pine Bar- 

 rens, which rises gradually to the broken val- 

 leys and wooded uplands of the Piedmont plain, 

 the western section of the state. This section 

 rises abruptly above the coastal plain, and its 

 forest-clad ridges reach an elevation of 1,000 

 feet in the northwest, where they meet the 

 wooded foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. 

 These beautiful hills and mountains are cov- 

 ered with a luxuriant undergrowth of azaleas, 

 honeysuckle and jessamine, and echo with the 

 songs of orioles, mocking birds and vireos. 

 Their loftiest peaks, Rich Mountain (3,569 

 feet), Mount Pinnacle and Caesar's Head, ris- 

 ing about 3,000 feet, are in the northwest cor- 

 ner, where the Blue Ridge Mountains form the 

 boundary with North Carolina. This region is 

 the summer resort of the state. 



Rivers. The northeast corner of the state is 

 drained by the Great Pedee, which is fed by 

 the Little Pedee, Waccamaw and Lynches riv- 

 ers, and empties into Winyah Bay at George- 



