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VOL. XLIII. WINNSBORO S. C., WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 1887. NO, 46. ? ?MBJiWiin.ymi?Tiwii'.'Wi'L^ii iif i 'JIIIMTCHTKH //..TXa RAILROAD DISCRIMINATION. | HOW IT AFFECTS TIJE DEVELOPMENT . OF SOUTH CAROLINA. The Address Delivered liefore the State I Press Association, by Win. M. Joues. 1 Esq., Editor of the Spartanburg Herald, j . The press of South Carolina has ! ^ strongly counselled diversity of crops j W and diversity of industry. It Las done j r so forcibly, repeatedly, almost unani- 1 mously, but without avail. It is not ray ! purpose to-night to adduce arguments j to support the wisdom of this counsel, "* '' 1- ? Uflf. -ry\adc\ if DUX ZO LUC VVUlUJJ. nan xi-iCKviw AW so barren of results and to seek a remedy. UNJUST RAILROAD DISCRIMINATION. The prime cause of our continuance in our pernicious course lies in the policy of the railroads of unjust discrimination against our home industries in favor of their foreign competitors. HOME AND "FOREIGN" FREIGHTS. It appears on the stirface that the j prosperity of a railroad depends on the *^^>rosperity of the country which sup- j ports it. This is a partial fallacy. It is' the interest of the people to bny nothing "wixicii til;j can ma&e prpurooiy; nw w the interest of the railroads fur the people to buy everything ubroaa, and raise cotton only to pay the debt; to have no local factories, to produce nothing which ! they consume. Lefore the War of Secession, when the people produced what they used and used what they made, there was little demand for railroad service, and their traffic was light. 2s ow, when we bring our meat from Ohio, our corn from Indiana, our flour from Illinois, our molasses from Louisiana, our shoes from Massachusetts and our clothing from New York, and when we ship our whole cotton crop to pay the debt, the traffic of the transportation companies has become immense. The production of these things at home ?r.hft brcsiness 1 Yt VUiu ~ ? of the railroads. Hence it is the interest of- the railroads to suppress all home manuf&ctures and shut up agriculture to cottott planting alone, in t his class of interests the railroad managers have not scrupled to sacrifice the welfare of the, State. They have accomplished their purpos ?by an exhorbitant and outrageous discrimination against State enterprises in favor of their foreign competitors. CRUSHING THE HOiEE 31ABEETS. In this day of sharp rivalry the margin of profits, -without which no industry can live, has become so narrow that the freight rates control its existence. A low freight may foster, u high freight will strangle it But profits rest even more absolutely on competition, and this, too, depends on the arbitrary will of the railroad rulers. I may secure a just and reasonable freight rate under wliich my busi? ness can urosoer: if railroads please to r favor my competitor with lower rates lie can undersell me, draw away my custom, ruin my business and drive me from the field. It is thus that the giant Standard Oil monopoly was built up and its struggling rivals crushed to death. It is thus that the giant factories of the North are able to strangle our straggling factories in their infancy. 'The discrimination practiced against the shippers in South Carolina is enough to paralyze almost any enterprise. SOJEE PRACTICAL EdXSTBATIOXS. gji^ A gentleman contemplated the estabWr Kahment of a fertilizer factory in Spartanburg. It is found that the freight. " rate from Spartanburg to "VVeilford, dis- j tant on the Piedmont Air Line 12 miles, j is SI7.50 a carload, or $1.4.6 a mile; the i ^^^fcrate from Kichmond, Va., is 10 cents a j HPxhile, a discrimination of nearly 1,400 I IDer eent. in favor of the foreign shipper, j B There could be no claim by the railroad | B in this esse.tor.extra expense in hand- j W ling, for the shipper is required to load j I his own car, and the railroad is to haul! V it at its convenience. The rate to j Pacolet, on the Spartanburg and Union j ' ^pad, 12 miles distant, is the same, j ~^rfT7.60 a carload. L^^yve have in Spartanburg a struggling j door .and blind factory. The freight to j Greenville, thirty-two miles distant, on j the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line is j 532 a carload, or $1 a mile. The same j freight from New Yoik to Greenville is j 12 cents per mile. These instances are not exceptional, j and I have mentioned Spartanburg only j because the rates there were more easily j attainable. Otner cities will be found j in like circumstance, and other rates in > rt^c+at?/*pk f?01lld be ' HAC Jk/lVUViUVil. J.iiwwv.-vv- ~ multiplied indefinite]}-. By reference to the report of the South Carolina, railroad commission we find that the average rate . charged to foreign shipper, Greenville and Columbia lUilroad, for each to.i of j freight was nine miils per mile; for J South Carolina shipper to home con- j sumers fiftj-six mills per mile, a discrimination of nearly GOu per cent, against our South Carolina producers. Is it strange that in the face of such discrimination our local enterprises languish and die, and foreign factories usurp our home market? SPECIAL BATES FOP. COTTON FACTORIES. There is one class of factories which have been fostered by the railroads, and they have prospered. They are the cotton factories. Their products are not specially intended for home consumption. Their goods are shipped principally to foreign markets, and their growth does not diminish railroad business, but rather stimulates the productho vail LlVll fi. LXJLV VW -LtV,ilVV JLM.X roads have lent them a strong helping hand. Their finished cloth is shippea from Greenville to New York at $10.80 a Ton; the raw cotton is charged 813.60 a ton. The same goods, shipped by a I^Jkerchant to New York, would be ^Rnarged $26.60 a ton. The railroads Br have favored cotton factories, and they h have prospered; the have discouraged Bw all other factories, and they have perW THE ADVANTAGES OF TilE SOUTH. The South has natural superiority over the North for manufacture. We have cheap food, cheap labor, mild climatt and unlimited water-power, which i> never blocked with ice. Great as these natural advantages are they ere more than over-balanced by the acquired advantages of the North. They have cheap coal, skilled labor, experience in management, ample capital seeking invest menu at a low rate ot interest- liiej ^ have giant establishments, filled with B| the most improved labor-saving machin?y ery and run on a scale where expenses m are reduced to a minimum. They are f located in a dense population who supply a local demand for their products. They are located near the great commercial emporiums and can place their surplus products on the market at the leas' possible expense, and they have ver\ 1 favorable freight rates. Taese advantages enable the great factories of the North to manufacture goods cheaper j than our infant factories can possibly do. \ So great are these advantages that | even John Stuart Mill, the great apostle i of free trade, admits that some governmental protection is necessary to the establishment of factories when they have to compete with a country whose factoi ries- have an established business and whose processes of work have become traditional. The infant factories of the North required and secured a heavy protection against the established factories of England. To-day they bear to us the same relation which the old Eng| iish factories bore to them a century : ago. Our factories cannot hope for the ! protection which would build tin m up. | Both the free trade sentiment of our I t>eoDie and the Constitution of the I United States prohibit any import duty ! against Northern goods. j But surely it is not demanding too ! much to ask the protection which nature j gives us?the protection of distance? j Surely it is not asking too much to de' mand that the products from factories I shall be distributed throughout our own State as cheaply as the products of fori eign competitors? Surely it is not re! quiring too much to demand that the railroads, built frequently at the expense of the people, for the development of ' the State, shall not use their power of i unfair discrimination to crush and ruin ! the stnifzo-lini? industries of the State, ! and drain her wealth into the coffers of | foreign rivals? OPPRESSING THE FARMERS. I The effect of this policy is hardly less ; hurtful to the farmers. Exceedingly low i through rates have induced the neglect ; of all other crops, and the almost exclu sive culture of cotton. This brings in j its train extravagance and debt, and in i the end dishonesty. When the people ' raised their own supplies they had less ! money, bat they needed less They had i enough to purchase the comforts of life, ! which they did not produce, and to pay j their honest debts. Now, when the ! people raise cotton only, they make ' more money; their pockets are full if j their barns are empty. Tlie money ali ; comes in at one season. They are rich j then, if poor ali the balance of the year. I While they have the money they squan1 der it needle-sly, and before the year ex; pires are compelled to go in debt for the [ necessaries of life. And so the nest | year's crop must go to pay for last year's : living, and a system of debt has been j saddled on the country which has | brought it to the verge of bankruptcy. ; Who can foresee the result of one more ; crop failure? era ISTEKXAL COiliEEECE. Tl-ia inlflmol ?r.rr>TVio>r??> nf fhp SfftfC ; has been rained, and the growth of our ; rising cit:es has been checked by this i same ruinous policy. The prosperity of ! cities hangs on the will of the railroad I autocrats. They can cause business to j flow into it, or to go elsewhere. They ; focused advantages at a country crossi road in Georgia and Atlanta sprang up | teeming with enterprise and wealth. A j withdrawal of these advantages would I dissipate her business, and, her prosperi! ty wouh1 be a dream of the past. Ten j vears ago it was the policy of the raili roads to build tip the internal commerce ; of this State. Favoring through rates I were given to railroad centres and cheap i distributing rates. In a single decade j Spartanburg doubled her business and ! tripled her population; wholesale houses i were established and'supplied the local ; trade for miles around. Her goods were I sold within twenty miles of Atlanta. | Within the past seven years this enj wurjgement to wholesale internal comI merce has been withdrawn and the busi| ness has perished. Concessions have j been made to no distributing points es| cept Charleston and Columbia, where | proximity to water compelled it. But | even these have been deprived of what is ! more important?their cheap distributing rates. THE WHOLESALE TRADE OF THE INTERIOR. I again take Spartanburg as a type of her sister cities. In 18S1 the rate on fertilizers from Spartanburg to Welifor^, [ on the Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line, | or to Pacolet, on the Spartanburg and Union Road, was $7-00 a carload; n->v it is $17.50, an increase of nearly 200 per cent. The local trade has been de stroyed. In J SSI the freight on iiour to Pacolet was 16 cents a barrel, now it is 3J cents; on bacon it was $20 a carload, now it is $30. So exorbitant is this local freight that the people have been compelled to resort to wagon transportation. The lowest freight ou the Augusta and Spartanburg Road to Campobello, eighteen miles above Spartanburg, is $3 a ton; hrst-class freight is $7 a ton. Wagons will haul it, without regard to class, for $3 per ton free of drayage, and are monopolizing the mercantile business. Until recently the rate on cotton from Campobello was 70 cents a bale, while the wagons were eager to carry it at 50 cents a bale. Greenville and the other cities of Upper Carolina are in a like condition. JLn the seventh report of the South Carolina railroad commission is published a correspondence between President Haskell, of the Columbia and Greenville Railroad, and Col. Hammet, president of the Piedmont Factory, concerning the rate on cotton from Greenville to Piedmont, ten miles distant. The railroad's charge was S3 cents a bale, which, with rlreTQ.in niftrls t/hp nrp r?/Yllor n. bale. ~ C-j1. Hammet showed that the wagons woulcl haul it for 50 cents a bale. He could get no reduction, was forced to employ wagons, and saved $2,500 a year by doing so. All shippers who con finned to use the road were compelled tu pay the extortionate rates which Col. Hammet thus avoided. Few people have business enough to establish a wagon line for their transportation. DISCBE.UXATION' AGAINST CHARLESTON". But this effect is not confined to the inland cities. Charleston, too, has ex cuc vx cxjio ^ few years ago Charleston was the Mecca of the merchants of upper Carolina. But the railroads have so arranged freights that it is just as cheap and quicker to get then* goods directly from New York, aiul their trade has flowed thither. As an instance of the unjust discrimination against Charleston, I cite fertilizers? her chief product. The rate from Charleston to Spartanburg, about two nuudrea miles, is SI a ton. From Richmond, Yu., over twice as far, it is but 84.25 a ton?a discrimination against this city of near] j 100 per cent. Is this right? Should railroads of the Siuie be permitted to break down the business of the principal city of the State? Charleston is naturally the port of South Carolina. She is entitled to the trade of the State, and she would have it if she could get a fair showing, and the State should see to it that she has that opportunity. This policy of the railroads has been rainous to "the State's prosperity. It has stopped her small factories, saddled the farmers with debt, and ruined our internal commerce A RE3IEDY FOB THE WBOXG. Is there no remedy for this wrong? Have the people no rights to be regarded? This has been the claim that the railroads have set up. They assumed! that the stockholders were the absolute owners of the roads, and any attempted regulation by the Government was repelled as an unwarranted infringement on private right. During the weak and truckling rule of the liadicals this bold assumption was acquiesced in. It is now absolutely exploded. It is now held in every State in the nation that the railroads are public highways, constructed for the benefit of the people. That the management of these highways is given to a corporation by the State, as trustees of her sovereign power", a trust not to be abused. The power should be exercised with equity and_ ustice, as the State would exercise it. The State could not justly discriminate between its citizens, and its agents should not be permitted to do so. The State could not with equity build up one of its cities at the expense of other cities, and its agents should Cv..L be permitted to do so. The State would not sacrifice the industries and prosperity of her people to the benefit of foreign competitors, and the railroads should not be allowed to do so. She State, if she owned the roads, would not do these things even for gain, nor should the railroads. If the stockholders can make a profit legitimately, they ; are entitled to it; if they cannot, they have simply made a bad investment and must abide by it. The right of the State to restrain and i egulate the railroads is now undisputed. The question arises, how is this to be done effectively? We have attempted to do so by a railroad commission. I do not know what they have done; I do not impugn their actions. But this we do know, that this stifling and pernicious policy of discrimination against home emerprise has sprung up during their control, and the'condition of affairs is infinitely worse now than before their interference. I have attempted to show that our present need is low distributing rates? rates to our home producers as cheap in proportion to distance as those granted to their foreign competitors. This, I believe, can be easily, cheaply and effectively secured. A rsiFOKil RATE FOK ALL SSIPPEES. Under the Inter-State law all through rates must be reasonable and equitable. These rates must be public. This we cannot interfere with and would not. But this State can pass a law providing j that -whatever rate per mile the roads fix for through freight, that same rate shall be granted to our local shippers with the cost of extra handling added. Of course j it would be unjust to require them to t load and Haul ireignt tiie nrst nine ior the same amount for which they merely | haul it the second mile. Bat when they j have been amply paid for loading, shifting and starting the car, there seems no good reason why they should charge our ; own shippers more for merely continuing to haul it than they charge to foreign shippers for exactly the same service. A liberal allowance should be made for this cost of handling. There are but twenty classes of freight. The General Assembly could appoint a committee to meet during vacation to take testimony as to this cost. This charge should include not only the cost of loading, but the cost of extra shifting and starting. | It should be regulated in justice to the : railroads and to the naoole. The local rate should be based on the actual cost of transportation, and not on the basis of "whatever the traffic will bear." Under the most liberal allowance it will never be found that it costs over onethird as much to ship a carload of guano j twelve miles as it does to ship it 400 miles, and that, too, when it is load^ ! by the shipper. When once the through rate reir. m^e is fixed by the railroads and published, and when the cost for ext*4 handling is ascertained and establ"116^ ky law, the rights of the shirptir become so plain that no ezDei 1'?6 railroad commission is necessary protect them. He knows the per mile, the distance he has .-skipped and the extra cost for handling the class of freight offered. Whether he has been overcharged, is a question of simple fact with which the Courts can deal, and a penal statute is ample pro t-ecuun. But whether the remedy I have suggested is the best or not, the evil to be remedied exists. It is an oppressive incubus on the prosperity of South Carolina. The interests ol South Carolina are dear to every one of her sons, and especially to the members of the Press. It is for this reason that I have ventured to call these facts to your attention. OVEKLAM) BV^UALLOON. The New York "World has^discovered a young aeronaut who expects to,come across the country from St. Louis in a bal:oon. The balloon is now on its way West It is to take up the aeronaut, a photographer, a government meteorologist and a reporter. June 11 has been tixed for the ascension, if the atmospheric conditions are favorable. If they o tci 4"rimotr ?*7atto/I irntil the meteorologist gives the word. He has inad'i a study of air currents and thinks he can avoid the mistakes of the past. Four attempts have been made heretofore to make long air voyages. In 1859 Wise traveled 1,200 miles under exceedingly favorable cocditions and the rate of a, mile a minute. The Graphic balloon went up in 1873 and was a failure. A few years ago Professor King ascended from Minneapolis in "The Great Northwest" in the "centre of a high-pressure area and the balloon floated lazily over the city. Later he went up from Chicago under conditions which sent him on into the forests of Wisconsin. Since then the science of meteorology has made rapid strides, and the theory upon which the balloon will be sent up is this: "If clouds are moving to the north of iines drawn from Salt Lake City and Quebec through St. Louis and the lower wind blows in the same direction; or if, with a clear sky, small balloons show the :sunie motions, then I would not leave the earth. If either of these currents is favoring, all we have to do is to get into it vtnrt sail nn Professor H. Allen Hazen, the meteorologist, has evidently studied the situation very carefully, and when he leaves the earth he will have the benefit of all the knowledge that the Signal Office can afford him by its weather maps. His attempt will be watched with interest. The aeronaut is counting on remaining in the air two days. If he can do this he will have accomplished what no one in this country has been able to do. It has been the experience here that a balloon cannot remain up even twenty-four consecutive hours, to say nothing of forty-eight. Expansion under the heat of the sun soon weakens a balloon. Bent Goods are Pat in Smallest Parcels. The old proverb is certainly true in the case of Dr. Pierce's "Pleasant Purgative Pellets," which are little, sugar-wrapped parcels, scarcely larger than mustard seeds, containing as much cathartic power as is done up in the biggest, most repulsive looking pill. Unlike the big pills, however, they are mild and pleasant in their operation?do not produce griping pains, nor render the bowels costive after using. ABOUT DIKT KOADS. The Evil and Kemedy?The Economy of Having Good Roads. (From The Nation.) About tiiis time of year Americans be gin to give an amount of attention to roads and road-making 'which is sadly wanting during the rest of it. There is probably no people in the world -which has made such progress in the arts of civilized life generally that seems to care so little for what a good many social philosophers put among the very foremost of them, the art of road-making. In fact, some philosophers have pronounced the history of roads the history nf "VnrViinrr dis.tiT>finishes a civilized country from a barbarous one so markedly as the difference between the means cf communication between one locality and another. As a general rule, one knows that a people is rising in the scale by seeing its roads improve; one knows tbi*t it is declining by seeing j its roads go out of repair. Nothing marked so vividly the great plunge into barbarism which Europe took after the fall of the Roman empire as the disappearance of thr :-uperb lines of communication whiclx led from the forum straight as an arrow to every corner of the Roman world. Nothing, too, tells the tale of Chinese decadence so distinctly as the ruin which has overtaken i.lv ~ of. QT1 liiU great luuuo auu bwau mm earlier period connected the capital with the provinces. When an American goes to Europe for the first time, nothing seems odder than the superiority of the European roads in countries which can make no pretence of equaling the United States in other marks of material progress. We are not a declining people; on the contrary we are the most growing people in the world. We are not among the poor nations of the globe; on the contrary we are probably the very richest. We are not indiilerent to material improvement; on the contrary the most frequent charge made against us is that we give too much attention to it* and yet we are worse olF, by far, in the matter of roads than any other high iy civilized community. The original reason of the American indifference about roads was probably tlie rapidity with which the early settlers scattered themselves in smali communities ovir wide areas. The fewer people there are to the square mile of inhabited territory, of course the costlier roads become; and when population is very much dispersed, as in frontier settlements, people cease to think of good roads as a luxury within their reach, and devote themselves simply to the task of keeping them passable. This tendency to neglect tlie art of road-making would probably have disappeared early in this century if the railroads had not come in as the great lines of communication, thrown DE.6 post jTU&US UJLLU. JLLii-LLLUi. J iUttUO ^U.u vyx use, and relegated all roads but railroads to the condition of cross-roads or byj ways. The railroads not only did this, but they dispersed the settlers over still wider areas than ever, and thus made the prospect of running a good highway I past every man's door seem hopeless. The consequence has been that the early colonial or frontier state of mind?in which a road was considered good enough if it was simply practi?K?i*r~cb wheeled vehicles (that is, if . ^efe no holes or rocks in/ sufficiently formidable to upset a<*":naSe)> aD<?thing better than-*419, an attainable luxurv?has alir^ settled into a national tradition. One^ 8? a * w miles out of anv^i our large cities to find the roads every direction being repaired in the exact manner in which they were repaired by the struggling colonists between 1630 and 1700?that is, nothing is attempted beyond filling up the holes with any material that is at hand, and affording facilities for the water to run j olf. The material that is at hand is, of I course, the mud oi compost out of the . -? j. mi,:. -i adjacent uitcu. -lluh is biiuveueu up with the utmost gravity and deposited all along the centre, filling up the cavities and hiding irom view the projecting rocks. In districts in which gravel or strong clay is obtained in this way, the result is often satisfactory enough. But as a general rule the contents of the ditch are simply mud or decayed vegetable matter, fit only for manure. Spread over the road as a plaster, it rapidly becomes dust and is swept away by the wind, or else becomes mud and is washed back again into the ditch, or down into the hollows, in which in wet weather it lyrms a iiiuu. 01 quagmire, wjruugjj. which, horses toil warily. The one advance we have tnaao in this curious process over the early colonists is the invention of the large iron scoop or shovel, worked by oxen or horses, as a substitute for the manual labor of the olden days. A foreigner, seeing it at work for the first time, is always disposed to believe that the road is being prepared for a crop of some kind, and as a matter of fact we have ourselves seen many a mile of country road in which, after the spring repairs, potatoes or corn would have grown very luxuriantly. Of course there are signs of progress rmfr. nf tin's -rvrirmtivft rrrmriiiion in thfi more densely settled districts on the eastern coast.and in the neighborhood of the large cities. The Park roads, with which people have been made familiar during the past thirty years, have shown thc^e whj have never been abroad what a good road is, and have thus raised the standard of road-making, as the Vienna bakery raised {he standard of hr?>>ul-makinor all over the comitrv after the Philadelphia exposition in 1877. But most rural districts suffer greatly from not having a standard at all. Some of those who tax themselves most freely suii'er most, because the plentiful suppiy of money no' only does not improve the rends, hut breeds a political ring, who treat it as "boodle." The reason they suffer is that, as they have no standard of goodness in roads, and do not make specific requirements as to what shall be done to keep the roads in order, it is never possible to bring trustees, or selectmen, or roadma^ters, to a proper account. They always escape i: they can show they have put on the annual spring plaster; and when it is washed away, as it is sure to be a little later, they throw the blame on the freshets; aud the simple citizen, not knowing what to say in answer to them, sajs - iL: 1 liuvixuig. >v t: iiuve sccii tuu ^uaoccj. applied to projecting rocks in a steep declivity ia the middle of a great highway within twenty miles of New York, year after year, without a word of remonstrane .i'om anybody, and without any demand for the use of the sledge-hammer for the safety of horses and carriages. The waste of all this, through the wear and tear of animals, vehicles and harness, is of course immense. As it is not easy to calculate it, it makes but little impression on the popular mind, but it probably far surpasses the cost of thorough repair or macadam: ration. Until a standard has been set up, increased votes of money for road making will in populous districts simply result in the multiplication of the people who live by "politics." There is little doubt, too, that not only was the light wagon, for which America is now famous, produced by the badness of our roads, but it now helps to keep the roads bad by diminishing, in the public eye, the inconvenience of them. The wagon in which Americans delight, and which no other nation has yet been able to imitate, really gets over i bad roads almost as easily as a saddle or pac? horse. We have seen it jump a fence behind a runaway with a certain grace and dexterity. But bad roads tell on it rapidly also, though not perhaps as Rapidly as on heavier vehicles. It is hazily an exaggeration to say that a light wagon would last one-third longer on an English or Swiss read than on ouis, and would be a far greater luxury. Nobody shows more appreciation of the smooth, hard park roads than the trotting men, although thev prefer the dirt * ' " HI * 5 -LI 1. . I roaa to "speed on; ana mey amy uc said to be the only class of the community to whose needs or -wishes attention in the matter of road-making has been paicL The owners of hef.vy vehicles hav^ been left to get along ss best they can/although they use roads for business and not pleasure. In no department of our material progress, in fact, is there so much need ol reform as ii our roadmaking, and above all m our road repairing, -whether we look at the matter from the health or the pleas ire point of vie^. ! THE CROPS IN THE STATE. Hott They Appear to the Corespondents of the Department of Agriculture. The Department of Agriculture has received 246 special repo;rts from its Mnmctiin /ViwaarviTi^onts TP aftWHno1 t.Vlfl crops, of an average date of Jnne 1, of -which the following is a summary: COTTON. He crop is from two to three weeks earlier, and stands better than last year. The crop is clean and growing rapidly, ana is now verging to limb and square, and looks vigorous and healthy. It has not been decreased in acreage?reported at 96 per cent. Hie condition is reportel in upper Carolina at 102 per cent.; middle Carolina 102, and in lower Carolina 100. An average for the State of 101 per cent. This is above the condition at the same period in 1882, 1883, and in 1884, when it -was reported at 96, and in 1886 at 86 percent., showing that the crop is in a better condition than for a period of yesrs. COB>\ The growth of corn was scmewhat retarded by the dry weather ii April and eaiv May. but recent rainis in nearly every section of the State hiis improved its condition very much. It is good on sandy and bottom lands. Owing to the favorable spiing and absence from floods, the bottom, lands have j been bettor prepared and planted earlier | than usual. ] Correspondents estimate the crop on j bottoms at 28 per cent, and on uplands j at 7:: per cent. The condition of the crop in upper ! Carolina on bottoms 99, on uplands at 100; in middle Carolina on bottoms 90, cn uplands 98; in lower Carolina 87 on bottoms, on uplands 92; making an average for the State, on both bottoms and uplands, 91 per cent., against 83 per cento tlie crop of last year. 1 Tniaix jkim OATC. "Wheat and fall sown outs were injured " by freezes, the former a little and the latter very much; but where the oats were too thin for a stand they were resown in early spring. The correspondents report that the crop will yield much better than expected, the recent rains having very much improved the condition of the crop. Harvesting has commenced in some localities. The condition of both crops is re ported at 91 per cent for wheat and 82 per cent., for oats, against 75 per cent, for each last year. FERTILIZERS. The amount of commercial fertilizers sold in the State for the past season, as is shown by the books of the Department, is less than the season of 1885 and 1886. Correspondents report that the following percentage of commercial fertilizers were used this year: Ammoniated, 46; acid phosphate, 43; kainit, 12; chemicals, 9; and that 32 per cent, purchased was used for composting, and that 72 per cent, of kainit was used this year as compared to 1886. GENERAL SUiniAKY. Last year it was estimated that 19 per cent, less farm supplies was purchased than in 1885, and this year 16 per cent, more than last, still making a deerease of 3 per cent, less than in 1885. This increase is due to freshets, w^1"^ de stroyed the entire com crop on tne bottoms, forcing farmers to buy at the beginning of the season. But our farmers are cheerful, hopeful and buoyant, and do not complain. And when it is recollected that less fertilizers has been purchased, labor cheaper and the crop cultivated at less cost up to this time than any crop for years, they have some reasons for rejoicing. Labor in nearly every locality has been more plentiful. The failure of the crop last year taught them to prepare for the -worst, and, as one correspondent puts it: "They hold their own wonderfully; most of them started with nothing and still have it." KICE. The reports from nearly every section of the State is at this time favorable for a good crop, but there are so many drawbacks in the production of the rice crop that the present estimates miy be very much changed before the maturity of the crop. The condition is reported at 97 against 92 in 1885, and 90 in 1886. OTHER OKOP8. The condition of sorghum and sugar cane is reported good. Correspondents estimate that the acreage has been increased. Condition of sorghum and sugar cane each 98' against 92 for both crop? last jear. The estimated increase in acreage of the sweet potata is placed a* 2 per cent., or 101 for the State, and condition at 99 per cent. The acreage of Irish potatoes has been reported 1 per cent, decrease, and the condition for the State 91 per cent, the same as laat year. The prospects" for the fruit crop of j nearly uii kinds are not encouraging, j' Apples, peaches and pears were badly , injured by the cold winds in earlspring. The grape and berry crops are reported as very promising. The condition of fruit is reported as follows: j apples, 50; peaches, 28; pears, 38; j < grapes, 98; berries, 8(J. The condition of garden products is reported at % per : cent, against 88 last year. Oat of two hundred and twenty-three 1 correspondents reporting the state of : the weather, 146 report good, 70 fair \ and 7 bad, showing that the seasons ! have been propitious for the growing ( crops. Eadurance of Society People. A prominent society lady of Washington being asked by the Prince of Wales, "Why is it you people here manifest so little fatigue from dancing, receptions, etc.?" replied, "Why, you see, we Americans regain the vitality wasted in these dissipations by using ?>r. Harter'b Iron Tonic." * THE HKIDE-s UK TilE Wilt I E llOl'-K. Mr*. Tyler *n<l Mr*. Cleveland have a Pleasant Chat Owr ths-ir Weddinjj. (Washington Dispatch X. Y. Herald.) The 2d day of J une, the President's wedding day. recalls the fact that President Cleveland is the only President of the United States who, while in office, lias parsed the first anniversary of his marriage. Tyler, the only other President who married while holding the position, had finished his term nearly four months when the first year of his marriage was completed. Seven children were bom to this couple after that date. Mrs. Cleveland and Mrs. Tyler had a good time going through the White House together in M irch. Mrs. Tyler told Mrs. Cleveland that her courtship began in the East Room, and Mrs. Cleveland told Mrs. Tyler, as they stood together in the state bed chamber up stairs, adj fining the President's library (the room in which the Prince of Wales slept), that it was in that chamber that she had dressed for her wedding and before that mirror she had sat to have her veil put on and the last finishing touches mo^o fr\ Vnvr trxilot hf>fnrr* aho wpnt. Hmvn stairs to be married in the Blue Parlor. Tyler is the only President whose wife has died while he was in office, but that j was his first wife. He was a widower not quite two years; and, counting him, there have been six "widower Presidents, the others being Jefferson, Jackson, Van Buren, Fillmore and Arthur, these five remaining unmarried while in the White House, and but one bachelor President, Buchanan, who was single throughout his term, Cleveland being the only other who began a term as a bachelor. Filaiore married his second wife after his term as President expired. He and Tyler are the only two of our Presidents who have had two wives. The Cotton Movement. The New York Financial Chronicle, in its weekly cotton review, says that for the week ending Friday evening, the 3d instant, the total receipts have reached 7,599 bales, against 9,865 bales last week, 10,626 bales the previous week, and 12,??? V\A1A^ TO MnrtA' W"?OCT o uuu uaico lUiLg nccno vuv total receipts sincc the 1st of September, 1886, 5,175,887 bales, against 5,185,176 bales for the same period of 1885-6, showing a decrease since September 1, 1886, of 9,279 bales. The exports for the week ending the same time reach a total of 8,349 bales, of which 6,801 were to Great Britain, 30 to France, and 1,515 to the rest of the continent. The imports into continental ports for the same period have been 20,000 bales. ' There was an increase iu the cotton in sight, Friday night, of 18,009 bales as compared with the same date of 1886, an increase of 2,868 bales as compared with the corresponding date of 1885, and a decrease of 239,150 bales as compared with 1881. Old interior stocks have decreased during the week 1,153 bales, and were Friday night S8,115 bales less than at the same period last year. The receipts at the same towns have been 1,137 bales less than for the same week iast year, and since September 1 the receipts at all the towns are 22,218 bales less than for the same time in 1885-6. The total rect-ipis from the plantations since September I, ioof>, were o,i.cH,oou billet',- in- O were ZTC.\)0,167 baSfis. ancl in I88I-0 were 4,710,001 bales. Although the receipts at the ontports the past week were 7,599 bales, the actual movement from plantations was only 2,841 bales, the balance being taken from the stocks at the interior towns. Last year the receipts from the plantations for the same week were 2,9S6 bales, and for 1835 they were bales. Journalist* in CoiigrrttH Journalists are rot scarce iu Congress, and they are all poor men. 2sone of them are speech-makers., and while they talk frequently they confine their speeches to a few minutes. This custom was probably formed from the ha'ut of expressing themselves concisely in writing editorials and other newspaper articles. It would perhaps be a good idea if all member? of Congress could Have the training of newspaper offices, so as to give them an idea of economy of time and space. In the Senate there is Senator Hawley, who is editor of the Hartford Courant; Senator Hearst, who owns the San Francisco Examiner; Senator Dawes, who writes editorials for thy Springfield Republican, and several other Senators who contribute to home newspapers. In the House, Dingley, of Maine, is the owner and editor of theLewiston Journal; Boutelle owns the Bangor Whig and Courier; O'Donnell, of Michigan, edits the Jackson Citizen; Cutcheon controls some country papers in the same State; Amos I). Cummings is managing editor of the New York Sun; Merriman was one of the buna lormer satellites ana occasionally writes a good crisp article now; Z. L. White is well known in the newspaper world, and Joe Scranton is the owner of the Scranton Republican. There are many other Representatives who have an interest in papers in their districts. After >.v.\a r.\ Executor. Before the Stewart v ill case is settled there promises to be :r scries of accusations against Jsidgw Hilton, ib?r nature of which the advance dispatches havooniy hinted at. It will be broadly charged that for many momiis prior To lier death 3 Irs. Stewart was in reality nothing but.a prisoner in her gilded palace, and that J trdire Hilton him self was her jailer. Alleged evidence in | support of this will bj produced, and Mr. Hilton will lie accused not only of using improper means to render himself secure in his position, but :.i=o of misappropriating the Stewart funds to his own use and profit. The answer tiled of course denies these charges, but the prosecution will press its suit to the end. Prescott Hall Butler, who hopes to come in for a good slice of the fortun". through the contest, is a well-known lawyer himself, and directly and indirectly received :bou?- -$40'J,000 under the v.ill." He is a member of the firm of Evart.?. (Jiioate cc Beaman, who will con ilUWL tuo .<^aiucii Jtxtiiv/u. Tli* Telephone o:t IG6.>." "There is nothing new under the sun," not even the telephone. Permit Qie to state that, i.'i the year 1685 there was publish; d in England a book with the title of "JlicoLjraphia." The author was Dr. Robert Hooke, .1 ceieoratea scientist, matnemati-1 cian and philosopher. who was born ia the | Isle of Wight, in 1635 and educated at Oxford. The work referred to contains various philosophical descriptions of minute bodies, imde by magnifying glas-es, :v indicated in the title, together with "Observations and Inquiries" on them. In the preface, the learned scientist asserts that the lowest whispers, by certr'n means ;which he does not make public), may !;< tieard at the distance of a furlong; that heknew a way it is easy to hear anyone speak through a wall three feet thick: and that by means of an extended wire, sound may be conveyed to a great distance, almost in an instant.?North American Itecieic A colony of Episcopalians, chiefly from South Carolina, has been established on the lied mountain highla.nd of Binning ham. They are elegant, accomplished and well to do folks, and are trying to prevaii upon the Rev. Ellison Cap.-rs. of Greenville, to be their pastor.?Annuton Hot Blast. It is expected that a colony of 12 or 15 families will leave Anderson county for California in the early fall. liii-j Si'i.ULKAI. ilUK>h.UA>. .V Weird Adv?nutr?- Ilcc:>rae<l !:y an Artsy Alone the western bank of the Misr.ouri River, on the ro:id leading bet ween the military posts of Fort Abraham Lincoln anct Fort Yates is a phantom which appears to certain tiavelers whenever they make luo trip ovi;r what they are pleased to call the "hoodooed road." The route is one of long standing. having been established by the Indians long before the whites invaded the country, and now it is an important road for" travel. The phantom which has appeared to several prominent citizens was last seen by Lieut. Brennan of Fort Yates. He was en route from Yates to this city, and while driving along at a point near the Cannon Ball Station he saw a man coming behind him on horseback. At tirst he paid little attention to the object. The moon was shining brightly and there was no reason for him :o bo mistaken in what he saw. After traveling about a mile with the horseman keeping about a quarter of a mile behind him, he stopped to await the arrival of the stranger that he might as certain who it was that followed him, and break the monotony of his trip with the conversation of a traveling companion. Upon looking back he discovered that the horseman was dressed in a pure white uniform and was riding a spotless white horse. The elegant style, the graceful molion of the horse, and the noiseless step with which the animal was galloping down the road, aroused the Lieutenant's curiosity, and he waited and l.stened several minutes for the arrival of the stranger. His suspicion that everything was not right was awakened when the horseman failed to answer his call. Several times he called, but no answer came from the white-robed equestrian, and having given the silent traveler ample time to overtake bim, he drove on. What first occasioned alarm in the Lieutenant's mind was the fact .iiat whiie the strange white horse continued in a galloping motion aiter he (the Lieutenant) stopped, the distance oetween them was not shortened. Whistling a lively air and occasionally breaking in with a cheery army fong, to drive away the blues, the Lieutenant drove on, frequently casting iris eyes over his shoulder to see if the horseman was coming, and always iinding that his pursuer or follower was keeping his distance with remarkable accuracy. Wearying of this monotonous procedure, and wishing to gain a ?:ood lead on the luiky fellow-traveler before he reached the loneliest spot in the road, which he was now approaching, he applied the whip and started iiis speedy team on the ran. On he went at a furious rate for several miles, when, just as he was descending the hill into Lonely Coulee, he looked back, and there was the white horseman within a few rods of him coming like the wind, but with the noiseless grace of a zephyr. The Lieutenant was now pretty thoroughly frightened, and he tispH rhp tcViirk mnr/i vnrtpmpnf-lr- th-in ever. Down the hill his army ambulance roared and rattled, and his animals took the bits for a genuine rcraaw:ir. With crash and bound rind leariui "speed" the ambulance was snatched down the hill, around sharp curves, and over the rickety bridge which spanned the murmuring creek. Here the Lieutenant's description of the scene was thrilling and poetic. The moonlight on the rippling surface of the creek formed weird, fantastic shapes, and as his nerves were strung to the most sensitive pilch, the eye of iiis imagination saw goblins and fairies and witches dancing about on the sparkling stream, whose every gurgle was a mocking taunt from the strange, unwelcome children of his feverish brain. But here is where the climax of his fear and horror was reached. As the pale horseman drove down the hill like a meteor, and while the Lieutenant was crossing the bridge at as great a speed as his spirited animals could attain, the ghostly phantom passed him. Now, for tbe first time, did the apparition make a noise, but it "made up for lost time" in this respect, as the Lieutenant says that here the noise was deafen in sr. As the phantom came down the hill after him it seemed that a thousand horses were galloping down a wooden pavement. and when it struck the bridge the uproar was like the rattle of a thousand wheels. On the center of the bridge the snowy horse and rider swept by him like a flash, and the air was tilled with shrill demoniac laughter. Oa it went, the dazed and awe-stricken Lieutenant watching it as it vanished from view. This is an experience of one of the bravest officers at Fort Yates, and tiie same apparition appeared on this road several years ago to Alexander McKinzie, sheriff of this county, and the most widely-known citizen of the territory. In the case of Mr. McKinzie the experience was very different, as he reached his destination shortlv after the appear ance of the phantom, which was going in an opposite direction, and which passed him near the Cannon Ball.? Bismarck Letter in St. Louis (jlobe-Democrat. In a Bub-Tail Car. There was quite a scene on one of the Noble street cars the other clay ia the persistent refusal of a passenger to put his fare in the box. The driver ran 2 tiie bell several times and iinaily he remarked to the delinquent: "Your fare has not been paid/' "It is ready," was the rejoinder, "whenever you come ;o coileet it." "But you must put it into the box," responded the driver. "1 know nothing about any box," answered the gentleman; "the company under its charier is compclicd to collect itown f:ires. and 1 am not going to turn myself into a conductor to coilcct from* myself." "Then off you go," suggested tiie driver, and he came b:ick to emphasize the threat, but abandoned it afte: M/.ing up the sturdy build of the d-jiiant passenger. Then he claimed that he was not allowed to collect the fare;; and the passenger regretted this, a> the company would be out his pass:<gmoney, and i:i this way the car drifte>. along to che terminal point. The farwas unpaid; neither was the delinquent passcugsr thrown oil ? Indianapolis Where tlx* Cissrs A member ot liiu lexas ie?.s;:icnr? engaged the services of :i colored man named Jake. It was not long before the legislator had occasion to remark: "Jake, it's very singular that I miss so many of my cigars." "Kurnel, yer reekerlects dat I tolc yer when yer fust hired me dat I smoked, and you said i musn't smoke in de house?"' "But, great Cajsar! you didn't suppose I gave you permission to fmoke up my cigars?" "Whose cigars did you reckon I'd smoke? Didu't 'spose, did yer, dat I ask permishun ter smoke my own cigars?"?Texas Siftings. THE CEAKLOTTE INSTITUTE. Young Ladies from Florence, Lexington, \Yalterboro, Abbeville, Marion, Fairfield and Darlington Distinguish ihoinselves in Mu>ic and Art. (From the News and Courier.) Charlotte, N. C., Junel.?The most interesting event which occurs in Charlotte is the annaal commencement of its well-known and well-patronized institate for young ladies. So many of the crfi^ zens have their daughters there, and the increasing efficiency and popularity of the school is so marked, that the success of the institute is a matter of patriotism: to the Charlottean. The commencement exercises of May 31 were more than usually interesting, from the number oi /v-?.a s\ /iicfwvinfian r\f ra iXLL U. LLLC I'lJLtJU diV/Xi VI UUU handsome gold medals as prizes which had been contended for during the session. South Carolina, as usual, came in for a fair share in the distribution of the h mors of graduation and of the prizes. Among the graduates -were Misses Euth Allen, of Florence, Nettie Drafts, of Lexington county, and Josie and Mattie Izard, of Walterboro. These young ladies also received, severally, four of the five medals given to those graduates only who had manifested diligence and improvement in the music department. The prize for the best essay on the origin and development of the English language, was also awarded to Miss Allen, who, graduating first in' her class in the literary department, and becoming the most accomplished per-) former on the piano of all the undergraduates, made the name of South Carolina quite distinguished at the com mer cement. . For months great interest had been excited by the competition of the art pupils for the two handsome gold medals offered in their department?one by. Col. H. C. Jones for the best collection of drawings, and one by the Hon. E. T. McAden .for the best collection of oil paintings.- The award of the prizes was kept a profound secret until the commencement. The decision was made, by judges who did not know the names of the contestants. Yet both prizes were borne off by South Carolina, Miss Sophy Haskell, of Abbeville, being awaked the prize for the best collection of crayons,' and Miss Maggie McDougald,- of Marion county, the one for the best collection of oil paintings. **? The baccalaureate address -Lwas delivered by the Rev. "W. B. Jennings, of Rock Hill, who began in a- witty and facetious maimer, to give Addison's dissection of a worldly woman's heart He became more grave as he proceeded, and in an eloquent and impressive manner painted in glowing colors the high and true life which it was woman's destiny <vnH r>rivilp.<rfi to live. Mr. Jennings sus talced the high reputation he has made in Charlotte in his visits to the churches here, as ah able and eloquent young divine. The art exhibit of the institute this year eclipses that of any previous one. Miss Thompson, who before she came here had a studio in Albany, X. Y.; has brought her pupils to a higher standard than ever before. Miss Annie Clowney, of Fairfield county, had a most creditable display of oil paintings. Miss Haskell's exhibit, as already mentioned, took the prize for th? best crayons. Her ''Psyche*' was an exquisite piece of art Miss Mattie Izard's collection attracted a great deal of attention. There was a very fine crayon portrait in it, "not a solar print," the teacher and young ladies were careful to inform the visitor; "we are not photographers here, but artists." Miss .Louise Keith, from Darlington, had a beautiful exhibit of oil paintings and drawings. Miss Mary Steed's exhibit was so excellent that befoie the prize was awarded for crayons opinion was equally divided between her aid the successful competitor. One of Miss Steed's diawings took the prize at the fair here last falL Miss McDougald, as already mentioned, took the prize in oil paintings. Her collection of paintings was extensive and exceedingly line. Among the undergraduates whose names were read out as "distinguished" in tLeir studies were the names of Misses Louise Keith, Mary Steed, of Marion^ and Lottie Henderson, of Walterboro. Last night, June 1, the annual concert came off. It was an event much looked forward to, as the new professor, Mr. Kcwse, was to give his first public concert. It was pronounced the best which had been given in the institute for many % j ears. Miss Euth Allen's placing always attracts attention. Sne is more tuan a pupil in music; she is an artist. Her professor, in speaking of her playing, remarked that he did not think there were half a dozen ladies in the ' ? 11 1/T2 Jsoutn who coma p:ay so wen. isuaa Mattie Izard's singing was enthusiastically encored. Taking it altogether, South Carolina can well afford to feel proud of the way her daughters represent her abroad. Among the other official plans for the commemoration of Qnesn Victoria's Jubilee is the issue of a new coinage, or rather change in the designs of the coins issued from the Boyal Mint. Their denominations and values will not be changed, though there will be some additions to the coins now in use, including live-pound and two-pound gold pieces. The former is not likely to be in greater demand than our twenty-dollar gold but it will doubtless be very at tractive. Of course, the familiar sovereigns and half-sovereigns will be retained, and the silver coinage will include the crown, or five-shilling piece, which has not been coined in recent years. All of -these coins will bear the admirable design of St. George and the Dragon which beautities the present sovereign, and the bust of the Queen, throughout all the new coinage, is to represent that august person somewhat as she now appears and no longer as a girl. The shilling and sixpence are also to be changed by the substitution for the present wreath of the "ensign armoriar" of the United Kingdom, surrounded by the Garter. Rut the most important innovation is the coinage of a double llorin or four-shilling piece in silver, l'his, it is said, is expected to pass current in Canada and elsewhere as a dollar. If so, it will make the United States dollar of 4121 grams, cheap as it is, valuable by contrast. By the present standards, the double llorin will contain but 348.718 grains of silver, equivalent to about 3o8.4 grains of the United States standard, worth about sixty cents. This will hardly go, even in Canada. A stump orator exclaimed, "I know no n^rth, no south, no east, no west, fellowci'izens!" "Then," exclaimed an old farmer in the crowd, "it's time you went to school and larnt jography." "What did the lady play for you?" inquired Jones of Brown. "0, Fair Dove! 0, Fond Dove!'' "VVhat did she sing that old thing for?'' 'Because she was Fond Dove it," 1 presume." Liberality in religious views is commendable; but we should always be able to tell at a glance which is the church and which is the circus When ignorance is bliss it is folly to ask vour landlady what she puts in the