Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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HOYT & CO., Proprietors. ANDERSON O. H., S. C, THURSDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 20, 1873. From the Jtbmc (Gdi) ^Co^raereial. BILL ABP ON THE PANIK. ? V Everybody Ort to Do the Very best Ho Can." . Mr. Neoin?Sir: In these tryin times I think every man ort to do the very best he can. George Wyatt axd for my views upon the situ? ation and thats exaktly what I told him. Says I, "George, do you go home to your hash house and do the very best you can." George seemed to understand me and made tracks for his tavern. He'll come out all right?George will. When possums get scace be can live on koon. " The main ishoo in this crisis seems to be a little difficulty in exchangin the produkts of the country. Everybody says there is a plenty of everthing but there is no money to keep it xnovin. Sum folks who nse to credit right 'smart are now runin the cash skedule, which amounts to a regular blockade. I should think a luniftk would know that its the worst time in the world to begin a cash system, when there aint no cash. If everybody would swap round what lihey have got to spare it would suit the most of us mighty well. Anybody is welcum to swap with me for anything in my line of RsneSii, and if my price don't suit em I'll-cam down to taeirs rather than break a trade, for you. know the margin on my side is big enuff to- allow right smart room for dodgin. At all events I intend to do the very best I can. The credit system is good enuff for me and in my oplnyun it is a mighty harmonious and friendly institution. It makes people respect? ful and respectable. When I owe a good har ted man he feels kindly towards me jest bekaus he has befriended me. He feels sorter like I was one of his pet lams. When he reads over the parable of the good Samaritan he unkon shiously says to himself "thats me. I helped Arp and his luvly offspring when nobody else wouldent." I think it would be a good thing if everybody owed each other all round. It improves the tone of society. It enlarges the heart and has a good effekt on the liver. It settles ones dinner, and hence Mr. Solomon Writ about bowels of mercy and bowels of com? passion. I never knowd one of these corked up cash men but what was dispepkital. I never knowd a man who paid cash for evry thing who had any cash to lend a poor feller without sekurity. A cash man is always an independent man, and you can't joke with him to do no good. I don't like them sort much. They think their money is a little better than anybody ebes money. They live at home and board at the same place, but the latch string don't hang on the outside much. They don't like fur everybody to borrow their wheel-bar rer nor get water out of their well. Still, I suppose tljey are tryin to do the very best they can. K I like a man who can't refuse a poor feller credit when he needs it and is tryin to pay. TnTakt its better to credit him and lose it than to be dodgin round the truth to keep from it or to die of ossifikashun of the heart and peck rocks in the next world for a livin. I knowed a poor shoe maker oust to ax a store keeper to trust him for a pair of shoe pinchers. The store keeper told him he would do so but that he didn't hav a pair in the house. The poor feller lookd around sadly and happened to see em upon the top shelf with one pair outside the rapper. "Why, theres sum Mr. Mack," says he. Mack wilted for a moment, bat he rallied and says, "Them op there are steel Eine hers and are worth just two dollars and a ! alf" Joe knowd they were iron and was worth jest 37* cents, but he inersently remark? ed that he had never had a steel pair and he believed he would try em. Mack always de? clared them pinchers was mighty well sold tho he never- got the money. I think, however, that every- man ort to do the very best he can But of all times in the world I look upon the credit system as just the thing for a panik? not that the panik is anything pertikler to me. By no means, Ive been right in the middle of one all my life. I've never seed the time that there wasent a crisis at my house. I was born in a strain, and its folJered me up like a shad der ever since. I've 'got akklimated to it, as the. doktors say. It's part of my daily enter? tainment to contrive for future supplies. It keeps me lively and polite and amiable. I hear these merchants talkin about "bridgin over" and "hedgin in" aud diggin a hole to? day to be filled up to-morrow. Well, every man and woman in these times ort to do the very best he or she can, but as for hedgin and bridgin, I could have got a patent right for all that sort of thing 20 years ago, and had it re? newed every year since for improvements. No ?sir, Fve no idea of jinin the cash system at my time of life, and espeshuaily just at this per? tikler period. My constitushun wouldent stand it. Its goin to be jest all that a feller can do to get thrugh this squeeze on a credit, and as for me I would perish to deth in two days if my existence depended on the cash. It's goin to take a dubble team to pull through this mud hole, shore, and right smrt pushin behind. Weve all got the brichln on at my house, and we'll go through if the name string don't break and the d timed thing don't last too long. One of thess long-winded paniks would strain my credit fiystem powerfully, but everybody must do the very best he, she or it can, and trust to Providence for the sequel. Mr. Nevin?sur, Now is the time for foaks to show what metal they are made of. Now is the time for foaks to hold up their heds and hav confidence. If everybody who has got a surplus vriil lend it to them who hasent (one of whom I am which,) things will git equalised and regulated in no time. There is a plenty of money and plenty of truck for everybody if it was divided out right. I've always managed to git my sheer, though at times it's required more strategy to keep the little Arps in vitels and cloaths than Bonypart displayed in his retreat from Moscow. I tell you whats a sol? emn fakt, a whole passel of children of all sizes, from a saddle tack up, will sharpen a poor man's wits quicker than anything in the world?espeshuaily if the old hen keeps up a respektable cacklin in the rear. "Keep a movin, old man," says she, "keep a movin and never say die. Bull Run's shoes are out at the toes, Chickahominv hasn't got a whole coat to his back, and you know he's beginnin to notice the girls a little, and wants to go decent; She nandoah must have a meriner dress for the Winter, and the baby in obleeged to have a pair of little blankets for his crib. Five or six of the others want shoes and stockings jest as soon as you are able to get 'em. The shugar is out and the coffee is low, and last weeks washin aint paid for, and yon. must send a man to fix that leak in the roof i >morrow." My good wife is a thoughtful oman, and when she tells me she wants anything as soon as I git able, I know exactly what that means. It means she wants it by to-morrow night, if not sooner, and I tell you I always display my finest taktics in such emergencies. In fact, 1 do the very best I can. It's the comfort of my life to look back and say, I've almost always worked up to her skedule. If the future looks dark, I shut my eyes and dream over the past. I like Ed Newton bekaus he keeps his spirits up. He's a drummer in New York, and he Bed that in all this tremendious crisis which have slink the nation from centre to cirkum ference, the New York drummers had stood firm and solid as the rock of gibrawlter. He sed they was all a doin the very best they could. Sid Hughes is aa envious man, I reckon, for he sed the New York drummers was even with the world, and had nuthin to boast on. That they owed abont as many as they didn't owe and didn't keer a darn. Well, I know Ed is mity clever, for he give me a hat?which hat, how? ever, hav excited some invidious and random remarks sense I got home. Sich remarks are very natural when a man goes to wurin new cloths before he pays for ths old ones. My motto have always been to do the very best you can, and keep one eye open to the bright side. The. mountains most always dis? appear jest before you get to era, and if you do hav to climb over okkasionally, you are shore to find a few flowers on the way up if you look for em. A chesnut burr has got a sweet nut hid away in the middle of it. Theres a heap of good things with burrs over 'em, and he's a sensible man who knows how to git the goodies out without stickin his fingers. I'm not a going to go crazy about a panik or lost money, or busted banks or any other transitory sercumstance. A little meal and a :few pota? toes will do my family till times git better, and I know a dosen clever farmers who will trust me for that. Farewell sirkus?farewell, old this time, shore. Me and the boys uan make up a respectable ring and play hos at home if we want to, and Mrs. Arp and the girls can set aronnd and holler, whoopee. At any rate, we are bound to do the very best we can. It's evry mans duty these times to be keerful and prudent. I went a chesnut huntin one day with a feller, and he got out on a limb and cut it off betwixt him and the tree. He broke his arm and like to hav broke his neck. I heerd a poor carpenter say yesterday that he'd be doged his cats if he wouldent lay down and die before he'd work for less than two dollars a day, panik or no panik. I don't feel responsi? ble for no sich. They may go to Heaven in their own billoon, if they want to. Me and Josh Billins was lookin at the Graffik billoon the other day, and after it was gone he heaved a sigh and, says he, "Arp, I done like billoons, about 18 year ago I tuk around a hat to raise 75 dollars to hire a feller to go up in one, and he went up as strait as an arrow. It was a cam, still day in June, and I gazed at him and saw him go up, up, until he went clean out of site. Nobody has ever seen that billoon or that man from that day to this, and my hope is that he went ded straight to heven; tho I aint a warrantin that line to nobody at this time." Well, I don't like em either, but I will advise them who aspires to go to heven that way to do the very best they can. Lastly, Mr. Nevin, I want to remark that these paniks, these collapses, these bust ups, these "top nots cum down," are jest as necessa? ry for the good of the country as an emetik is to an overcharged stummak. Munny to be heltby must be skattered around so that every? body can git sum. When its most all piled up in a few pyramids the least jostle will tumble it to the ground. If I was King I'd fix s remedy for bloated fortunes mity quick. I'd tax a man nuthin on an incum of 5 thousan dollars and under. I'd tax a man 10 per ct. on all between 5 and ten thousand, twenty per ct. on all between 10 and 20 thousand, and so on, dublin up to 50 thousan. Above that I'd take it all, every dollar. I tell you that will git em. That will keep down these Wall street rings. It will let a man hav enuff for all de? cent and respektable purposes, and after that he must do his sheer for them who swet and toil and havent been as smart or as mean or as lucky as himself. It will put a limit upon a man's avarice and keep munny in better em? ployment than payin $50,000 for a hos or 100 thousand for a dimon pin. When this law is passed, Mr. Nevin, our family supplies will be so cheap that the likes of me and you and our wives and children can frolik half our time. I think your tother leg would grow out and the hair cum back on the top of my head, the place where the hair ort to grow. Until that glorious time let us all do the very beSt we can. Yours, Bill Arp. The Claim of the South Carolina Bank and Trust Company. The correspondent of the Charleston News and Courier furnishes a synopsis of the minori? ty report submitted by Messrs. John R. Coch ran, of Anderson, and E. M. Smith, of Spar tanburg, upon the claim of the South Carolina Bank and Trust Company for $125,000, upon which a majority of the committee of ways and means reported favorably. The gentlemen named give good and sufficient reasons for their action, which is commendable and praise? worthy : John R. Cochran and R. M. Smith, two members of the committee on ways and means, have submitted a minority report on the bill to make an appropriation to pay the claims of the South Carolina Bank and Trust Company against the State of South Carolina, which the majority of the committee recommended. They report adversely to the bill for the following reasons: First, because there was no evideuce to show that the State is indebted to the claim? ants in the amount stated. Second, because the bank failed to produce the certificates of indebtedness upon which 'they based their claim. Third, because the wording of the bill is obscure, and does not show how much prin? cipal and how much interest is claimed. Fourth, because they were unable to ascertain from the bill what was meant by the other "evidences of indebtedness" upon which the claim was based. Fifth, because the bill pre? cludes the State Treasurer from making an in? vestigation into the legality or illegality of the claims. Sixth, because the bill requires the Treasurer to make a distinction in favor of their claims against all other claims. Seventh, because the passage of the bill would be giving an unfair and unjust preference to a powerful and wealthy corporation, when it is a well known fact that the salaries of school-teachers, school commissioners, judges of the courts, county auditors, State officers, clerks of the different departments of State, and many mem? bers of the Legislature remain unpaid for months, and in many instances for years. They also state that the bill is in direct conflict with Section 3, Article 9, of the Constitution of the State which provides as follows: "The General Assembly shall provide for an annual tax suf? ficient to defray the estimated expenses of the State for each year, and, whenever it shall happen that such ordinary expenses of the State for any year Hhall exceed the income of the State for such year, the General Assembly shall provide for levying a tax for the ensuing year sufficient, with other sources of income, to pay the deficiency of the preceding year, to? gether with the estimated expenses of the en? suing year." ? "Where shall I put this paper so as, to be sure of seeing it to-morrow?" inquired Mary Jane of her brother Charle3. ''On the looking glass," was her brother's reply. clown I There'l be a big LEE'S LAST CAMPAIGN. A Touching Recollection of Southern Yalor and Devotion. At a meeting of the Virginia Division of the survivors of the Army of Northern Virginia, Col. Venable made substantially the following address, the report of which we take from the Richmond Dispatch: When, in the early days of May, 1864, Grant crossed the river with 140,000 men, General Lee could command less than 52,000 of all arms, and yet he boldly marched to attack him, having in hand when he first struck Grant's column only 26,000 men. He gave a vivid picture of the battle on the plank road, fought on the evening of the 5th of May, between Wilcox's and Heth's divisions of A. P. Hill's corps, when (under the im? mediate eye of Gen. Lee) this heroic band of only 10,000 beat back 40,000 wi th which Han? cock made repeated assaults upon them. He also spoke of Ewell's splendid success on the old turn-pike, where, with 16,000 men, he liad driven back Warren's corps, aud illustrated i;he unexpected boldness of Gen. Lee's strate? gy by quoting the remark of Gen. Meade when i:he columns came in collision : "They have left a division to fool us here while they con? centrate and prepare a position on the North Anna; and wnat I want is to prevent these fellows from getting back to Mine Run." He vividly pictured the battle of the next morning, when Hill's two divisions, which had become aware that they were to be relieved by Longstreet, and were not in the best fight? ing trim, were violently assaulted before Long street had come up, and a portion of them had been forced back several hundred yards, when Longstreet's men double-quicked a mile and a half, and went into the fight with the wildest cheering and enthusiasm. He gave the correct version of that splendid historic iucident of Gregg's Texas brigade pausing in their advance as they saw their loved leader going into the fght, and vociferating "Go back, General Lee; gc back, General Lee;" and told how confidence was restored at once to Hill's brave men, the whole line swept forward, the flank attack was made, and Hancock was driven back in a con? fusion that would probably have resulted in utter rout but for the unfortunate wounding of Longstreet just at this juncture. He told the story of Grant's flank movement to Spotsylvania Court House, aud how splen? didly Stuart with his cavalry (assisted by part of Anderson's infantry) held in check over? whelming numbers until General Lee could get into position. He then gave an account of the repulse of Hancock by Heth's division, under Early, in its attempt to turn Lee's flank, and the terrible repulse which Kershaw's and Field's divisions gave the enemy in their repeated attacks on their lines, even though the odds against them were fully five to one. He gave striking in? cidents illustrating the heroism of our men in these fights. _ He gave the account of the breaking of Abodes' lines on the 10th, and tells of the gal? lant style in which they retook them, under the eye and in the immediate presence of Gen. Lee, whom the troops again begged to go to the rear He gave the details of the disaster to John? ston's division on the memorable 12th of May (exonerating that noble old Roman from all blame), by which we lost three thousand prisoners and eighteen pieces of artillery; and told of the splendid courage by which a new line just in the rear was formed, against which the blue waves dashed in vain. He gave an incident of the refusal of Harris' Mississippi brigade to go into the fight with General Lee, and brought out the point that this incident occurred several times in this campaign, and that General Lee, when written to after the war about it, only mentions one (in reply to a direct question) so modest and unpretending was he, that such incidents were regarded by him as of minor importance. He claimed that while others did most noble service, Rhodes aud Raraseur were the real heroes of that memorable 12th of May. He said that in reply to the question frequently asked why General Lee sent the Government no telegram about the battle of the 12th, that he aid send a telegram that evening. He then sketched the further progress of the campaign by which Lee foiled Grant at the North Anna, gave him a crushing defeat at Cold Harbor, and finally forced him to lay siege to Petersburg, which he might have done at the beginning of the campaign without the loss of a single man. This narrative is interspersed with touching and valuable historic iucidents, which we re? gret our want of space will not allow us to give; but this will all doubtless be published in full, and will give the future historian in? valuable material. His summing up was as follows: He had not designed to give a review, but only a few incidents of the campaign. But a few more general statements of this greatest campaign of that army would not be out of place. v On the 4th of May four radiating in? vading columns set out simultaneously for the conquest of Virginia. The old State, which had for three years known little else save the tramp of armed legions, was now to be closed in by a circle of fire from the mountains to the seaboard. Through the southwestern mountain passes ; through the gates of the lower valley; from the battle-scarred vales of the Rappahannock ; from the Atlantic seaboard to the waters of the James came the serried hosts on field and flood, numbering more than 275,000 men (in? cluded in this number also reinforcements sent during the campaign.)_ No troops were ever more thoroughly equipped, or supplied with a more abundant commissariat. For the heaviest column transports were ready to bring supplies and reinforcements to any one of three convenient deep-water passes?Acquia creek, Port Royal and the White House. The column next in importance had its deep-water base within nine miles of a vital point in our defenses. In the cavalry arm (so important in a campaign in a country like ours) they boasted overwhelming strength. The Confederate forces in Virginia, or which could be drawn to its defense from other points, num? bered not more than 75,000 men. Yet our great commander with steadfast heart, com? mitting our cause to the Lord of battles, calmly made his disposition to meet the shock of the invading bouts. In sixty days the great inva? sion had dwindled to a siege of Petersburg (miles from deep water) by the main column which, "shaken in its structure, its valor quenched in blood, and thousands of its ablest officers killed or wounded, was the Army of the Potonfac no more." Mingled with it in lines of Petersburg lay the men of the second column, which for the last, forty days of the campaign had been held in inglorious action at Bermudah Hundreds by Beauregard, except when a portion of it was sent to share the defeat of June 3rd on the Chicahominy. while the third and fourth col? umns, foiled at Lynchburg, were wandering in disorderly retreat through the mountains of West Virginia, entirely out of the area of mil itary operations. Lee had made his works at Petersburg im? pregnable to assault, and had a moveable col? umn of his array within two days' march of the Federal capital. He had made a campaign unexampled in the history of defensive war? fare. Colonel Venable concluded his noble ad? dress as follows: "My comrades, I feel that I have given but a feeble picture of this grand period iu the his? tory of this time of trial of our beloved South ?a history which is a great gift of God, and which we must hand down as a holy heritage to our children, not to teach them to cherish a spirit of bitterness or a love for war, but to show them that their fathers bore themselves worthily in the strife, when to do battle be? came a sacred duty. Heroic history is the living soul of a nation's renown. When the traveler in Switzerland beholds the monument to the thirteen hundred brave mountaineers who met the overwhelming hosts of their proud invaders, and as he reads in their epitaph : 'Who fell unconquered, but wearied with victory, giving their souls to God and their bodies to their enemy;' or when he visits the places sacred to the myth of William Tell, transplanted by pious, patriotic friends from the sages of another people, to inspire the youth of that mountain land with a hatred of tyrants and a love of heroic deeds?or when he contemplates that woaderful monument by Thurwaldsen, on the shores of Lake Lucerne, in commemoration of the fidelity in death of the Swiss Guard of Louis XVI.?a colossal lion, cut out of the living rock, pierced by a fatal javelin, and yet in death protecting the lily of France with his paw?he asks himself how many men of the nations of the world have been inspired with a love of freedom by the monuments and heroic stories of little Switzerland ? "Comrades, we need not weave any fable borrowed from Scandinavian lore into the woof of our history to inspire our youth with admi? ration of glorious deeds in freedom's battles done. In the true history of this army of Northern Virginia, which laid down its arras not conquered, but wearied with victory, you have a record of deeds of valor, of unselfish consecration to duty, and faithfulness in death which will teach our sons and our sons' sons how to die for liberty. Let us see to it that it shall be transmitted to them." Colonel Venable's very interesting address was received with frequent bursts of applause from the audience; and yet during the whole of it the decorum observed was remarkable. His touching allusions to the past services of the gallant Army of Northern Virginia drew forth a tear from nearly every eye, and when he eloquently recited the heroic deeds of the faithful sons of the South his words were gree? ted with enthusiastic applause. Now aud then a humorous incident of the campaign?the last sixty days of the war?as recited by Colo? nel Venable, excited the risibilities of the au? dience, and the next moment he carried his hearers through some of the most solemn and impressive scenes of those last days of battle, and their laughter was then almost turned into sobbing. Another Radical Outrage. We regret to be compelled to chronicle an? other most inexcusable outrage iu this county, perpetrated under the pretence of legal au? thority. Or rather, we regret that we can do nothing more than chronicle it. Employed on the farm of Mr. John A. Ma? rion, a few miles east of this place, is a re? spectable young white man, named Henry larrell, aged about twenty-two years. He was summonea to work on the public highway last summer; but forgot the matter and neglected to appear when summond. On last Monday Isom Grier, a negro constable, went to the plantation of Mr. Marion, with a warrant is? sued by Ben Micheal, a negro Trial Justice. The constable found Mr. Ferrell employed at the gin house of Mr. Marion, and arrested him. Mr. Ferrell desired to go to the dwelling house to get his coat, he being in his shirt sleeves, and for the purpose of letting Mrs. Marion, the only other white person on the plantation at the time, know where he was going to. This privilege was refused him by the negro constable, and, upon his insisting upon going to the house the said constable called to his assistance some other negro men who were at work about the gin house, seized the young man, overpowered him, and tied him hard and fast. He was brought to fcDwn, thrown in jail, and on Tuesday was carried before Michael and squeezed to the extent of ten dollars and ninety-hve cents. He was only a defaulter for one day's work on the roads. These are the facts as furnished to us by Mr. John A. Marion, than whom there is no more respectable nor truthful man in Chester Coun It is our deliberate conviction, and has been so for some time, that it is the settled purpose of certain Radical officials to goad the white people of this section of country into taking the law into their own hands and resenting the indignities that are continually being heaped upon them under the pretended forms of law. We believe that this purpose had its inception in high quarters, and that the carrying of it out is instigated in high quarters with the view of advancing the political fortunes of the in? stigators. It is a matter of history that the organization of the K. K. K. was instigated and helped forward by the Scott administration, and no one, we suppose, would for a moment deny that the Moses administration is no whit the inferior of its predecessor in all species of rascality and robbery. With th'i conviction upon our minds all that we can advise our white brethren to do is to grin and bear for the present. We believe that there is a God above us who loves justice and truth and hates false? hood and oppression, and that in His own good time our present rulers, all of them, negroes, carpet-baggers and scalawags, will be seen calling upon the rocks and the hills to hide them from the fury of an outraged and long suffering people.? Chester Reporter. ? A suit is about to be brought in Indiana to test the question whether the statute forbid? ding persons with a visible mixture of negro blood to marry whites is or is not in conflict with the civil rights law and retent constitu? tional amendments. The suit is in behalf of Edward Brown, of Indianapolis, convicted last spring of marrying a white woman, and sen? tenced to five years in the penitentiary. The result, will be looked for with interest, as there are several other States in which a similar law exists, and some in which it is enforced. ? "Tom, a word with you." "Be quiok, then, for I'm in a hurry." "What did you give your horse the other day?" "A pint of turpentine." John hurries home, and adminis? ters the same dose to a favorite charger, who, strange to say, drops off defunct within an hour. His opinion of his friend Tom's veteri? nary ability is somewhat staggered. He met him the next day. "Well, Tom." "Well, John, what is it?" "I gave ray horse a pint of turpentine, and it killed hira as dead as Julius Cecsar." "So it did mine." An Appeal to the Legislature. The condition of South Carolina at this time is deplorable. By a liberal expenditure of money and a free use of credit, the planters made a fine crop of cotton, which they reason? ably expected to sell at 18 or 20 cents a pound. The financial crisis came, as they were about to send their crops to market; commerce was paralyzed; confidence fled from the minds of men ; thousands of factories closed their doors; a general contraction in expenditures took {>lace. As a natural consequence cotton fell ower and lower, and is noiv selling at less than the cost of production. The planters have acted like the honorable men that they are. They hesitate at no sacrifice to meet their pressing engagements; but the vast majority of them, instead of realizing a handsome profit on their work, find themselves worse off th:.n they were a year ago?as badly off, indeed, as if they had allowed their lands to lie idle the season through. That is their sad plight to-day, and the members of the Legislature know it. This is an emergency, therefore, when the people need all the indulgence and relief which their rulers can give them. The North and West are clamoring for a reduction of the cost of carrying on the National Government, so th^r there shall not be any augmentation of taxa? tion. They truthfully say that the people can? not bear a heavier load than they now carry? that another feather will break their backs. It is the same case with us, except that the people of South Carolina fear the tax levies of the State government infinitely more than they fear the milder demands of the Federal asses? sors. We are poor, and the taxes which are threatened to be imposed will ruin the State. Last year the rate of taxation for State and County purposes was one and a half per cent; a rate which is exceeded in hardly any other State, when it is considered that the tax was levied upon property which is assessed at a higher price than it will sell for in the open market. The people insist that this rate shall not be exceeded, and that it shall, if possible, be reduced. They see that speculative cliques are striving to induce the Legislature to levy a tax of two or even three per cent. They know t! at the tax, if levied, cannot be collected, be? cause the money is not in the State. There is no talk of rebellion or revolution, but the people cannot pay the three or four million dollars desired to be extorted from them. Already the effect of the monetary stringency is; seen in the dullness of trade in the towns, in the falling off in country orders, in the expressed deter? mination to employ less labor and plant less land for next year. And this disastrous condi? tion of things will be made more injurious, more widespread and far-reaching, if the Leg? islature levy an inordinate tax for any purpose whatever. \vre grant that it is advisable to ar? range the State debt, and make seme disposi? tion of the ioating liabilities, but the most im? portant thing is lo reduce the demands upon the people to the lowest possible point. The debt can wait. That is better than that the people should starve; than that thousands of laborers should be thrown out of work and be left de? pendent on public charity. It hi the duty of the Legislature to bring down the expenses of the government to the lowest practicable figure, and not to take a dollar from the people which is not imperatively necessary. This they can. do, and more! The estimates upon which the tax bill is based are for the whole fiscal year. There is not a single item of expenditure which is not nominally spread over a considerable period. Salaries are paid by the month or quarter; so are school moneys, or they should be. Even the members of the Legislature do not need their pay in a lump. They are usually in ses? sion three or four months, and the payment of $150 a month for four mouths would be better for them than the receipt of their whole $600 at the beginning or end of the session. When a tax is levied which will produce two million dollars, it is ridiculous and dishonest to say that so large a sum is required in the first three or four months of the fiscal year. As the law stands, the tax for the year ending in October is collected by the middle of the preceding January. The revenue for the year is collected in a couple of months. It is spent as quickly as it is received, aud for two-thirds of the fiscal year the State Government is penniless. This has been proved true of every year since the accession of the Republicans to power. Pay? ing a gear's taxes in two or three months leads to spending a year's income in less than a third of a year. That is reason euough lor changing the system; but there is, as we have shown, an urgent cause for lightening the burden upon the people, which can be done by changing the mauner of collecting the taxes, as well as by reducing the percentage of taxation. The proposition we make is, that the State tax for 1873-74 be payable in not less than two instal? ments. This will give the people breathing time. They can pay a half when they cannot pay the whole. The revenue will be ample; because the State government will receive its supplies half yearly in advance; and the peo? ple will be encouraged, by the consideration shown them, to meet their engagements prompt? ly and to work vigorously during the coming season. Wc beg the Legislature to give this matter their careful consideration. They have the opportunity now to prove their thoughtful friendliness to their own especial constituents, who sufier as much as the Conservatives from the disturbed condition of our industrial affairs ; and they can prove, besides, that they have some thought for the white minority who have no voice in the legislative councils, but who pay directly ninetccn-twentieths of the total taxation. Wc leave the matter, then, in the hands of the General Assembly; entreating them, as they value the welfare of South Caro? lina, to avoid increasing the rate of taxation, and to make the tax, whatever the rate, paya? ble in two instalments at least. If there he any arguments against this proposal wc shall be glad to hear them. We believe that in no other way than in that which we have suggest? ed, can the masses of rhc people be enabled to keep body and soul together.? Charleston. News and Courier. ? A Washington letter says: "Advices from Texas indicate that the Conservatives will carry the State in the election on the 2nd of December by an increased majority over that given for Greeley last year. It is antici? pated that there may be some trouble in the State and perhaps a recourse to Federal inter? ference, as in the case of Louisiana. In ac? cordance with a law passed last winter, new elections are to be held for the State Senate in a number of districts where the parties now filling the positions claim to have several years yet to serve. These parties, all of whom are Republicans, declare they will hold on to their offices, in which event there will be two bodies claiming to be the State Senate. In this event, Mr. Attorney General Williams will doubtless be applied to for an opinion as to which is the the lawful body." ? A New Orleans juryman was asked by the Judge if he ever read the papers. He re? plied : "Yes, your honor; but if you'll let me off this time, I'll never do so any more." The Relations of Labor and Capital. The New York Herald, in a recent financial article, discourses as follows upon the relations of labor aud capital: There is no feature of the present monetary situation more deserving of attention and care* ful study than its relation to the labor of the country. From all sides we learn daily of the closing of factories, with a consequent dis? charge of operatives, or the reduction of time or wages of operatives where factories are kept running. Throughout the country it is satis? factory to note the ready acquiescence of the working people in these compromises, notwith? standing the belief abroad, seemingly not without foundation, that in mauy cases these suspensions, partial or entire, were not abso? lutely necessary, but, being permitted by the condition of trade, the opportunity was availed of to bring about a revolution in labor. And such revolution must come, either in respect to time or wages. The era of shoddy Is passing away. The great inflation produced by the war, with its rapid issue of paper dollars, is suffering a reaction. The large bank balances, the result of fat contracts, and the extravagant living consequent thereupon are fading vis? ions, and a new thought, of retrenchment, economy and cautious expenditure, is sup? planting the reckless style of living which followed upon our civil strife.* With the inau? guration of this social and business reform must come a universal shrinkage of values, such as we have already in part seen. It is impossible that labor should prove a single ex? ception in the operation of a general principle so true to all the conditions of life as this. The united operatives or trade unions may struggle for a tin\e ag?inst the receding tide and sporad? ically gain a temporary victory. But if infla? tion be not again entered upon, if conservatism and a gradual contraction of superfluous out? lay, looking to the return of all values to a specie level, so that resumption may come without danger, be the wise policy that shall govern us in the future, alike as individuals as in our aggregate national purpose and en* deavor, all forms of labor which have been advanced in price by the pressure of combi? nations out of proportion to surrounding conditions must suffer a reaction, when reac? tion in prices elsewhere makes this in harmony with new conditions, too great to be endured. Labor not so situated, that has simply followed the ordinary laws of trade?supply and de? mand?will readily adjust itselr to the new order of things without serious disturbance of existing relations. The workingmen through? out the country, and in this city particularly, would do well to bear these facts in mind, and prepare themselves for this new deal that must inevitably come with a revival of mechanical or manufacturing iudustry throughout the country, whether that be sooner or later. A cheerful acknowledgment of the situation at once, and a willingness to meet employers in a candid understanding spirit, would do much to hasten this revival. It would be wise policy on the part of the workingmen if they took the initiativein this direction, and secured a compromise iu the transition period upon which we are just entering, that wouid secure them employment this winter and bring them by gradual approaches to the full decline that must come with a resumption of specie payments. This would be best attained by the various labor organization relaxing their rules so as to permit members to enter upon work on special contracts, each for himself, the best he could make, without forfeiting mem* bership. When business shall have resumed a normal condition, and through the friction of use and employment wages had found their true level in the new order, the unions might then resume their supervision and control with an eularged experience as to their rights and privileges in the premises. Wor'.iugmen just now very justly complain that t",ie shrinkage of values upon which such stress is laid does not benefit them any: that prices are as high at the corner grocery store, at the butchers and bakers; that coal is just as dear as ever and clothing but slightly affected by the panic. There is too much truth in this. The shrink? age spoken of has not yet reached to the level of the consumer, but it will come and it is a note of preparation for what must then inevit? ably follow that the above suggestions are made. The Indian and the Negro. The policy of the Federal Government towards the Indians is, to say thr* least of it, a contradictory one. At one time it would seem that Indians have some rights that the Government is bound to respect, and other times it does not seem so. In the year 1866, Congress agreed to give the Choc taw Indians $300,000 for the strip of country known as the "Leased District," provided the Choctaws would withiu two years adopt iuto the nation and make citizens of about 3,000 negroes, formerly their slaves, and give to each individual negro forty acres of land. But neither the money promised nor the adoption of the Howard Amendment declaring all persons born iu the United States to be citizens of the State where? in they reside, could prevail upon the Choc? taws to disregard their rights of property and their prejudices of race, if uot of color, so far ?s to admit their negro slaves to the rights of citizenship. And, if we are correctly informed, the Indians in the everglades of Florida also continue to this day to disregard the Constitu? tional provision in regard to involuntary ser? vitude. The time allowed by Congress for the Choc? taws to accept the "benefits" of its legislation in their behalf has long ago passed without action having been taken, but from council to council the Government has extender! the time. The question now arises what will the Gov? ernment do in the premises? The Government that can hang Captain Jack by a Military Commission would seem to have ample power to meet any emergency. But as the Richmond Dispatch says "this bit of history has another phase that is interest? ing. We see that Congress has offered to buy the consent of the Choctaws to the enfran? chisement of the negro as a voter and equal. Yet no such consideration was shown to the white man of the South. He was not asked anything; but the reconstruction measures gave the negro directly all that the Choctaws arc asked to give him. Nay, all that they were offered ($800,000) to give him, except the forty acres of land. "This is well worth the attention of the na? tion. The negro is superior to the white man, and the Indian also, in the estimation of Con? gress. Think ou it." _One of the wittiest, as well as one of the most brilliant men Pennsylvania has produced was the late Gco. W. Barton, of Philadelphia, who once occupied a seat on the bench. Try? ing a case before a judge who was chiefly re? markable for obtuseness, he took occasion to say that he had often seen a great ass in judi? cial robes. "You speak from experience, I suppose," was the angry retort. "Not at all " replied Judge Barton, "I am speaking directly from observation."