ves long time in learning the value of the combined and triple marine engine. About 1880 began to be developed a type of vessel that had lines something like the ocean steamer, but with less free-board and with a perfectly flat bottom, the keel being inside, so as to make every inch of the draft available. Such vessels were built in groups of two or three. The first, usually the larger, had an engine too powerful for its own use. The object was to tow the barge or barges, almost as large as itself, on the principle that a steam engine which can not propel a large vessel will tow it and another vessel if the engine is placed on a tug or a launch. That is to say, an extra large steam engine for one boat would carry that boat along, together with another as a tow; while, if the same horse-power were distributed in the two or three vessels, it would not be strong enough to move them independently. Thus far all vessels carried three or four masts, whether provided with engines or not, so that advantage might always be taken of the wind when it was favorable. The first of such steamers and barges were made of wood; but soon it was found that iron was better and more economical, and that even iron frames, covered with wood planking, made a "composite' sel that was far superior to the wooden one. The change has been so marked that to-day scarcely a vessel of any kind, along the whole length of the lakes, aside from small coasting schooners, is built of wood. Even the side-wheel passenger steamers (which are very few, and for the most part confined to Lake Erie and the route between Detroit and Cleveland) have been so modified that they bear no resemblance to the side-wheelers of twenty years ago. The wheels of large steamers with wheel boxes standing far above the upper decks have been discarded, and in their place much smaller vessels are used, with paddle boxes covered by at least one deck above them. The width of the guards has also been reduced, so that they now overhang but half the distance of the guards formerly built. This type of steamer, with small wheels and increased revolutions, is found to be much more seaworthy than the former. The feature of the paddlewheel, well aft of the engine, is still retained, after the manner of the steamboats on the Western rivers. The finest steamers of this sort are those running between Cleveland and Detroit, which route is profitable because the railroad mileage between the two cities is so great. The steamers on this line cost about $250.000 each. The latest product in the line of vessels adapted for both passengers and freight is a twin-screw steel passenger steamer, built for the Goodrich Transportation Company, of Milwaukee. The length is 270 feet over all; the accommodations are for 140 passengers, and the cost is over $300,000. Within the past five years the use of iron has almost wholly given way to the use of mild steel for large vessels of all descriptions on the lakes. The short life of thin steel plates has been lengthened by the use of soapstone, or special compositions of enamel. Only 30-3 per cent. of the tonnage built in 1885 in the world was constructed of steel; in 1886, 45-4 per cent.; in 1887, 72-2 per cent.: in 1888, 84-2 per cent.; and in 1889 and 1890 the percentage in favor of steel was still more marked. By far the larger part of the increase in the building of steel over iron came from the ship-yards of the lakes. A shipbuilder of the Clyde recently gave this complimentary statement regarding the latest styles of naval architecture on the lakes: "The waterbottoms of your steel steamers on the lakes are different from any I have ever seen, and better, too. In all my experience of forty years I never saw anything to equal the Mariska' in construction. Her water-bottom is superior to any I ever saw, and I am told that it is similar to the bottom of all your lake steamers. There never was a steamer built on the Clyde that equals her in construction. As proof that I am in earnest, let me add that I have instructed my people across the water to get all the risks they can on steamers constructed like the Mariska.' Do you know what would have been the result had a Clyde-built steamer been on the rock where the Mariska' was? She would have been there yet. Her entire cargo would have been taken out; and if she had been loaded with anything that would be spoiled by contact with water most of her cargo would have been ruined. would have been in dry-dock over a month, and most of her water-bottom would have been torn out. I think if European builders were acquainted with this style of water-bottom they would adopt it. It's wonderful to me to think of a boat tearing a hole in her bottom as the 'Mariska' did and not damaging her cargo. If she had been loaded with silk, it would have been the same-her cargo would have been saved." She The real development of modern steel and iron ship-building on the lakes began about 1880, when largely increased railway facilities brought coal in large quantities to Lake Erie ports. After a trial of several years with the motor vessels, and their consorts in tow, it was found that the slow progress resulted in a loss of at least two or three trips during every season. As the season, at its best, is only about seven months, and as the rivalry over freight rates cut them down to a low figure, the loss of two or three trips often meant the absence of any profit for the season. Therefore the motor and tow boats, of large build, gave way to the present type of vessel, each having its own motor and running independently of all others. Then came the development in engines, which, by the use of combined and triple marine, shortened the time of trips so that every season might show a profit. Owing to this later development, mor e than to any other, iron and steel ship-building on the lakes has grown rapidly within the past four years. Among the larger boats of this class are the "Susquehanna," launched in Buffalo in 1886, with a length of 323 feet, and the "Owego," also launched at Buffalo in 1887, with a length of 357 feet. A brief description of the "Owego follows: The depth molded at the lowest point is 25 feet and 6 inches, and the beam, molded, is 41 feet. The whole is of steel, except a few parts of the internal inclosures about the engines and boilers. The vessel has three decks, and it is propelled by a triple-expansion, inverted-vertical, direct-acting, jet-condensing, threecylinder compound engine. The engines work under a boiler pressure of 160 pounds. They are managed from the lower engine room from the level of the shaft. Steam is supplied by six boilers, each 114 feet long. The vessel is fitted with a double bottom 3 feet deep, forming a ballast tank of about 800 tons capacity. It is designed to carry 2,800 tons of cargo and fuel on 15 feet 6 inches draft of water, and with this load to steam 14 knots or 16 miles an hour. Since the building of the "Susquehanna" and the "Owego" the tendency has been to make vessels of a shorter length and standing higher out of water. Of these, the "Tuscarora," built in Cleveland in 1890, is, perhaps, a fair specimen. She is of 290 feet keel, 312 feet over all, 40 feet beam, and 25 feet depth. Over 1,600 tons of plate were used in her hull, and she is in many respects superior to the modern steel boats of the lakes, as there was no attempt to save money in her construction. She has the usual water capacity-8 compartments of about 800 tons. She has 2 flush steel decks, the top one being covered with 3-inch pine, and an additional tier of deck beams below, or virtually a third deck. Her water-bottom runs clear aft, and she has 3 longitudinal keelsons on either side of the main keelson. The middle one of this third tier of keelsons on either side runs down to the skin of the vessel. It is said that when one of the boats of the fleet, the "Saranac," was driven ashore on the rocks at Buffalo, in the spring of 1890, it was the additional strength of such keelsons that saved her bottom. The "Tuscarora" is very strong in other ways. Her trunk around the engine and boiler, is carried up with quarterinch boiler plate, and the boiler house is also of quarter-inch boiler plate. She carries 4 spars, the mizzen of steel. Five hoisting engines on the deck operate 7 spar derricks, so that time is saved in handling cargo by having it worked through the hatches as well as the gangways. The engines have 24-, 38-, and 61-inch cylinders, with 42-inch stroke; but they are placed forward about 40 feet farther than in the ordinary lake carrier, and the shaft alley is, of course, very large. She has 3 boilers of 12 x 124 feet, which are allowed 160 pounds of steam, and her wheel is sectional, 14 x 17. A feature of the "Tuscarora's" power is the Worthington independent condenser, which has greatly increased her speed. It is claimed that she and her sister vessels are the only boats on the lakes to compete with the record of 164 miles an hour held by the "Owego." This is a vast improvement over the old line of freighters, which made scarcely 10 miles an hour as late as 1880. But there is a structural weakness in all the large steel boats, arising from the necessities of the carrying trade, which would be fatal to their use in the heavy seas of salt water. The plates of iron and steel are usually much thinner than those of the salt-water vessels, and the frames are much lighter. While there are occasionally heavy storms upon the lakes, yet something may be risked in the way of lighter construction, because none of the lake boats run during the winter months. The chief element of weakness, however, is in the large and frequent openings through all the decks for the purpose of loading and unloading. The hatches of the upper deck are 26 x 8 feet, the greater length being across the vessel. The hatches in the lower decks are 16 x 8 feet. All the hatches are placed at distances of 24 feet, center to cen ter. The immense cranes on the docks are also placed 24 feet from center to center. At Marquette, on Lake Superior, whence hundreds of thousands of tons of ore are shipped annually, the railroad company that brings the mineral down to the lake shore has built a pier more than 1,000 feet long, having a height of about 40 feet above the water level. The freight cars are run out upon this, and their contents are dumped into large bins directly under the tracks. These bins are built to correspond in dimensions with the hatches of the lake vessels. The latter pull alongside of the pier, the legs or chutes of the bins are thrust through the great hatches of the upper deck, the catch that keeps the bin door in place is pulled, and the entire contents of that receptacle fall into the hold of the vessel with a roar that can be heard for miles. Manual labor is reduced to the mere duty of supervision; but in discharging cargoes a different process is adopted. No plan has yet been devised of lifting a vessel up and letting her cargo fall out; neither has it been found possible to unload iron ore and coal as grain is discharged, by means of the endless belt of an elevator. These heavy materials have to be put into tubs and lifted out of the ship's hold, and the merit of the frequent-hatch plan consists in the opportunity it affords for several gangs of men to work simultaneously. Mechanical science has been brought into play in the construction of hoisting and conveying machines to supplement the efforts of the men in the hold. The superintendent of an ore-wharf at Cleveland asserts that with the assistance of three operators and one foreman he has in nine hours discharged a cargo of 1,980 tons of ore, working six hatches with nine men at a hatch, and carrying the ore from 50 to 150 feet from the vessel. During the process the men are all under cover, and are exposed neither to the rain nor to the direct heat of the sun. The cost of putting the ore into the buckets by the men in the hold averages about 15 cents a ton. Instances are on record where a cargo of 2,000 tons of coal has been put on board of a steamer in one hour and twenty minutes, and a similar quantity of iron ore in one hour and thirty minutes. Two thousand tons of coal have been discharged in eleven hours, and a similar quantity of iron ore in six hours. These instances cited are exceptional, but the average does not fall far below them. At the Lake Erie ports-Cleveland, Ashtabula, Fairport, Buffalo, Erie, Sandusky, Toledo, and Lorain-whence all the coal is shipped, and where by far the larger part of the ore is received, there are nearly 16 miles of dockage, about 56 per cent. of which is occupied by the ore business and the remainder by the coal traffic. The grain trade is chiefly between Chicago, West Superior, Duluth, and Milwaukee on the west, and Buffalo on the east. In 1889 these four ports shipped 34,887,000 bushels of wheat alone to Buffalo. The total corn tonnage was still greater, while the flour traffic reached a total of over 3,850,000 barrels. In 1890 the grain season opened the second week in April, and the grain fleet on its first trip brought down from Chicago 110,000 tons, distributed as follows: 2,802,000 bushels of corn, 1,194,000 bushels of wheat, 137,000 bushels of rye, 71,000 of oats, and SHIPPING ON THE GREAT LAKES. 65,000 of flaxseed. During the first twenty-four days of the season one third as much grain was shipped from Chicago as was exported from New York in the twelve months of 1889. Only a heavy fall in rates prevented the moving of a still greater quantity. The total for the season of 1890 was slightly less than that of 1889, chiefly owing to short crops in the great Western grain belt. The mammoth proportions of the carrying trade for 1889 and 1890 are shown by a comparison with the figures between 1886 and 1889. The year 1886 was the thirtieth in the history of the iron-ore industry of the Lake Superior district. Over 3,500,000 tons were then brought to the furnaces from the ports of that lake. The quantity shipped in 1887 was over 4,000,000 tons; in 1888, over 5,000,000 tons; in 1890, 6,000,000 tons; and in 1891, 6,500,000 tons. In the season of 1888 100,000,000 bushels of grain were shipped eastward from the upper lakes. During two hundred and thirty-four was days of navigation in 1889 tonnage passed through Detroit river to the amount was more than of 10,000,000 tons, which the entries and clearances of all the seaports of the United States, and 3,000,000 tons more than the combined coastwise shipping of Liverpool and London. In 1890 the net capacity of the vessels employed on all the Great Lakes was 826,360 tons, against 634,652 in 1886: and their value, $58,128,500, against $30.597,450. Cleveland is the greatest ship-building place on the lakes; Bay City and West Bay City come next, and then follow, in the order given, Detroit and its suburbs, Buffalo, Chicago, Milwaukee, Marine City, and the ports of Gibraltar and Trenton on St. Clair river. At the several ports on the lakes iron and steel steamers for the freight traffic were built as follow: In Cleveland, 1887. 4; 1888. 8; 1889, 11: 1890, 14. In Chicago, 1890, 2. In West Bay City, 1890, 5. In Buffalo, 1882, 1; 1883, 3; 1884, i; 1885, 1; 1886, 1; 1887, 1; 1888, 1; 1889, 2; 1890, 4. In Toledo, 1890, 3. In Milwaukee, 1890, 2. In Detroit, 1884, 2; 1885, 1; 1886, 1; 1887, 1; 1888, 1; 1889, 1; 1890, 2. In Duluth, 1889, 3; 1890, 5. Thus a total of 35 steel and iron vessels was built upon the lakes during the season of 1890. This work is continued through the winter months, and the output for 1891 was still greater. All the vessels averaged a tonnage of considerably over 2,000. Their average length was nearly 300 feet. A type of freight carrier known as the "whale-back" is built exclusively at Duluth. It is claimed for this model that it will carry larger loads with less expenditure of fuel, and in a shorter time, than any other. The performances of the "Colgate Hoyt," of this type, seem to warrant the claim. One of the whale-backs made a successful voyage to Liverpool with a cargo of grain in the summer of 1891. In the season of 1891, from April 27 to Dec. 7, 10,191 vessels, steam and sail, were locked through from Lake Superior-a number slightly smaller than that for 1890. In 1891 less iron ore and grain other than wheat passed through the St. Mary's Falls Canal; but of wheat there was This an excess of 22,599,200 bushels over 1890. means that about 7 per cent. of the wheat crop of the entire country passed through the canal; and there were also returned through it to West ern consumers by Eastern shippers nearly 300,- With the increase of size and carrying capacity in lake vessels there has come also an increase in speed. Five years ago there was not a 12mile-an-hour freight boat on the lakes; now there are dozens. Many of the new steel steamers can make 15 miles an hour, and some of them will make a round trip from Cleveland to Escanaba or Marquette at a rate little under 14 miles. The record for speed is held by the steamships "Tioga" and "Owego." The "Owego" has made the round trip from Buffalo to Chicago at the rate of 15 miles an hour, running light going up, and bringing down 85,000 bushels of corn. All the lake ports are so connected by telegraph service that up and down cargoes are easily arranged long before the arrival of the vessels at their destination. The importance of the St. Mary's Falls Canal is well known to all familiar with the traffic on the lakes. There passed through this canal in the season ending Dec. 3, 1890, a grand total of 9,041,000 tons, against 7,500,000 in 1889. The canal was operated two hundred and twentyeight days, six fewer than in the year before. The number of vessels increased 10 per cent.; lockage, 6; freight tonnage, 20; coal, 34; flour, 45; manufactured and pig iron, 102; salt, 6; copper, 31; iron ore, 15; and lumber, 3 per cent. In 1881 1,500,000 tons passed through the canal, and in nine years the increase was 480 per cent. The latest records show that small craft are fast disappearing from the lakes and large vessels are taking their places. The total cost of carrying freight for the year ending in June, 1890, was $8.600,000. The value of the craft engaged in this traffic was $25,500,000. Canadian vessels carried 4 per cent. of the tonnage, against 6 per cent. in 1889. The statistics for 1891 showed that the lake fleet numbered 3,600 vessels, while the number of vessels engaged in the foreign trade of the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts together was only 1,579, and the average size of lake vessels was considerably greater than of the ocean traders. Reckoning ocean coasters with the foreign traders, it was found that the lake fleet was equal to more than one third of the whole salt-water fleet, its tonnage being 1,154,870 against 3,221,541 tons of the ocean fleet. The lake tonnage was nearly double what it was ten years ago, while during that time the increase in the Atlantic and Gulf coasting fleet had hardly made up for the loss of foreign business. In 1892 the shipment of ores from the upper lakes exceeded that of any previous year. The average profit on the $50,000,000 invested in lake vessels was between 9 and 10 per cent. The average size of a seaboard sailing vessel The ocean steamer is 128 tons, while the lake sailing vessel has of an average of 258 tons. averages 299 tons, the lake steamer 428 tons. The lakes have 272 steamers measuring over 1.000 tons, while the whole merchant marine of the coasts and the Western rivers has only 207 of that size. To make a still more familiar comparison, the lakes carried about three fifths as much freight per mile in 1891 as ten trunk-line railroads carried. SOUTH CAROLINA, a Southern State, one of the original thirteen, ratified the Constitution May 23, 1788; area, 3,750 square miles. The population, according to each decennial census, was 249,073 in 1790; 345,591 in 1800; 415,115 in 1810; 502,741 in 1820; 581.185 in 1830; 594,398 in 1840; 668,507 in 1850; 703,708 in 1860; 705,606 in 1870; 995.577 in 1880; and 1,151,149 in 1890. Capital, Columbia. Government.-The following were the State officers during the year: Governor, Benjamin R. Tillman, Democrat; Lieutenant-Governor, Eugene B. Gary; Secretary of State, J. E. Tindal; Treasurer, W. J. C. Bates; Comptroller-General, W. H. Ellerbe ; Attorney-General, T. L. McLaurin until Nov. 30, then D. A. Townsend; Superintendent of Education, W. D. Mayfield; Adjutant-General, H. L. Farley; Railroad Commissioners, D'Arcy P. Duncan, Eugene P. Jervey, H. R. Thomas; after the passage of the new railroad law the legislature elected T. A. Sligh, D. P. Duncan, and H. R. Thomas as Railroad Commissioners; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Henry McIver; Associate Justices, Samuel McGowan and Y. J. Pope. The governor and his cabinet entered upon their second term of office on Nov. 30. Finances. Following is a summary of the treasury accounts for the year ending Oct. 31, 1892: Interest due and not called for, $177,880.73; interest from January 1, 1880, to July 1, 1892, on $268,288.15. $201,216.11; sinking fund commission, $36,861.34; direct tax fund, $60,623.70; Morrill fund, $66,000; balances appropriations unpaid, (about) $70,000; unpaid accounts, $8.808.03; total cash liabilities, $621,389.91. General account, $29,455.83; sinking fund commission, $36,861.34; privilege tax on fertilizers, $320; department of agriculture, $1,114.52; redemption deficiencies, $998.97; escheated estates, (cash) $2,729.73; Downer fund, $64.95 direct tax fund, $60,623.70; Morrill fund, $66,000; Clemson bequest cash account, $2,779.86; total assets, $201,748.90; net cash liability, Nov. 1, 1892, $419,641.01. The receipts for the year ended Oct. 31, 1892, including balance on hand, were $1,326,787.46. The expenditures were $1,125,038.56. The moneys received from the United States on account of the Morrill fund belong to the agricultural colleges at Orangeburg and Fort Hill. An account of the plan for refunding the State debt may be found under the head "Legislative Session." Valuations. The total valuation of the property in the State is $168,871,227, about $600,000 more than last year. The constitutional tax of 2 mills for school purposes has a tendency to keep the assessments low and make the levy for State purposes correspondingly high. This was 5 mills, but was raised to 5 by the last legislature. Education. The South Carolina College at Columbia is not in a satisfactory condition. The legislature of 1891 discontinued the institution as a university, and made of it a literary, classical, and scientific college. The attendance, which was 226 in 1889-90, had fallen to 98 in June, 1892, and at the autumn opening was but 70. Clemson College is not yet opened, but it is expected that it will be ready in May, 1893. The funds arising from the privilege tax, and those given by the United States Government-known as the Hatch, the Morrill, and the land-script funds-were found not to be sufficient, as it had been hoped they would be, to build, equip, and run the college; and consequently the legislature was called upon for $40,000. The original plan was to provide for about 250 pupils; but so many applications have been made for admission, that accommodations are preparing for 600. The main building of the Citadel Academy was destroyed by fire on March 14, but has been rebuilt in more modern style and is better adapted to its purpose than before the fire; 137 students were in attendance during the fall term. The Winthrop School is still conducted in Columbia. The General Assembly of 1891 passed an act founding an institution for the industrial training of girls, in connection with a normal school, to be called the South Carolina Industrial and Winthrop Normal College, to be located in the town making the highest bid for grounds, building, and equipment. The city of Anderson offered the highest bid, $75,000; but before the bonds were issued it was found that this proposed addition to the city's debt would carry it beyond the 8 per cent. limit prescribed by the constitution. A decision given by the Supreme Court in a friendly lawsuit brought for a test of the validity of the proposed bonds, was against it, and bids will be taken again. Claflin College, at Orangeburg, a branch of the South Carolina University, receives half of the Morrill fund. A large part of it has been devoted to an increase in the force of teachers and the purchase of machinery and other improvements in the equipment. It is for colored youth of both sexes, and over 600 are in attendance. Charities. The number of patients under treatment at the State lunatic asylum, Nov. 1, was 764. The income of the institution from all sources was $115,385.57, and the expenditures, $112,371.73. The legislature passed an act to regulate the admission of patients. Penitentiary. The number of convicts on Nov. 1 was 900, an increase of 107 over the number last year. The total receipts during the year were $75,081.41, of which $39,681.83 was for convict hire and $19,326.16 from sales of cotton and other farm products; $36,350.36 represents the assets in cash, bills due for convict hire, and unsold farm produce. Among the disbursements were $14,372.20 for the pay rolls, $17,169.87 for subsistence, $2.995.73 for transportation of new convicts, $3,221.21 for Clemson College pay-rolls, etc., and $5,000 for payment on De Saussure farm. Railroads.-The General Assembly, at the session of 1891, directed the Attorney-General to investigate the complaints that the Port Royal and Augusta Railroad was controlled by a foreign corporation, to the detriment of the State. He found that it was under the control of the Georgia Central, a competing line, and that in consequence it was operated as part of the Central system, to the disadvantage of the section of the State through which the Port Royal runs, and to the detriment of Port Royal harbor. The Governor therefore sent a special message to the last legislature, recommending that the Attorney-General be authorized to begin proceedings against the railroad to compel it to abide by its charter. The number of miles of railroad built during the year is 177.32, and the number of miles in operation 2,535.80. The following roads are given as in the hands of receivers: the Asheville and Spartanburg, Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line, Columbia, Knoxville and Western, Three C's, Charleston, Sumter and Northern, Charlotte, Columbia and Augusta, Cheraw and Chester, Chester and Lenoir, Columbia and Greenville, Laurens Railroad, Port Royal and Augusta, Port Royal and Western Carolina, South Carolina Railway, and the Spartanburg, Union and Columbia. These roads represent more than half of the total railroad mileage of the State, 1,487 miles. The new railroad law will be found under "Legislative Session." Manufactures.-A census bulletin issued in October makes the following exhibit of the growth of Charleston manufactures in ten years: The depression in the cotton market, which has lessened very largely the use of fertilizers, has also entered into the conditions which brought about these low prices. Rivers and Harbors.-Congress has made the following appropriations for improvements in the State: Charleston harbor, $225,000, and contracts may be entered into for the entire completion of the project of improvement; Georgetown harbor, $12,000; harbor at Winyah Bay, $100,000; Edisto River, $7,385; Great Pee-Dee River, $10,000: Santee River, $30.000, to be used in snagging and in making a new cut between Estherville and Minim Creek; Waccamaw River, $10,000; Wappoo Cut, $10,000; Wateree River, for maintenance, $2,500; Congaree River, $5,000; Mingo Creek, $3,000; Little Pee Dee River, $5,000; Clark River, $2,500; Beaufort River, $12,500. Port Royal naval station, completion of dry dock, change of location of naval wharf, erection of office building, necessary dredging, etc., 1880. $150,000; officers' quarters. $5,000; telephone line, $1,500; erection of a building for marine barracks, $3,000. 194 37 Commerce.-The Bureau of Statistics gives $1,718,300 the figures below for the year ending June 30, and the previous year: 2,146 $639,030 $1,468,375 $4,732,590 Percentages of increase for Charleston are given as follows: Industries dealt with in this bulletin are: For Charleston, men's clothing, 5 establishments; cooperage, 6 establishments; cotton compressing, 4 establishments: fertilizers, 3 establishments; flouring and grist mills, 7 establishments; foundry and machine shops, 4 establishments; lumber manufactories, 10 establishments; printing and publishing, 9 establishments; rice cleaning and polishing, 4 establishments; shipbuilding, 7 establishments. The Phosphate Industry.-The report of the board of phosphate commissioners says of the condition of that industry: The present condition of the phosphate trade is very unsettled and the market glutted. There have been previous periods of depression, but from other causes than those which have produced the present low prices. Within the last few years very extensive deposits of phosphate rock, both on land and in rivers, have been discovered in Florida, and a large amount of capital has been invested in developing those mines. The rock is of a higher grade than ours, and, it is said, can be mined much more cheaply, but it has cut a small figure in the markets of the world until within the last twelve months. The Florida miners labor under the disadvantage of having poor shipping facilities, and they are handicapped also by higher freights, but their production of rock has been very large, and this has been thrown upon the market now for almost any price it would bring, and while we have every reason to believe that the Florida miners are selling below the cost of production, nevertheless their rock is displacing ours and forcing the price down until the margin of profits has grown very small, and with some of the companies may have disappeared altogether. Charleston: Imports, 1892, $896,681; 1891, $993,248. Exports, 1892, $16,718,386; 1891, $21,940,886. Exports, 1892, $544,902; 1891, $962,607. Beaufort: Imports, 1892, $25,000; 1891, $90,483. The total collections of the internal revenue department in the State were $71,812.85. Legislative Session.-The legislature convened on Nov. 23, and adjourned on Dec. 24. The number of bills and joint resolutions passed was 261. About 50 were continued till the next session. Among the measures introduced was a prohibition bill. An amendment or substitute was placed in its stead and passed. This is to regulate the sale of liquor by placing it in the hands of the government. It provides that the of the Act appoint a commissioner, believed by "Governor shall within 30 days from the approval him to be an abstainer from intoxicants, who shall, under such rules and regulations as may be made by the State Board of Control, purchase all intoxicating liquors for lawful sale in this State, giving preference to manufacturers and brewers in this State and furnish the same to such persons as may be designated as dispensers thereof. to be sold as hereafter prescribed in this Act." The commissioner is to hold office for two years, to reside and have his place of business at Columbia, to receive a salary of $1,800, and to be allowed a bookkeeper at a salary of $1,200, and such other assistants as the board of control may deem necessary. He shall not sell to the county dispensers any intoxicating or fermented liquors except such as have been tested by the chemist of the South Carolina College and declared to be pure and unadulterated. Said chemist and such assistants as may be appointed to aid him, to be allowed such compensation, if any, as the board of control may determine. He shall not receive from said county dispensers for such liquors sold to them more than 50 per cent. above the net cost thereof, and all amounts so received by him from said sales shall be by him paid over to the Treasurer of the State monthly, under such rules as may be made by the State board of control to insure |