Any officer negligently permitting a prisoner to be lynched forfeits his office and becomes ineligible to any office unless pardoned. The county, without regard to the conduct of the officers, is liable in damages of not under $2,000 to the heirs of the deceased. Since 1895 divorce has been con stitutionally forbidden. The few divorces ever granted in South Carolina were under the act of 1872 permitting divorce for adultery or wilful desertion for two years.
The State tax commission, created 1915, super vises all tax administration and directly administers the income, inheritance, gross receipts, public utilities, corporation and gaso lene taxes. More than three-fourths of the revenues supporting the State Government are from these special taxes, less than one fourth being from the general property tax. There thus exists in practice to a considerable degree separation of State and local revenues, the latter being derived from the general property tax, and in the case of municipalities from business licences in addi tion. The gasolene tax and motor vehicle licence fees are divided between State-maintained roads and local roads. Schools are assisted by the receipts of a small capitation tax.
As early as 1710 public school education was provided for indigent children. The present free-school system was established in 1868. The educational system is under the supervision of the State superintendent of education, with the assistance of a board composed of the governor, the superintend... ent of education and seven other persons appointed by the gov ernor. State support and regulation of high schools were greatly increased in 1907. South Carolina maintains a dual school sys tem : one for white and one for coloured children. Enrollment in the public elementary schools for the year 1934-35 was 422,788, of whom 204,580 were white and 218,208 negro; in the high schools there were 66,933-55,895 white and 11,038 negro. The average number of days attendance per pupil per year was 113.5 in 1932 as compared with 76 in 1920. Other improvements are night schools for adults, enlarged facilities for agricultural, voca tional and home economics training, State standard certification of teachers and more effective State supervision. By the 1919 law four months' school attendance is compulsory, but enforce ment is lax.
South Carolina's farm products are normally valued at less than half its factory output. Thus in 1933, when the gross income from agriculture for the State was $95,900,000, the value of manufactures was $257,344,000; and of the latter $116.522,000 could properly be counted as an increment due strictly to the manufacturing process.
The total farm acreage in 1935 was 12,387,000 or 62.•1% of the whole area of the State, a striking increase over the figures for 1930, which were respectively 10,393,000 acres and 53.3%. The number of farms increased in a somewhat smaller ratio, rising from 157,931 in 1930 to just 165,504 in 1935. Of the 157,931 farmers in 1930 over half, or 80,506 were white. White owners were 38,478; coloured 15,992; white tenants, 41,406; coloured 61,362; white managers 622; coloured 71. The percentage of tenancy was 65.1. The total farm acreage (10,393,000) in 1930 was divided as follows: crop lands, 5,037,000; pasture land, 1,793,000; wood land, 2,851,000; all other land in farms, 712,000. The average acreage per farm was 65.8, but crops were harvested from only 26.15 ac. per farm. The valuation of all farm property was $439,680,000; of the average farm, $2,784. The average per acre value of land alone was $25.03. The farm population decreased during the ten years, 1920-30, from 1,074,693 to 916,471, or a total loss of nearly 15%.
Cotton, though no longer heading the list in acreage, still holds first place in total crop value. The State has two great cash crops—cotton and tobacco; five grain crops—corn, wheat, oats, rye, rice; four legumes that yield both hay and grain, cowpeas, soy beans, velvet beans, peanuts; two for syrup, sorghum and sugar cane. Potatoes, both white and sweet, fruit and vegetables also add to the wealth of the State.
The principal crops with their approximate acreage, product and value as of 1934 were as follows:— The coastal region, with a mild climate and a soil responding quickly to intensive cultivation, is especially suited to commercial truck farming. The chief products, exclusive of potatoes and cane grown for syrup, are watermelons, cabbages, cucumbers, snap beans, spinach, asparagus, tomatoes and lettuce. Straw berries, dewberries, blackberries, figs and grapes add to the fruit wealth of the State.