The Confederate flag used to fly near this spot on the Statehouse grounds where now there is a big Christmas tree, unveiled last week by Gov. Nikki Haley in an annual tree-lighting ceremony. (Photo provided.)
IN THIS ISSUENEWS: One size doesn’t fit all counties in S.C. population
BRIEF: Pinckney, Haley, Riley to be honored
TALLY SHEET: More than 180 bills prefiled this week
COMMENTARY: Legislature needs more strategic, long-term thinking
SPOTLIGHT: ACLU of South Carolina
MY TURN, Sen. Marlon Kimpson: Time to tax state’s Internet sales
FEEDBACK: Send us a letter
SCORECARD: From big bucks to Santee Cooper to Corley
NUMBER: $114 million
QUOTE: Tongue (is burning hole)-in-cheek
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIA: The New Deal
NEWS
S.C. population: One size doesn’t fit all
By Bill Davis
DEC. 4, 2015 | South Carolina may find itself in “deep, deep yogurt” if nothing is done to address the imbalances in its population growth, according to experts and scholars who track and study growth.
For the better part of a decade, a report from the Strom Thurmond Institute, a public policy research center at Clemson University, said Charleston would be the same size as Charlotte by 2050. Through the years, the report helped fuel big policy decisions in the Statehouse, such as talks about road and infrastructure funding.
“Be ready; they’re coming.” That’s the takeaway from the 2003 report, “Modeling and Prediction of Future Urban Growth in the Charleston Region of South Carolina.” But a cursory glance today at comparative population growth curves between South Carolina and neighboring states Georgia and North Carolina tells a different story.
Next door
Based on the steeper inclines on growth in those states, perhaps the takeaway for South Carolina is more appropriately, “Be ready; they’re kind of coming, but they’re really moving next door.”
James H. Johnson Jr., a demographer and distinguished professor and director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at UNC-Chapel Hill, said much of the gap is due to Georgia and North Carolina enjoying a more attractive mix of urban centers, more robust economies, better education and access to world-class health care. Not to mention international airports, professional sports teams, banking and finance centers and the like.
Johnson talked this week with key policymakers and legislative staff in Columbia in which he said, in part, that the South’s population would continue to grow, but that the “magnet states” are Texas, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia – not South Carolina.
South Carolina, he said, has been on the advance, but at nowhere near the pace of the other Sunbelt states.
Widening gap in the Palmetto State
But a deeper look at the demographic changes within South Carolina shows a deeper problem, one that has bedeviled policymakers in the Palmetto State: a widening gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Jeffrey Allen, the director at the Strom Thurmond Institute and the author of the exploding Charleston report, said this week that because of relocation and in-migration patterns, the “rich counties will likely get richer, and the poor counties will get poorer.”
Growing areas are, no surprise to some, surrounding the Charlotte metro area along the state line in and around Rock Hill; coastal counties, like Charleston and Horry; the Midlands around Columbia; and the Greenville-Spartanburg corridor along I-85.
The rest of the state? There’s not as much of an upside.
Rifling through numbers and stats on his desk, Allen used Dorchester and Allendale counties as stark opposites. Between the 2000 and 2010 U.S. Census, Dorchester grew by 42 percent, while Allendale shrunk by 7 percent.
This represents an ages-old and widening gap politically that can also be tracked in terms incarceration rates, educational attainment rates, diabetes and multiple indicators highlighted over the years by the Center for Better South.
Population in the have-not counties is on the decrease, according to UNC’s Johnson, who said 13 poorer South Carolina counties saw deaths exceed births between the last two censuses.
Allendale County, specifically, has long been the focus of statisticians, demographers and filmmakers, such as Bud Ferillo who made the apocryphal “Corridor of Shame” documentary.
Johnson uncorked this chilling statistic – in Allendale County for every 100 member of the workforce, there are 173 “dependents” – people too old or too young or too sick to work. Balanced counties, he said, keep it at one-to-one ratio.
Johnson added that, looking at 25-year population trends in which people are living longer and fertility rates are “way, way down,” if South Carolina doesn’t maintain an open door to immigrants, the state’s rural areas could be in “deep, deep yogurt.”
Going beyond one-size-fits-all
Clemson’s Allen said he worried how lawmakers will be able to craft “one size fits all” policy when the state’s population is trending in two different directions.
“We see it all the time with federal laws that don’t apply to everyone and every situation,” he said.
Doug Woodward, professor of economics and director of the Division of Research at the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina, has found some bright spots delving into South Carolina’s numbers.
Greenville and Charleston are attracting a higher share of college graduates than the rest of the state, with a “real entrepreneurial class taking off in Charleston” attracted to its medical industry and growing tech sector.
But even then, both cities pale in comparison to the Raleigh-Durham in that matrix, said Woodward, due to the Research Triangle being “off the chart in every measure of competitiveness and quality of life” and leading the nation.
Woodward agreed with Allen’s assessment that South Carolina would continue to increase in population by about 15 percent a decade as it has since the 1950s.
Experts say urban and suburban areas can look forward to lots of that growth. But rural areas will continue to be left behind, continuing a modern legacy of being the have-nots of South Carolina.
“But that has always been the story of South Carolina,” said Allen, slyly referring to the state’s history with slavery.
Bill Davis is senior editor of Statehouse Report. Have a comment? Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com
PALMETTO POLITICSPinckney, Haley, Riley to be honored by Institute
Staff reports | The Riley Institute at Furman University in January will honor the late state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, the pastor slain in June with eight worshippers in Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, with the David H. Wilkins Award for Excellence in Legislative Leadership, the Institute has announced.
It said the posthumous recognition would be accepted by Pinckney’s widow, Jennifer, at the Institute’s annual awards dinner on Jan. 12, 2016, in Columbia.
“Senator Pinckney’s life was characterized by humility, intelligence and a commitment to those citizens left out of the economic mainstream in South Carolina,” said Riley Institute Executive Director Don Gordon. “He worked with colleagues in the Senate and elsewhere for the common good in our state. “
Also to be recognized with the Wilkins Award for Excellence in Civic Leadership are S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley and outgoing Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, both of whom will speak at the event and discuss their collaboration during the crisis involving the deaths the Emanuel Nine.
The annual ceremony honors David Wilkins, who served as speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives and as U.S. ambassador to Canada. Wilkins will co-host the event with former U.S. Secretary of Education and former two-term governor of South Carolina Dick Riley and Furman President Elizabeth Davis. More.
TALLY SHEETMore than 180 bills prefiled this week in House, Senate
Staff reports | House members and senators prefiled more than 180 new bills on Wednesday and Thursday on topics ranging from refugees and judicial selection to term limits and shorter legislative sessions. Each chamber will have another day next week to prefile bills before the start of the session in January.
By far, however, the most bills filed related to guns, which is not surprising to many still upset by recent mass shootings, including the June shooting that killed nine in a Charleston church.
Seven Senate bills — two by Sen. Gerald Malloy (D-Darlington) and five by Sen. Marlon Kimpson (D-Charleston) sought everything from waiting periods for gun purchases to reporting of handgun losses, background checks and firearms registration. House Democrats filed eight different bills which focused on similar topics. Here’s a look at major new bills filed this week:
IN THE SENATE
Custodial interrogations. S. 906 (Hayes) would require uniform rules for electronic recordings of custodial interrogation, with some exceptions.
Digital assets. S. 908 (Hayes) seeks to create a law that will help personal representatives or others manage and dispose of the digital assets of people who have died or are incapacitated.
Cop car audio, video. S. 913 (L. Martin) calls from audio and video from law enforcement vehicles to be subject to freedom of information laws, but also allow authorities to seek injunctions if they believe releasing the information can cause harm.
Guns. S. 917 (Malloy) calls for a 28-day waiting period for a gun purchase following the start of a criminal background check, which must be passed before the sale can be completed, with several provisions. S. 918 (Malloy) is similar. S. 939 (Kimpson) would make it unlawful to have an assault weapon, with exceptions. S. 940 (Kimpson) would require handgun owners or dealers to immediately report loss or theft of any handgun. S. 941 (Kimpson) would require completion of a background check before sale or exchange of a firearm, with several provisions. S. 942 (Kimpson) would require a permit to be purchased before a weapon is purchased, with several provisions. S. 943 (Kimpson) would require registration of firearms with the state, with several provisions.
Refugees. S. 928 (Bryant) seeks to keep state agencies from accepting new refugees until new federal security measures are adopted, with several provisions.
Cell-free schools. S. 934 (Shealy) would require school districts to prohibit student use of wireless devices during school hours, with other provisions.
Minimum wage. S. 938 (Kimpson) calls for a gradual increase in the state’s minimum wage, with several provisions.
IN THE HOUSE
Voter registration. H. 4382 (Alexander) would require the state Department of Education, State Election commission and county boards of voter registration and election to ensure high school students who are 17 completed a voter registration form and received education about voting, with other provisions.
Ticket quotas. H. 4387 (Bamberg) would keep law enforcement agencies from having “ticket quotas,” with several provisions.
Guns. H. 4388 (Bernstein) would require a 14-day waiting period for purchasers or transferees of firearms, with certain conditions. H. 4399 (Cobb-Hunter) would require completion of a national instant criminal background check before delivery or transfer of a gun, with several provisions. H. 4480 (McLeod) is similar. H. 4419 (Gilliard) would make illegal to deceive or use false information in getting a firearm, with several provisions. H. 4431 (Gilliard) would require manufacturers of toy guns to paint them bright colors. H. 4440 (Gilliard) calls for banning assault weapons, with several provisions. H. 4441 (Gilliard) would add to penalties for unlawful carrying of handguns. H. 4444 (Gilliard) is similar but adds a 10-day waiting period.
Lobbyist cards. H. 4392 (Burns) would require the State Ethics Commission to issue photo identification cards for lobbyists, with several provisions.
Refugees. H. 4396 (Clemmons) calls for a state Office for Refugees and a moratorium on new refugee settlement activities in some instances. H. 4408 (Corley) would keep the state from using money to assist refugees. H. 4477 (Limehouse) is similar but focuses on “Middle Eastern refugees.” H. 4488 (Pitts) is similar to the first two bills.
Judges. H. 4402 (Corley) calls for the partisan election of family court judges, with many provisions. H. 4404 (Corley) would prohibit members of the General Assembly or their families from seeking a judgeship for five years. H. 4406 (Corley) seeks a referendum for popular election of justices of the state Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and state circuit courts.
Confederate flag. H. 4403 (Corley) seeks a statewide advisory referendum on whether to return the Confederate flag to fly on the Statehouse grounds.
Emanuel 9. H. 4418 (Gilliard) seeks a state study committee to look at costs and other considerations of erecting a permanent monument in Marion Square in Charleston to victims of the Emanuel 9 shooting.
Drone registration. H. 4421 (Gilliard) would make it illegal to operate a drone without it being registered with the state. H. 4425 (Gilliard) would make it illegal to operate a drone armed with a weapon. H. 4426 (Gilliard) would create a study commission on use of drones as a law enforcement tool.
Metal detectors. H. 4430 (Gilliard) would require metal detectors at movie theaters, sporting arenas and concert venues.
Shorter session. H. 4479 (M.S. McLeod) seeks to end the session in May, rather than June.
School dress codes. H. 4482 (McKnight) would require a statewide mandatory dress code for schools.
Transportation Commission. H. 4484 (McCoy) would make the State Transportation Department accountable to the governor, who would appoint commissioners, with many provisions.
Term limits. H. 4487 (Pitts) would establish 12-year term limits for the House and Senate, with several provisions.
COMMENTARYLegislature needs more strategic, long-term thinking
By Andy Brack
DEC. 4, 2015 | Since the early 1990s, the state of South Carolina has had a policy to set a comprehensive state energy plan. But it’s been pretty toothless — a plan in name only, with all sorts of nice-sounding goals that don’t hold policymakers or anybody accountable.
For example, the purpose of the plan includes ensuring “long-term access to adequate, reliable energy supplies,” but it doesn’t say how. It calls for “development and use of clean energy resources” including those from renewable sources like solar and wind, but doesn’t set any specific goals or measures.
But now that the State Energy Office has become a part of the Office of Regulatory Services, thanks to recent restructuring, the state and stakeholders are working fast and furious to come up with a real plan with some meat on the bones.
Why? Well, first, it’s long been required by law. But mainly, it’s needed to help the state plan for future needs and figure out ways for the state to maximize investments in energy so there’s enough over the long term.
It’s this kind of deeper thought — thinking that’s been stale for more than 20 years — that’s needed across the state in numerous areas. And that’s why today we again call on state legislators to start thinking bigger, more long-term and more strategically.
We’ve long argued, in our annual plea for Palmetto Priorities, that businesses and nonprofits can’t exist without strategic plans and measurable goals. State government should do the same thing, meaning that lawmakers need to have big-ticket agendas that they can work together to move the state forward in a strategic way. Sure, there will be policy disagreements, but without a structured long-term plan, government will remain a mess embroiled in the purgatory of doing little or doing nothing to make real and meaningful differences in taxpayers’ lives.
So with little pomp or circumstance, we offer an updated Palmetto Priorities for legislators to consider as they prepare to start the 2016 session in January. Two notes: One item has been removed since 2009 — to raise the cigarette tax. Also, many of the following goals originally should have been completed by this year; we’ve updated them with new “due dates.”
POVERTY. Develop a broad-based anti-poverty agenda by 2020 that includes the jobs, education and health care components below to help lift the almost one in five South Carolinians in poverty into better conditions.
JOBS. Approve a Cabinet-level post by 2020 to add and retain 10,000 small business jobs per year. Politicians talk about helping small businesses. This would force them to.
EDUCATION. Cut the state’s dropout rate in half by 2020.
HEALTH CARE. Ensure affordable and accessible health care that optimizes preventive care for every South Carolinian by 2020. Take the federal funding now through the Affordable Care Act to allow 200,000 of the state’s neediest to get health insurance.
ENVIRONMENT. Adopt a real state energy policy that requires energy producers to generate 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.
TAXES. Overhaul and stabilize the tax structure by 2018 through reforms that broaden the tax base and lower rates. This should include reimplementation of reasonable property taxes and removal of hundreds of millions of dollars of special-interest sales tax exemptions.
ELECTIONS. Increase voter registration to 75 percent by 2020 by reducing voting barriers and making it easier for all to vote.
CORRECTIONS. Cut the prison population by 25 percent by 2020 through creative alternative sentencing programs for non-violent offenders.
ROADS. Develop and implement a plan in 2016 that creatively taps several sources to generate an extra $1 billion every year for investment in the state’s crumbling system of roads and bridges.
POLITICS. Have a vigorous two- or multi-party political system of governance.
Parents routinely tell their children to be smart about how they act. The state needs to take the same advice.
Andy Brack is editor and publisher of Statehouse Report. Send feedback to: feedback@statehousereport.com.
IN THE SPOTLIGHTACLU of South Carolina
The public spiritedness of our underwriters allows us to bring Statehouse Report to you at no cost. This week’s spotlighted underwriter is the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU of South Carolina is dedicated to preserving the civil liberties enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Through communications, lobbying and litigation, the ACLU of South Carolina works to preserve and enhance the rights of all citizens of South Carolina. Foremost among these rights are freedom of speech and religion, the right to equal treatment under law, and the right to privacy.
It’s time to collect taxes on Internet sales
By State Sen. Marlon Kimpson
DEC. 4, 2015 | According to data collected by Adobe, this year’s cyber Monday U.S. online orders totaled $3.07 billion, an historic record. The sales total marks a 16 percent increase from Cyber Monday last year.
South Carolinians should be mindful that buying from online national retailers that do not collect South Carolina sales taxes not only puts our local retailers at a competitive disadvantage but robs our state from necessary resources to fund government. This includes paying for necessary road, highway and bridge repairs and providing adequate funding for our public schools.
In December of last year, I filed Senate Bill 170, which passed the South Carolina Senate overwhelming in the spring of 2015 by a vote of 37-4. The bill now resides in the House Ways and Means Committee and I’m optimistic of a hearing on this legislation from Chairman Brian White.
The bill is simple at its core, and is, at the end of the day, about “fairness” for our state’s local “brick and mortar” retailers and the “mom and pops” across “Main Street” South Carolina. Similar in nature to legislation passed in at least 14 other states, including North Carolina and Georgia, it simply requires that “remote sellers” – aka, “Internet” or “e-commerce” retailers – located outside of South Carolina collect and remit sales tax from their South Carolina customers in the same manner that South Carolina based mom and pops already are required to do.
This is first and foremost about fairness. Under current law, an out-of-state retailer that does not collect South Carolina sales tax has a built-in 6 percent to 8 percent price advantage over our state’s very own, often home-grown, local businesses. Why? Because a now archaic 23-year-old United States Supreme Court case known as Quill that held the only way a state can compel collection of sales tax from “out-of-state” retailers is if that retailer has a substantial “physical presence” (aka “nexus”) in the state that is trying to collect the tax.
And while the court has made it clear that the United States Congress can, at any time, pass legislation re-defining what “nexus” means to correctly take into account how drastically and quickly our economy has shifted away from traditional “store fronts” and to online sales, Congress, of course, has consistently failed to take any action. Its failure, motivated by fear of no-tax pledges and deep-pocketed special interests with ties to the rise in e-commerce, continues to cost home-grown retailers and local economies jobs and income.
State and local government revenue continues to suffer along with our home-grown businesses as well. According to our state’s official economic forecasting agency, the S.C. Office of Revenue and Fiscal Affairs, South Carolina’s lack of a strong nexus law, coupled with a do-nothing Congress, costs South Carolina state and local governments an estimated $100 million in lost sales tax revenue annually. This is not fair and is costing our local economies and government revenues. Unless S.170 bill becomes law or until Congress finally acts, the damaging effects to our businesses and ability to provide basic state services are only going to grow.
It is extremely important to point out that this legislation is not a tax increase. That’s because “technically” South Carolina law, as in every other state with a sales tax, requires South Carolina residents who purchase a product from an out-of-state retailer to pay what’s known as a “use tax,” which is basically the same as a sales tax.
But the problem with this is that it puts the burden entirely on the customer to pay the tax, and not the retailer, which is what most customers are familiar with. And on top of that, customers can’t pay the tax at the time of the purchase while it’s fresh on their minds. They must wait and pay this sales tax as part of their income tax at the end of the year! This is simply confusing and very inefficient, both for the customer and the state.
Of the almost $3 billion in state sales tax collected each year, less than $10 million comes in the form of self-reported “use tax.” It is time to recognize that we live in a different world than the times of the 23-year-old Quill decision. The state’s tax laws must be amended to level the competitive playing field for local brick and mortar stores that contribute to our state’s economy and collect the sales taxes already legally due, revenue that the state is being cheated out of.
State Sen. Marlon Kimpson, a Charleston Democrat, is an attorney.
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From big bucks to Santee Cooper to Corley
Thumbs up
Big bucks. South Carolina will get $3.5 billion over the next five years after passage of a major federal highway funding bill, but that doesn’t let us off the hook for at least $1 billion a year that’s still needed to fix roads and bridges. More.
No evidence. The House Legislative Oversight Panel voted unanimously Tuesday to finish its study on DHEC’s oversight with Planned Parenthood, concluding that there was no evidence — as we suggested in earlier stories about a political witch hunt of the organization — of misuse of taxpayer money. More.
Haley. Gov. Nikki Haley is right to say that the state should pay its $114 million flooding repair bill with existing monies and not borrow. More.
In the middle
Santee Cooper. We haven’t been closely following the electricity rate negotiations between Santee Cooper and the Mount Holly aluminum smelting plant, but it seems pretty stupid to lose 600 jobs because of a rate dispute. As some have written, Santee Cooper is a public agency. There may be a greater benefit to keeping the high-paying jobs than sticking to talking points about a rate. (Who do you think will pay for unemployment if these jobs are axed?)
Thumbs down
Museum commission. It shouldn’t cost $5.3 million to put a Confederate flag that flew on the Statehouse grounds in a place of honor in a museum. Wise up, folks. Get another consultant — or just go to a good cabinetmaker for a neat display case. We bet if you spent $50,000, you could get a really neat display.
Gun violence. So the Colorado shooter from last week is from South Carolina and there’s a guy who hoarded thousands of guns from the state. Seems pretty clear that a culture that makes it easy to get guns and incites people through highly-charged invective and rhetoric, particularly on conservative TV, is a continuing recipe for disaster. Let’s all take a deep breath and do something smart to tamp down the violence.
Corley. Thumbs down to Aiken Republican Rep. Chris Corley whose Christmas card sent to Republican colleagues had an image of the Confederate flag outside the Statehouse that included an insensitive, divisive, politically-charged message that’s the opposite of the teachings of the Bible. Corley, who was irritated that GOP colleagues “caved” to take down the flag, also referenced a level of hell from Dante’s Inferno for those guilty of “treachery.” And now, he seems to be trying to sidestep the flak over the card with unadulterated spin about his “sense of humor.” Pitiful. More.
Development change. Thumbs down to a state Senate committee that removed language that would have cut the chance of development on Capt. Sams Spit at the end of Kiawah Island. More.
Scary story. If you haven’t read the Washington Post story about what happened after the state of Alabama won a big competition to attract a Chinese company, then prepare to be shocked. The story, “A grim bargain,” highlights how the company seems to be preying on low-skilled workers who are paid little. Let’s hope this kind of thing doesn’t happen here. Read it here.
NUMBERS
$114,000,000
That’s the state’s amount for repair costs of more than $1.6 billion in damage caused by October’s floods. Gov. Nikki Haley said the state should fund the money from existing resources, not through borrowing as some have suggested. The state is expected to have a billion dollar surplus this year. More.
QUOTETongue-(is burning a hole)-in-cheek?
“The message I was sending, I was sending to my Republican colleagues only. I had a problem with the politicalization of the flag removal movement. I believe my colleagues caved to political correctness, and I have an issue with that.”
— GOP S.C. Rep. Chris Corley, who sent a Christmas card to Republican legislators with a picture of the Confederate flag flying outside the Statehouse. The card that went to Democratic members had a picture of his children. More.
S.C. ENCYCLOPEDIAThe New Deal
S.C. Encyclopedia | The New Deal was a collection of federal programs enacted between 1933 and 1939 to solve the problems created by the Great Depression. In South Carolina the New Deal brought three R’s: recovery for farmers, bankers, textile mill owners, and small businessmen; relief for the unemployed and destitute; and reform in labor-management relations, banking, sale of securities, and retirement. In the process the New Deal radically increased the role of the federal government in the state’s economy by creating permanent acreage allotment programs, agricultural credit, compulsory minimum wage / maximum hours requirements, protection for laborers who sought to unionize, Social Security benefits, a public welfare system, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to protect depositors, the Federal Housing Administration to expand housing opportunities, and the Rural Electrification Administration to electrify the countryside.
Even before the stock market crash in October 1929, South Carolina had suffered several years of economic downturn. Cotton began to decline as early as 1920, a victim of overproduction and the boll weevil. In the next five years, the average value of farmland dropped from $65 to $43 per acre. During the 1920s farmers abandoned one-sixth of South Carolina’s farms. The collapse of the cotton economy brought down forty-nine percent of the state’s banks. In the mid-1920s the state’s textile economy joined farming in economic depression. In 1929 shares of stock in the state’s 230 textile mills sold for one-half their 1923 price. The onset of the Great Depression made wretched conditions even worse. By 1931 cotton was selling for 6{cents sign} per pound, actually below the cost of production, and the cash value of South Carolina’s farm commodities had dropped by half since 1929. In 1932 rural poverty was so severe that taxes were delinquent on almost half the state’s farms. There was no market for the securities of textile mills, and average annual textile wages plummeted from $719 in 1929 to $495 in 1932. Not surprisingly, by 1933 one-fourth of the state’s population was eligible for public relief.
The New Deal attacked these problems through a host of innovative programs and the creation of a myriad of new federal agencies. Managed on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Hampton P. Fulmer of Orangeburg, the Agricultural Adjustment Act created the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which raised farm prices in South Carolina by reducing surpluses through a permanent acreage-reduction program. In midsummer 1933 farmers in the Palmetto State plowed under 425,000 of their 1,770,000 acres of cotton. In subsequent springs they planted only their allotment. Farmers were paid for acres destroyed or not planted. They also enjoyed higher prices because of the reduction in supply. Similarly, the state’s 23,000 tobacco farmers in the Pee Dee reduced their acreage by thirty percent and enjoyed an increase in price per pound from 11.14{cents sign} in 1932 to 21.60{cents sign} in 1934. The reduction in acreage of both crops reduced the need for tenants and thus hastened migration from the countryside to cities and towns. At the same time, the Rural Electrification Administration (REA), set up in 1935, made farm life more tolerable by encouraging rural electrification. The percentage of farms in South Carolina with electricity increased from two in 1934 to almost fifteen by 1940.
Meanwhile the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 created both the National Recovery Administration (NRA) and the Public Works Administration (PWA) to bring about business recovery, which in South Carolina meant textiles. Under the NRA, each industry drew up a Code of Fair Competition to allow firms within the industry to raise prices by cutting back production. NRA Code Number 1, the textile code, which was partly written by textile magnate Thomas Marchant of Greenville, required the 230 mills in South Carolina to reduce production from the customary 105 hours a week to 80 hours a week. At the same time, the code forced mills to eliminate child labor, pay a minimum wage of $12 a week, employ each worker for no more than 40 hours a week, and allow workers the right to unionize.
Flaws in the code and its ineffective enforcement led to a host of strikes culminating in the General Textile Strike of 1934, which involved half of South Carolina’s eighty thousand workers. The strike ended on management’s terms, and its failure had a chilling effect on unionization in South Carolina for years thereafter. Despite the protection of the New Deal’s National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which punished mill owners for discharging workers because of union activity, union organizers in South Carolina enjoyed little success in their attempts to unionize the cotton industry in the late 1930s. By 1980 only 6.7 percent of the state’s labor force was unionized, the second smallest percentage in the nation. Workers at least could thank the New Deal for the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which set a permanent minimum wage and maximum workweek.
(To be continued)
– Excerpted from the entry by Jack Irby Hayes. To read more about this or 2,000 other entries about South Carolina, check out The South Carolina Encyclopedia by USC Press. (Information used by permission.)
CREDITSEditor and Publisher: Andy Brack
Senior Editor: Bill Davis
Contributing Photographers: Michael Kaynard, Linda W. Brown
Phone: 843.670.3996
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