GEORGIA. 



305 



the State, but the decision, the Governor states, 

 would not have increased the chances of a 

 larger recovery. 



At the close of the fiscal year ending Sep- 

 tember 30, 1878, the first of Governor Col- 

 quitt's administration, there was a balance in 

 the Treasury of $295,789. The receipts of the 

 year ending September 30, 1879, were $1,847,- 

 790, and the disbursements $1,212,671, leaving 

 a balance at the close of the year of $930,908. 

 During the fiscal year 1880 the receipts amount- 

 ed to $4,589,015, making the total sum in the 

 Treasury $5,519,924; and the disbursements 

 were $4,833,683 ; leaving a cash balance in 

 the Treasury on the 30th of September, 1880, 

 of $686,240. The issuance of $100,000 of four 

 per cent, bonds to meet bonds issued in 1856, 

 which was authorized by an act approved De- 

 cember 14, 1878, will not be required if the 

 balance in the Treasury is applied for that 

 purpose. The remaining $100,000 of $400,- 

 000 of four per cents, can also be redeemed. 

 $2,298,000 of the year's disbursements were 

 applied to the funding of seven per cent, en- 

 dorsed bonds of the Macon and Brunswick, the 

 North and South, and the Memphis Branch 

 Eailroads in six per cent. State bonds, in pur- 

 suance of an act passed in 1877. The Governor 

 issued an order on April 14th directing the 

 Treasurer, J. W. Renfroe, to apply $250,000 

 surplus in the Treasury, over the requirements 

 to meet appropriations and interest and the 

 maturing debts, to the purchase of outstanding 

 four per cent, or other bonds, not due, at par. 



The Macon and Brunswick Railroad, which 

 was seized by the State on July 2, 1873, on ac- 

 count of the non-payment of interest, was sold 

 at auction January 13, 1880. From Septem- 

 ber 30, 1878, to February 29, 1880, the date 

 on which it was handed over to the purchasers, 

 the earnings were $638,731, and the expenses 

 $496,246, making the net earnings for the sev- 

 enteen months $142,484. Since the foreclos- 

 ure the State has discharged old debts resting 

 upon the road to an amount exceeding $123,- 

 000. The act under which the road was sold, 

 approved September 3, 1S79, authorized the 

 lease of the road to the highest bidder, with 

 the privilege of purchase for $1,125,000. An 

 auction was held September 16, 1879 ; but the 

 bidding was going on at the legal hour of clos- 

 ing, and such confusion prevailed that the high- 

 est bidder could not be recognized, while at the 

 same time the true value of the lease had not 

 been offered, the highest yearly rental bid hav- 

 ing been $176,000. The sale was, therefore, 

 postponed to November 18th, on which date 

 it was knocked down to James M. Couper, 

 acting also for Messrs. Hazlehurst, Lane, and 

 Johnston, for the sum of $194,000 rent. They 

 demanded the immediate sale and transfer of 

 the road ; but, not being able to obtain trom 

 the Governor a warranty deed, they, after 

 some delay, accepted a deed without an un- 

 conditional warranty covenant, and, upon the 

 payment of $250,000 in State four per cent. 

 VOL. xx. 20 A 



bonds, received the title to the road. One of 

 the conditions of the sale was the extension of 

 the road from Macon to Atlanta within twelve 

 months. The Governor was requested by the 

 Legislature in a resolution to investigate the 

 validity of some coupons of the first-mortgage 

 guaranteed bonds of this road which fell due 

 before 1873. These coupons are not valid claims 

 against the State under the present law, the 

 Governor reports, for the reason which Gov- 

 ernor Smith gave when he ordered that the 

 $540,000 of bonds authorized in 1875 for the 

 payment of back interest on railroad bonds 

 should not be applied to any interest on the 

 bonds of this road which were overdue before 

 the seizure. The grounds on which the pre- 

 vious interest is declared to have been for- 

 feited lie in the terms of the act of 1866 au- 

 thorizing the endorsement of the bonds, which 

 requires the Governor to take possession of 

 the road when the interest on bonds endorsed 

 by the State is not paid when due, and apply 

 the earnings to the payment of the guaranteed 

 interest. The act only authorized the payment 

 by the State of the defaulted interest for the 

 non-payment of which the road is seized. This 

 construction of the act is demanded by the 

 principles of equity, because, if the notice of 

 default, such as is required before the road can 

 be seized, is not duly given, the State loses the 

 opportunity to protect its own interests. 



The valuation of the taxable property of the 

 State, as given in the report of Comptroller- 

 General Wright, is $13,840,707 greater in 1880 

 than the tax valuation of 1879. The counties 

 possessing the greatest amount of taxable wealth 

 are Fulton, assessed for $20,303,525, of which 

 $11,647,125 is in city and town property; 

 Chatham, $17,672,222, of which $9,327,509 is 

 urban property; Richmond, $15,328,452, of 

 which the town property makes $7,001,650. 

 The amount of property returned by colored 

 tax-payers was $5,764,293, an increase of $581,- 

 895 over the returns of 1879. The aggregate 

 amounts of the different species of taxable prop- 

 erty in the State are given in the following 

 table : 



