494 



NOETH CAKOLINA. 



amendment of the measure, to the effect that 

 Congress be urged to pass a general amnesty 

 act. The prevailing sentiment of the commu- 

 nity on this subject may be considered as ex- 

 pressed in the following passage from Governor 

 Holden's last message to the Legislature : 



By the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution 

 of the United States, certain persons in the recently 

 insurgent States are debarred the privilege of holding 

 office at the hands of their fellow-citizens ; hut the 

 Congress may, at pleasure, remove such disability. 

 There are many citizens of States which did not en- 

 gage in rebellion, who are technically exempt from 

 this disability, but who were not more loyal to the 

 Government, and are not now more loyal, than many 

 citizens of this State who are only technically ex- 

 cluded from holding office. I am not able to perceive 

 that a citizen of a State that did not engage in rebel- 

 lion, who sympathized with the pretended Confed- 

 eracy, and did all he could to discourage volunteering 

 and to paralyze the national arms, is more loyal or 

 more deserving of consideration than the Southern 

 Unionist who occupied some small office, not with a 

 view to aid the rebellion, but merely to escape con- 

 scription. There are several thousands of persons 

 in this State of the latter class t who were at one time 

 supremely attached to the national Government, and 

 who endeavored in every conceivable way to avoid 

 fighting against the Government of the United States, 

 but who are now soured and distressed, because, by 

 the fourteenth amendment, the very ^ means they 

 adopted to avoid doing violence to their judgments 

 and consciences, have been used to exclude them from 

 office. Every citizen of this class, and every loyal 

 citizen, is entitled to be at once relieved by the Con- 

 gress. There are several thousands of others in the 

 State, who are either indifferent to the Government 

 or opposed to the acts of Congress by which the State 

 was reconstructed. These persons have been sorely 

 punished for their acts of rebellion. Even if disposed 

 to thwart the action of the Federal or State govern- 

 ments, they are powerless to do so. They are chafed 

 by the reflection that their former slaves can hold 

 office, while they are excluded, and this reflection is 

 magnified in their minds into the belief that the 

 national Government is disposed to pursue and punish 

 them, simply because they had taken an oath to sup- 

 port the Constitution of the United States before they 

 engaged in rebellion, while the obligation to support 

 that instrument was equally binding upon all, and 

 thousands upon thousands who never took that oath, 

 but who were as deeply and as bitterly immersed in 

 the rebellion as they were, are not banned or excluded. 

 The nation can afford to be magnanimous. After 

 nine years of rebellion, and strife, and civil discord, 

 and social disruption and bitterness, a very large 

 majority of the people of North Carolina long for 

 peace, and harmony, and good-will, and security for 

 life and property. 



The total debt of North Carolina is stated 

 at $34,095,045, all which bears interest at six 

 per cent., payable half-yearly. Of this amount 

 the sum of $17,215,045, known as the " old 

 debt," is chargeable, principal and interest, on 

 the general revenues of the State, and consists 

 of ante-war bonds to the amount of $8,378,200, 

 and post-war bonds amounting to $8,836,845. 

 The post-war bonds are such as have been 

 issued since the late war under funding acts, or 

 such as were authorized by law before the 

 war. The condition of the treasury has not 

 warranted the payment of the interest on the 

 " old debt," and it has been found necessary 

 to fund the interest due thereon. Since Octo- 

 ber 1, 1868, the following bonds have been 



issued to railroad companies ; and the payment 

 of the interest accruing thereon provided for 

 by special taxes : 



"Williamston and Tarborough Eailroad. . $300,000 

 "Western Division of the West North 



Carolina Eailroad 6,367,000 



Eastern Division of said road 273,000 



Wilmington, Charlotte, and Eutherford 



Eailroad. 1,500,000 



Northwestern North Carolina Eailroad 1,080,000 



Western (Coalfield) Eailroad. 1,320,000 



Atlantic, Tennessee, and Ohio Eailroad. 1,760,000 



$12,600,000 

 Bonds to be issued 4,280,000 



Total $16,880,000 



The legislation of the State has been such as 

 to make the new issue of bonds since Octo- 

 ber 1, 1868, a preferred charge on the entire 

 assessable property of the State. The holders 

 of the first class of bonds must rely on the 

 future development of the industrial resources 

 of the State for the means to meet the interest 

 thereon, while those who hold the second 

 class will receive prompt payment, if the valu- 

 ation of the assessable property amounts to 

 enough to cover the whole issue. The special 

 tax authorized to be levied by the several acts 

 of the Legislature is equal in the aggregate to 

 47.08 of one per cent, on the whole assessable 

 property of the State, which amounts, on a 

 close estimate founded on the last census, to 

 over $250,000,000. The sum that will be ap- 

 plicable to the interest on the gross amount of 

 special tax bonds is $1,777,000, while the 

 interest is only $999,600, leaving a large sur- 

 plus as a sinking fund. 



The system of public schools contemplated 

 by the constitution is not yet in complete 

 operation. In most of the counties the requi- 

 site school-officers have been elected and 

 qualified, and a few schools have already been 

 opened. An apportionment of the school fund 

 has been made for the year 1870, by the 

 Superintendent of Public Instruction, to the 

 amount of $165,290.50; and teachers will he 

 engaged and schools opened as soon as the 

 township and county authorities are notified 

 of this apportionment. The sum of $100,000 

 was appropriated for school purposes by the 

 General Assembly, in session, at the opening 

 of the year, which amount is to be added to 

 the capitation tax and apportioned among the 

 counties of the' State. The number of children 

 among whom the school-money must be dis- 

 tributed is 330,581. 



The Board of Public Charities appointed un- 

 der an act of the Legislature have made dili- 

 gent inquiries into the condition of the reform- 

 atory and charitable institutions of the State, 

 in order to ascertain the wants of those insti- 

 tutions and the measures necessary for their 

 improvement. A site for the penitentiary has 

 been chosen near the city of Raleigh, and the 

 necessary buildings are in process of con- 

 struction. 



