GEOEGIA. 



349 



represented by the indorsement of railroad 

 bonds as follows : 



Alabama & Chattanooga $194,400 



Brunswick & Albany 3,300,000 



Cartersville & Van Wert 275,000 



Cherokee Railroad 300,000 



Macon & Brunswick 2,150,000 



Georgia Air-Line 240,000 



South Georgia & Florida 464,000 



Total $6,923,400 



The Cherokee Eailroad is now known as the 

 Cartersville & Van Wert, the name having 

 been changed. Bonds of the Georgia Air-line 

 road, indorsed to the amount of $240,000 and 

 included in this statement, have been cancelled, 

 which leaves $6,683,400 as the contingent lia- 

 bility now existing, incurred during the ad- 

 ministration of Bullock. According to the 

 Governor's statement, then, the bonded debt 

 of Georgia, including that incurred prior to 

 1868, is $10,418,750 ; the contingent liability 

 on account of indorsement of railroad bonds, 

 $6,683,400. 



Governor Bullock had been frequently ac- 

 cused of irregularities in connection with the 

 issue and negotiation of State bonds, and there 

 was a wide-spread feeling in the State that all 

 was not right in the matter, and this again had 

 produced an apprehension in the money mar- 

 ket that some of these obligations might be 

 repudiated on the ground of real or pretended 

 illegality. Hence the credit of the State had 

 suffered. 



"When the Legislature met on the 1st of No- 

 vember, the subject taken up with the great- 

 est alacrity was that of the public finances. 

 Governor Conley, in his message, had made 

 an appeal on behalf of the credit of the 

 State in these words : " While I regret that 

 our liabilities have been increased to the 

 amount already reached, and would advise 

 great caution upon this subject in the future, 

 I cannot too strongly impress upon you the 

 convictions of my own mind as to the impor- 

 tance of maintaining the public faith inviolate. 

 No State in the Union has maintained a higher 

 or more unsullied character for integrity and 

 the faithful performance of her obligations in 

 connection with all financial matters than our 

 own beloved Georgia. And whatever may be 

 the burdens to which we are now subject, and 

 whether wisely or unwisely incurred, we 

 should meet them with that spirit of integrity 

 and honor which^has always characterized the 

 people of Georgia, and their representatives 

 who have been our predecessors, and which 

 will, I trust, always be a subject of just pride. 

 Whatever may be our misfortunes, or our de- 

 pressed condition, let it never be said that the 

 State of Georgia has violated her plighted faith 

 or failed to regard as sacred and meet promptly 

 all her legal and moral obligations." 



The Finance Committee was at once in- 

 structed to look into the financial condition of 

 the State, and a special committee was ap- 

 pointed to investigate the official conduct of 

 Governor Bullock in the same connection. A 



resolution was also adopted, declaring " that, 

 in all cases where the credit of the State has 

 been loaned to railroad companies in disregard 

 of the constitutional provisions, and in viola- 

 tion of the same, whether by issuing to said 

 companies bonds of this State, or by pla- 

 cing the indorsement of the State upon the 

 bonds of said companies, said bonds and in- 

 dorsement of the State, so issued and made in 

 violation of law, are without binding force 

 upon the State, and should be declared null 

 and void." 



A bill to provide for ascertaining the amount 

 of bonds issued, and causing the same to be 

 registered in due form, was introduced, but on 

 the recommendation of the Finance Commit- 

 tee a bill "to protect the people of the State 

 of Georgia against the illegal and fraudulent 

 issue of bonds and securities " was substituted 

 for it, and speedily passed. This was pref- 

 aced by the following preamble : 



Whereas, Divers bonds, purporting to be bonds of 

 the State of Georgia, and divers bonds bearing the 

 indorsement of the State, have been issued and put 

 in circulation by Rufus B. Bullock, late Governor of 

 said State, and divers bonds, issued prior to his ad- 

 ministration, have been negotiated by him; and 

 whereas, it is believed that a large portion of said 

 bonds have been illegally and fraudulently issued and 

 negotiated, and the extent and amount of said bonds 

 so issued and negotiated is unknown to this General 

 Assembly. 



It provides for the appointment of a joint 

 committee of three, with " full power and 

 authority to examine and ascertain the num- 

 ber of bonds which have been issued as here- 

 inbefore recited in the preamble of this act, 

 and the aggregate amount thereof; and, so far 

 as they have been sold or hypothecated, by 

 whom sold, the amount of money paid, to 

 whom paid, when paid, for what purpose ne- 

 gotiated, and all other facts connected with 

 the history of said bonds, and to report the 

 same to the General Assembly at its next ses- 

 sion." The committee was required to sit at 

 Atlanta during a term of not more than sixty 

 days, commencing March 1, 1872, and was in- 

 vested with power to examine witnesses, send 

 for persons, papers, and books, and take such 

 other action as might be necessary to fulfil the 

 purpose of their appointment. Notice of the 

 time and place of sitting was to be given for 

 at least two months by publication of this act 

 in two newspapers in Atlanta, two in New 

 York, two in London, and one in Frankfort. 

 All persons holding bonds of the State, or 

 those bearing the indorsement of the State, 

 issued since July, 1868, are required to^report 

 the same to the committee for registration be- 

 fore April 1, 1872, " and upon failing so to re- 

 port said bonds, and to submit the same^for 

 registration, the same shall be deemed prima 

 facie to have been illegally or fraudulently 

 issued." The Treasurer was prohibited from 

 paying interest on any of these bonds "until 

 the committee shall have made their report, 

 and the General Assembly shall otherwise 



