SOUTH CAROLINA. 



733 



without limit, and makes no provision for the can- 

 cellation of such bonds as have already been con- 

 verted, and are, according to the language of the 

 Governor, "if on the market, fraudulently." Such 

 powers redelegated, in the knowledge of the great 

 excess of issue of the bonds of the State, to the very 

 officers who have abused the confidence and betrayed 

 the trusts reposed in them, is as unwise as it is 

 dangerous. 



6. Because the bill itself is the strongest evidence 

 of the invalidity of the acts of those who ask us to re- 

 instate them in popular favor by validating their 

 confessedly doubtful transactions. 



Another bill provided for a settlement with 

 the financial agent of the State in New York, 

 Mr. H. H. Kimpton, and the payment of his 

 claims against the Treasury. Two members 

 of the House protested against the passage of 

 this bill, because it conferred " authority upon 

 the Finance Board to audit and pay claims to 

 an undetermined amount." "It would have 

 satisfied the tax-payers of the State," they 

 say, "much more fully, if a disinterested com- 

 mittee had been called upon to adjust the ac- 

 count of the State with Mr. Kimpton." 



An act was passed toward the close of the 

 session, " to relieve the State of South Caro- 

 lina of all liability for its guarantee of the 

 bonds of the Blue Ridge Railroad Company, 

 by providing for the securing and destruction 

 of the same." Under an act of September, 

 1868, the State had indorsed the bonds of the 

 Blue Ridge Railroad Company to the amount 

 of $4,000,000, and now the State Treasurer 

 was required, with the consent in writing of 

 the president of the company, to demand of 

 the State financial agent in New York the 

 delivery of all these bonds held by him as 

 collateral security for advances made by him 

 to the company, and, on such delivery, to 

 cancel them. Upon the surrender by the 

 company of the balance, the State ^ Treasurer 

 was authorized and required to deliver to the 

 president of the company "treasury certifi- 

 cates of indebtedness (styled revenue bond 

 scrip), to the amount of $1,800,000." These 

 certificates are to express on their face that 

 the sum mentioned in each is "due by the 

 State of South Carolina to the bearer thereof, 

 and that the same will be received in pay- 

 ment of taxes and all other dues to the State, 

 except special tax levies to pay interest on 

 public debt." The faith and funds of the 

 State are pledged to their ultimate redemp- 

 tion, and an annual tax of three mills on the 

 dollar is directed to be levied for the purpose. 

 The Treasurer is required to retire one- 

 fourth of the amount issued at the end of 

 each year until the whole is redeemed. When 

 the whole of these bonds have been can- 

 celled, the lien of the State on the property 

 of the company is to be discharged. If the 

 company accept the provisions of the act, it is 

 authorized to change its name to that of the 

 " Knoxville & South Carolina Railroad Com- 

 pany," and to extend its line and construct 

 branches to any place within the State. 

 This act was vetoed by the Governor, and 



passed in spite of his objections, by a vote of 22 

 to 6 in the Senate, and 84 to 18 in the House. 

 The Governor, in his veto message, said : 



But there are reasons, in my judgment, deeper and 

 more substantial than those of expediency. There 

 are grave doubts as to the constitutionality of the 

 act, both Federal and State. The Constitution of 

 the United States clearly prohibits a State from issu- 

 ing bills of credit, while the State constitution pro- 

 vides that a debt can only be created by an issue of 

 bonds running twenty years. But, whether these 

 objections are, valid or not, there is still another ob- 

 jection, which, in my judgment, is paramount to any 

 other reason that can be urged against the act be- 

 coming a law. During the last four years the Legis- 

 lature has appropriated money for legislative and 

 other expenses, amounting, in the aggregate, to 

 about $2,000,000, without levying a single mill 

 of taxes to raise the money. These several ap- 

 propriations for legislative expenses authorize the 

 Treasurer to pay them out of moneys not otherwise 

 appropriated, when it must have been clear, to the 

 mind of every member of the General Assembly, 

 that there was not a dollar collected from the levy of 

 taxes that has not been appropriated in the general 

 appropriation bill, to meet the annual expenses each 

 fiscal year ; and, even in the collection of the general 

 tax levy, there has been a deficit of from twenty-five 

 to fifty per cent, per annum from delinquent taxes. 

 This deficit, I have previously stated to the General 

 Assembly, was about $1,200,000 ; hence, the moneys 

 expended, for which no levy of tax was made, added 

 to this amount, makes an aggregate of over $3,- 

 000.000. In this statement I have not taken into 

 account the numerous claims, including the Land 

 Commission, which have been paid out of moneys 

 borrowed. 



Among the measures for raising funds for 

 the necessities of the State, in addition to the 

 regular tax levy, was a general license law, 

 which requires a license, for which a desig- 

 nated sum is to be paid, from persons embark- 

 ing in almost every profession or pursuit. 



The last act of the Legislature relating to 

 the subject of finance was contained in the 

 following joint resolution : 



Resolved, ly the Senate and the House of Representa- 

 tives of the State of South Carolina (two-thirds of both 

 Houses concurring). That the following article be sub- 

 mitted to the qualified electors of this State at the 

 next general election for ^Representatives, as an 

 amendment to the constitution of the State, which, 

 if a majority of the electors qualified to vote for the 

 members of the General Assembly voting thereon 

 shall vote in favor of such amendment, and two- 

 thirds of each branch of the next General Assembly 

 shall, after such an election and before another, 

 ratify the same, shall become a part of the constitu- 



AKTICLE XVI. To the end that the public debt of 

 South Carolina may not be hereafter increased with- 

 out the due consideration and free consent of the 

 people of the State, the General Assembly is hereby 

 forbidden to create any further debt or obligation, 

 either by the loan of the credit of the State by guar- 

 antee, indorsement, or otherwise, except for the pur- 

 pose of meeting its existing obligation, or in and tor 

 the ordinary and current business of the State, with- 

 out first submitting the question as to the creation 

 of any such new debt, guarantee, indorsement, or 

 loan of its credit to the people of this State, at a 

 general State election, and, unless two-thirds ot the 

 qualified voters of this State voting on the question 

 shall be in favor of a further debt, guarantee in- 

 dorsement, ox loan of its credit, none such shall be 

 created or made. 



