SOUTH CAROLINA. 



709 



upon five different classes of bonds. The suit 

 was upon five bonds of $1,000 each, but tlie 

 bonds of all the classes represented amounted 

 to $3,549,000. The five classes of bonds in- 

 cluded in the pleadings were issued under the 

 following authorities : 1. " An act to authorize 

 a loan to redeem the obligations known as the 

 bills receivable of the State of Soutli Carolina," 

 passed August 26, 1868 ; 2. " An act to author- 

 ize a State loan to pay interest on the public 

 debt," passed August 26, 1868; 3. "An act to 

 authorize a loan for the relief of the Treasury," 

 passed February 17, 1869; 4. "An act to pro- 

 vide for the appointment of a land-commis- 

 sioner, and to define his powers and duties," 

 passed March 27, 1869; 5. "An act to amend 

 an act entitled ' An act to provide for the ap- 

 pointment of a land-commissioner, and to de- 

 tine his powers and duties, and for other pur- 

 poses,' " passed March 1, 1870. 



The ground upon which the relators placed 

 their demand for the relief sought was, that by 

 the constitution of the State, and the several 

 statutes passed in pursuance thereof, under 

 which the bonds in suit were issued, it is made 

 the absolute duty of the Controller to take such 

 steps as are authorized by the statutes fixing 

 the powers and duties of his office, in order to 

 cause a tax to be levied on the taxable prop- 

 erty of the State, sufficient in amount to pay 

 the interest upon the bonds of the five specified 

 classes. By the decision of the Supreme Court 

 of the State, rendered in August, the relief 

 prayed for was granted. The court held not 

 only that the Controller was bound to raise 

 the money, but that the constitution requires 

 the Treasurer to pay it out without any legis- 

 lative act or authority. As this decision re- 

 quired the Controller to order the necessary 

 levy on or before the loth of November, and 

 as an act had been passed by the General As- 

 sembly at its previous session, withdrawing 

 from the Controller all authority to order any 

 tax levy, which, however, for some unexplained 

 reason, had not been presented to the Govern- 

 or, and had therefore not become a law, Gov- 

 ernor Moses summoned an extra session of the 

 Legislature, which assembled October 21st. 

 " I therefore thought it proper," says that offi- 

 cial, " that yoa, as the representatives of the 

 people, in your legislative copacity, should be 

 afforded the opportunity in season, after fur- 

 ther reflection, of affirming your previous ac- 

 tion in the premises, reflecting, us you do, the 

 direct expression of the popular will." At the 

 same time, the Governor, after "a thorough 

 and exhaustive examination of the various 

 classes of our public debt," gave the following 

 results : 



BONDED DEI1T. 



Ante-reconstruction bonded debt, ont- 



tUmding October. 1873 $3,761,713 41 



Po-t-rPconRtructinn bonded debt, flrflt 



raMtrMon, ontetnndin October, 1873. 2,748,830 60 

 Font-reconstruction bonded debt, second 



subdivision, outstanding October, 1873. 9,341,083 34 



Total $15,851,627 35 



FLOATING DEBT. 



The interest due and payable upon the 

 bonded debt, on October 31. 1872. as ap- 

 pears by the Treasurer's books, amounts 

 to $1,423,912 85 



The interest due and payable on October 31, 

 1873, amounts to 918,380 83 



Total interest, accrued and accruing, Octo- 

 ber 31, 1873 $2,342,293 18 



There is also an unfunded balance of $116,- 

 751.63, t'undable under the acts of September 

 and December, 1866, which may properly be 

 included in the floating debt of the State. The 

 special committee appointed by the Legisla- 

 ture, session of 1872-73, to investigate the 

 amount of outstanding pay certificates and 

 bills payable, reported that they had examined 

 outstanding pay certificates and bills payable 

 to the amount of $401,869.98. The total 

 amount outstanding may be safely estimated 

 at $500,000. It is also estimated that there is 

 an unpaid balance of pay certificates, of the 

 session of 1872-'73, amounting to about $100,- 

 000. It appears by the Treasurer's books that 

 the State is charged with the sum of $1,797,- 

 352.94, on account of $3,395,000 of bonds sur- 

 rendered by the Blue Ridge Railroad in ac- 

 cordance with the provisions of an act of the 

 Legislature, approved March 2, 1872. There 

 is also upon the Treasurer's book a large mis- 

 cellaneous floating debt, including the unpaid 

 free-school fund, and all unpaid appropriations, 

 not payable as deficiencies after October 31, 

 1873, which is estimated at about $450,000. 



RECAPITULATION. 



Interest npon bonded debt to October 31, 



1878 $2,342,293 18 



Debt funded under acts of September and 



December, 1866 116,751 C3 



Pay certificates and bills payable, sessions 



ofl870-'71, 1871-'72 600,000 0" 



Pav certificates, session of 1872-"i3 100,000 00 



Debt due Blue Hidge Railroad 1,797,852 94 



Miscellaneous floating debt 450,00000 



Total $5,806,397 75 



Fnndeddcbt $16,027,503 Sfi 



Floatingdebt 6,806,897 75 



Aggregate floating debt and funded debt.. . $20,333,901 10 



The Governor, admitting that the State is 

 unable to pay the interest upon the debt as it 

 stands, recommended that the bondholders be 

 induced to consent to a reduction of the volume 

 of the debt ; in which case the Treasurer will 

 be authorized to receive the outstanding bonds 

 and issue in exchange therefor new bonds, or 

 securities representing a less amount. 



The extra session of the Legislature was 

 followed by the regular session which began 

 November 25th, and continued until December 

 22d, when it adjourned to January 20, 1874. 

 The extra session parsed a bill to deprive the 

 Controller-General of the power to levy a tax. 

 The leading topics, however, before the Legis- 

 lature during this period, related to the debt 

 and taxation. The tax-bill as passed com- 

 prises a levy of fifteen mills, as follows : 



1. One and a quarter mill for executive and 

 judicial departments. 



