SOUTH CAROLINA. 



769 



was also a member of the special committee, 

 introduced " a joint resolution concerning the 

 bonds and certificates of stock issued under the 

 said act of December 22, 1873," consisting of 

 several sections, to the following purport : The 

 preamble declared the object of the investiga- 

 tion intrusted to the special committee. Sec- 

 tion.l provided for the adoption of the com- 

 mittee's report in general, as a statement of 

 the entire amount of the consolidation bonds 

 issued under the act of 1873, and of the char- 

 acter of the vouchers on file at the Treasurer's 

 office for their issue. Section 2 expressed as 

 the sense of the General Assembly that the 

 consolidation bonds issued under the said act, 

 in exchange for certain vouchers therein named, 

 and amounting to $1,577,835.62, were "valid 

 obligations of the State." Sections 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 

 8, and 9 expressed as the sense of the General 

 Assembly that the consolidation bonds issued 

 under the said act, in exchange for vouchers of 

 various descriptions severally specified therein, 

 and amounting respectively to $9,135, $9,990, 

 $486,025, $331,996, $2,166,039, $1,040,440, and 

 $539,390, wholly, or to the extent in which the 

 said vouchers entered into the consideration 

 for the issue of the said consolidation bonds, 

 were " not valid obligations of the State." Of 

 these two contrary resolutions, the last named 

 one was, by consent, first taken up for discus- 

 sion. The House at a subsequent sitting also 

 agreed that this resolution should be acted 

 upon, not as a substitute for the resolution ac- 

 cepting the settlement under the act of 1873 as 

 a finality, but as an original proposition. The 

 final voting on it, section by section, com- 

 menced on February 26th, with the following 

 result : Section 1, which provides for the adop- 

 tion of the special committee's report as a state- 

 ment of the number and amount of bonds issued 

 under the act of 1873, and section 2, which de- 

 clares certain vouchers therein specified to be 

 valid obligations of the State, were successively 

 adopted without opposition. The remaining 

 sections, from 3 to 9 inclusive, which severally 

 declare that the bonds issued under the said 

 act are, wholly or in part, "not valid obliga- 

 tions of the State," were not put to the vote, 

 because of opposition. Upon the reading of 

 section 3 the debate between the opposite par- 

 ties began anew, and continued for several days, 

 with ever-increasing heat and earnestness. 



As the continuance of these debates, instead 

 of tending to harmonize the contrary senti- 

 ments of the disputants, seemed to widen their 

 disagreement to the point of making them ir- 

 reconcilable, the President of the State Demo- 

 cratic Executive Committee, in order to pre- 

 vent a split in the party, invited all the Demo- 

 cratic members of the General Assembly to 

 hold a caucus among themselves, with a view 

 to bring about some compromise calculated to 

 reconcile the consolidation act of 1873 with 

 the pending report of the special committee 

 on it. The caucus was held on March 5th. 

 Those members who supported the settlement 

 VOL. xvin. 49 A 



made under the funding act of 1873 refused to 

 take part in it, and all of them except six with- 

 drew from the hall. The caucus was called to 

 order by the President of the State Executive 

 Committee, and after a long sitting was con- 

 tinued to March 6th. Its final result was the 

 appointment of a committee of conference, 

 composed of ten members, four Senators and 

 six Representatives, chosen from the two op- 

 posite sides in equal numbers, and charged with 

 the duty " of considering and, if possible, sug- 

 gesting some plan whereby might be adjusted 

 the differences of opinion between the members 

 of the Democratic party respecting the funding 

 act of 1873 and the report of the Bond Com- 

 mission thereon." After they had spent sev- 

 eral days in consultation among themselves, 

 the committee of conference reported on March 

 10th that, out of a multitude of other plans of 

 adjustment discussed and rejected as unsuita- 

 ble, they had unanimously agreed on one which 

 they deemed equitable and just to both the 

 State and her creditors, including in its opera- 

 tions the outstanding floating indebtedness, to 

 be funded like the rest at the rate of fifty cents 

 on the dollar of its face value, with the excep- 

 tion of certain specified claims, which are to 

 be passed for their full amounts. This report 

 was adopted, with one vote only in the nega- 

 tive. It was as follows : 



The following proposition is submitted as a basis 

 of settlement of the consolidation bonds and stocks, 

 and of the floating indebtedness of the State : 



1. To levy for the current fiscal year a tax sufficient 

 to pay the coupons and interest orders maturing on 

 the consolidation bonds and stocks during the pres- 

 ent fiscal year. 



2. To constitute a special court of three circuit 

 judges to be chosen by the General Assembly on the 

 nomination of a caucus, who shall have jurisdiction 

 to hear and determine a case or cases made up to 

 test the validity of the various classes of bonds and 

 stocks mentioned in the report of the Bond Com- 

 mission as " not issued in accordance with law, and 

 authorized to be consolidated by the act of 1873," 

 and also "as not issued in accordance with law" 

 and further designated in Schedule 6 of said report, 

 with the right of appeal to the Supreme Courts of 

 the State and United States ; the propriety of the 

 appeal on the part of the State to depend on the de- 

 mand of the Attorney-General and the assistant coun- 

 sel, or a majority of them. 



3. That the General Assembly shall employ two as- 

 sistant counsel to aid the Attorney-General in the pro- 

 ceedings to settle the validity of said bonds and stocks. 



4. That the Attorney-General, with the consent 

 of the creditors, or so many of them as may be neces- 

 sarv, make up a case or cases to be tried in said 

 Court, in which, if practicable, the State may be de- 

 fendant, to test the validity of the bonds and stocks 

 mentioned in said Schedule 6 ; bringing before the 

 Court the various classes of vouchers which are said 

 to impair the validity of said bonds and stocks. 



5. That as to the coupons and interest orders on 

 bonds and stocks mentioned in Schedule 5 of said 

 report, the same be paid; those for the last fiscal 

 year out of the money now in the Treasury for that 

 purpose, and those for the current fiscal year out of 

 the tax to be levied for that purpose. 



6. That as to coupons and interest orders on anv 

 of the several classes of bonds and stocks mentioned 

 in said Schedule 6, the same be paid out of the taxes 

 for tlie last and current fiscal years respectively, 



