690 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



bank of the Mekong and the provinces of Bat- 

 tamhong and Siemriep, where no regular or ir- 

 regular armed force may be maintained and all 

 existing fortifications must be razed. Mean- 

 while no customs duties will be established in 

 this zone, to the products of which the French 

 Government grants reciprocity. In these dis- 

 tricts French subjects or political dependents 

 have the right to travel about freely and do 

 business on receiving passes from the French 

 authorities. The French Government has the 

 right to build docks and establish coal and wood 

 depots wherever necessary on the right bank cf 

 the Mekong. In the appended convention it 

 was stipulated that all French subjects, either 

 Annamites, Cambodians, or Laotians, who were 

 detained for any cause should be delivered up ; 

 that the Siamese posts on the left bank of the 

 Mekong and the islands must be evacuated with- 

 in a month ; that a French representative should 

 witness the execution of the sentence against the 

 murderers of Grosgurin and his men and the 

 captors of Capt. Thoreux. and that if the penal- 

 ties were deemed insufficient, the French Gov- 

 ernment might demand a fresh trial before a 

 mixed tribunal ; and that the French Govern- 

 ment would continue to occupy Chantabun until 

 the stipulations of the convention were executed. 



SOUTH CAROLINA, a Southern State, one 

 of the original thirteen, ratified the Constitution 

 May 23, 1788; area, 3,750 square miles. The 

 population, according to each decennial census, 

 was 249,073 in 1790; 345.591 in 1800; 415,115 in 

 1810; 502,741 in 1820; 581,185 in 1830; 594,398 

 in 1840; 668,507 in 1850; 703,708 in 1860; 705,- 

 (506 in 1870; 995,577 in 1880; and 1,151,149 in 

 1890. Capital, Columbia. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers during the year : Governor, Benjamin 

 H. Tillman, Democrat; Lieutenant-Governor, 

 Eugene B. Gary ; Secretary of State, J. E. 

 Tindal ; Treasurer, W. T. C. Bates ; Attorney- 

 General, D. A. Townsend, succeeded by O. W. 

 Buchanan ; Comptroller, W. H. Ellerbe ; Super- 

 intendent of Education, W. D. Mayfield ; Ad- 

 jutant-General, Hugh L. Farley ; Railroad Com- 

 missioners, Jefferson A. Sligh, D. P. Duncan, H. 

 R. Thomas ; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, 

 Henry Mclver; Associate Justices, Samuel Mc- 

 Gowan, Y. J. Pope. Eugene B. Gary, the Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, was elected in December by the 

 State Legislature to succeed Justice McGowan. 



Finances. Following is a summary of the 

 accounts of the State treasury for the year end- 

 ing Oct. 31, 1893 : Total cash assets, $227,728.- 

 55; net cash liabilities, $494,906.42; total net 

 liabilities, $6.864,074.98; balance cash Oct. 31, 

 1892, $201,748.90 ; total cash receipts during the 

 year, $4,208,456.36: total expenditures during 

 the year, $4.182,476.71: balance on hand Oct. 

 31, 1893, $227,728.55. Among the receipts the 

 State dispensary sales are credited ac $100,332.- 

 13, and among the expenditures the State dis- 

 pensary is set down at $134,493.87. The amount 

 received for general taxes 1891-'92 and back 

 taxes was $735.411.03, and the phosphate royalty 

 was $233,544.33. The educational, charitable, 

 penal, and sanitary institutions cost $223.835.- 

 61; the militia, $10,000; the public printing, 

 $23,932.45 ; elections, $18,167.66. 



The new 4-per-cent. Brown consols were sold 



in block to a syndicate. All the old bonds have 

 been redeemed. 



Railroads. The total number of miles of 

 railroad in the State is 2,552-45, and of this, 

 roads aggregating 1,132 - 81 are in the hands of 

 receivers. 



Railroad Tax Cases. The Governor issued 

 a circular, Jan. 28, to the sheriffs throughout 

 the State, directing them to seize enough per- 

 sonal property of the railroads to satisfy the 

 claims of the State for taxes. These had been 

 declared by the courts, in 1892, to be illegal. 

 The sheriffs accordingly levied upon the rolling 

 stock of such railroads, and chained cars to the 

 track. After hearing the petition of the Rich- 

 mond and Danville road concerning this "ar- 

 rest of trains," Judge Simonton, of the United 

 States Court, issued an order releasing all trains 

 that have been tied up and restraining sheriffs 

 from further interference with the property. 

 This was ordered served upon the sheriffs, Feb. 

 8, by United States marshals. 



In view of this order the Governor telegraphed 

 to the sheriffs : 



Where the amount of taxes in execution for 1891 

 and 1892 is less than $2,000, hold the property to 

 satisfy the execution unless it is taken from you by 

 force. Then submit to arrest, and we will take the 

 case to the United States Supreme Court on habeas 

 corpus proceedings and make this Federal judge 

 obey the decrees of that court. 



On Feb. 16 injunctions were granted re- 

 straining sheriffs from interfering with the prop- 

 erty of certain roads. The sheriffs of Aiken, 

 Anderson, Abbeville, and Newberry Counties 

 were adjudged to be in contempt of court for 

 refusing to surrender the property when so or- 

 dered, and were each ordered to pay a fine of 

 $500 and stand committed to the custody of the 

 United States marshal until this order be com- 

 plied with. The Governor advised the sheriffs 

 not to pay the fine, but submit to imprisonment, 

 and he would then apply to the United States 

 Supreme Court for a writ of habeas corpus. 

 The case of the sheriff of Aiken County did so 

 come before the United States Court, and the 

 application was denied. The opinion said : 



The seizure of the property by force was unjusti- 

 fiable and could not be defended. The claims of the 

 State for taxes are not superior to the general rule 

 which makes property placed in the hands of a re- 

 ceiver subject to an order of court; they are to be 

 determined in the regular way and proper manner. 



The fines, costs, and fees, amounting to $4,000 

 were then paid out of the Governor's contingent 

 fund. The testimony as to the validity of the as- 

 sessment was taken by the United States circuit 

 court, in the summer and autumn, to be argued 

 later. In an argument on the case in his mes- 

 sage to the Legislature in November the Gov- 

 ernor said : 



Why should the Court obtain jurisdiction in the 

 matter of taxes, which it could not otherwise pass 

 upon, simply by reason of the receivership ? Why 

 should a bankrupt corporation obtain immunity from 

 the State law when a solvent one can not obtain it? 

 Why should a Federal judge throw the protecting 

 arm of his great power around this class of property 

 and give receivers special privileges which no other 

 taxpayers can claim ? If it is law, it is not right, and 

 I think I can show it is neither. 



