G4G TAXATION AND DEBT. 



pany, to have a capital of $36,000,000, was chartered. The State took 

 $800,000 of the stock, advanced $200,000 in cash, and endorsed the bonds 

 of the company for $2,000,000. This magnificent project, with many 

 similar ones undertaken at this date, failed ; accomplishing, some years 

 later, of its great promise, only the Columbia branch of the South Caro- 

 lina railroad, sixty-seven miles in length. 



Meanwhile, the enormous increase of the debts of many of the States 

 of the Union, on account of their expenditures for internal improve- 

 ments, threatened to assume the proportions c^f a great national evil. 

 These debts aggregated $174,306,994, and the Federal Government, free 

 from debt, and with a large amount of surplus revenue in its treasury, 

 was appealed to on all hands for help. $36,000,000 of this surplus rev- 

 enue was ordered to be distributed among the States in four cj^uarterly 

 instalments, commencing January, 1837. The pro rata assigned to South 

 Carolina was about $1,350,000, and of this amount $1,051,422.09 was 

 actually deposited with the State in July, 1837, "being the first three 

 instahnents. The financial distress, which culminated in the panic of 

 1837, prevented the payment of the fourth and last instalment. 



In 1838, a great fire destroyed a large portion of the city of Charleston, 

 and an extra session of the Legislature authorized a loan of $2,000,000 to 

 aid the sufferers. The Bank of the State negotiated this loan, borrowing 

 the money in England and loaning it on mortgages to the people of 

 Charleston. 



The result of these events was that, in 1840, the State debt had in- 

 creased to $3,676,949 (not counting the surplus revenue deposited by the 

 United States with the State until otherwise ordered by Congress). The 

 assets of the bank had also increased, from the sources above cited, to 

 $5,420,809. 



Although the decade, 1840 to 1850, does not appear as one of unusual 

 prosperity, it was marked by great economy in the management of the 

 financial affairs of South Carolina. A strong anti-debt feeling was aroused 

 among the people. No new loans were made, and, in 1850, the return of 

 the Comptroller-General shows the debt of the State, less the surplus 

 revenue, to be $2,105,920, funded in three, five and six per cent, stocks 

 and bonds. The assets of the Bank of the State amounted to $3,633,718, 

 and other assets of the State in railroad stocks and bonds amounted to 

 $1,320,156. In all, $4,953,874. 



This prosperous condition of the treasury again induced a recurrence 

 to unusual expenditures, a tendency which was fostered by the rapid 

 increase in Avealth of the people during the decade, 1850 to 1860. In 

 1852, the charter of the Bank ©f the State was a second time extended 

 until 1871. For the third time the project of a great highway to the 



