The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1868-12-11

road is not finished speedily, the State will
find herself liable, in 1877, for the prin-
cipal and interest of the bonds of the COM
pany then falling due, while the assets,
which were to be her security, will have
become worthless We cannot afford to
play ducks and brakes with half millions,
although State bonds are going to par or
thereabouts, and the Legislature should
give its earnest attention to economizing
every dollar in this as in all other public
questions
There are but 10 ways of securing the
rebuilding of the road. One is for the
State to seize the road and complete it her
self, or sell it to others who would do so.
The other is for the State to move its first
lien out of the way of the five hundred
thousand dollars which ore required for its
reconstruction.
1t would be very difficult matter for the
State to obtain possession OF the road. The
present owners have already fallen from
the high estate of bondholders to the poor
position of stockholders. They have sacri-
feed great deal to put the road in an un-
embarrassed condition, but they will not
give up their property without a fight. The
case would be fought through every court
in the land, and in the meanwhile the prop
erty would be going down to zero. And If
the State won the day, what would she do +!
Would she build the road herself? If 30,
she would be treated as oil States are when
they undertake to perform the work of indi-
viduals. Would she sell the road? If so,
a concave of bondholders might buy it in,
strip it of all that was valuable, ruin the
whole concern, and, when they had filed
their purses out of the road, turn round
upon the State and claim the psymen. in
full of the bond. Only one thing is certain:
The State would have to pay $505, 900 and
accrued interest. and get next to nothing
in return. Even if the State sold the road
for half q million in State bonds she would
be heavy loser, for the market value of
the State bonds would be only about
$3.50, 900, and the State would have to pay,
dollar for dollar, at least 100000.
It remains now to be seen whether the
State can properly give up her first lien fer
a second lien, so as to enable the present
company to complete the road, which would
then be worth at least twice as much as its
whole bonded debt.
Whenever property is encumbered, and
money is required to save the property
from ruin, the money so furnished takes
precedence of all other claims. The salvor
of an encumbered ship has the first lien
Upon her, because without him she would
have been wholly lost. In the same way q
lender of money to repair ship hos
preference and bottomry, as it is called, on
her. Another illustration is even more
simple: A mortgage is held by upon q
piece of property which, by the accidents of
fire, food or war, is made untenable and
unproductive. A small amount of e1pen-
diture will restore the property, and enable
B, the owner, to pay the interest due A.
But G., who has the money, will not lend it
unless he has first lien; and A does not
object, and cannot object, for if he were to
refuse, and t. take possession Of the prop
erty in it's useless condition, he would have
to spend an amount equal to that proposed
to be borrowed to make the property avail
able and productive. This is the whole
case. The State has the right and the
power to save herself from all risk as well
as actual lJss. 1t is demanded by the peo-
pie that no new liability shall be incurred
by the State, nor any outstanding liability
increased. Upon these, and other public
grounds, the Legislature is urged to pass
the bill for the relief of the Savannah and
Charleston Railroad Company.