Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1869-01-13
PSoaF: ne Nation.

seem to have singular notions as oshow
to strengthen thearedit OF their State,
if we. may judgesby The following pas
sage of the Governors Message:
r recommend to the Legislature
that some early action be taken to pre-
vent the Courts and officers of the Bank
Of the State frola wasting and misap-
plying its assetsto the payment Of costs
Of Courts, attorneys fees, and the sala-S
ries of officers and agents. IF the hol-
ders of the Fire loan Bonds are deter
mined to pursuethe, policy of disparag-
ing the credit and resources the State,
when it must be apparent to them that;
no State of the Union is more solvent,
or has a fairer prospect of promptly
meeting3all her Liabilities, they should.
be compelled 10 carry on this litigation
at theirsown eanetse. I have reason
fobelieve thai than sixty thou
sand dollars in gold has been sqHdrder.
ed and made away with for salaries Of
officers and agents who are performing
no necessary duties, fees of attorneys
who are employed for the purpose Of
bringing the credit Of the State into dis
repute, and for other objects of equally
questionable propriety. The holders of
the Fire Loan Bonds should be placed
on The same footing as other creditors
of the State, and they should be held
accountable fo;. all damages the State
has sustained, or may sustain, by their
unwarrantable litigation,
One is surprised, after reading this
illumination, to learn from the statement
of Mr.. Hayne, the counsel Of the party
attacked, that the State is debtor in
default with it's debt past due that the
Fire Loan Bondholders are creditors en-
titled to certain collaterals pledged by
the State when the contract was made in
1888; that in 1865 the Legislature
the Bank being insolvent-conGrmed
the pledges Of. 1888, and appropriated
the assets of the Bank of the State to
the holders of the bonds, and, finally,
that all the litigation that has ensued
grew out of q suit instituted by the
GilMolders of the Bank, broug ght in 1867,
seeking to set aside the Act of the Leg
islature in favor of the bondholders,
and claiming for themselves these as
sets which tile bondholders Of the Bank
simply defend, and that it has cost little
over $4,000, instead of $4,000. In
1868 the Legislature passed anAct dis
regarding the Act of 1888, and repeal
ing g that Of 1865, and requiring the Gov
ernor to- seize the whole assets Of the
Bank, then deposit in equity,sand to
place the funds in the State Treasury.
In the same Act, satisfactory provision
was made for the billholders who began
the litigation, and none for the bond
ho}derszwho are defenders.
1t does seem rather hard, on these
facts, that people who advanced their
money thirty years ago to help rebuild
the city of Charleston, should be threat
ened with being made accountable for
g all damages the State has sustained
by their unwarrantable litigation. y We
do not pretend to GO into the merits OF
the case, but suggest that these merits
be left the courts, and that common
prudence would suggest that distant
bondholders, waiting for their money
long past due, at a time too when the
Governor tells them that "no State in
the Union is more solvent" should be
made to feel that every facility is af-
forded them by the State to defend
rights which they at least believe to be
hsdolrbted. South Carolina cannot al
ford, either as matter of money or Of
character, to.damage its opening career
of prosperity by any other course; The
fact is, too, that the holders Of the bank
bills, for whose benefit this extraordina-
ry interference with the action of the
courts is talked of, have bought them
up for about eight cents on the dollar,
and, we fear, are adding anotherto to the
number of rings" by which the country
is now infested.-
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