The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1869-02-12

rantee of the bonds referred to, the company
was required to set apart two per cent. pei
annum on the amount of bonds thus qua.
ranteed, to be used in the purchase and can.
ceiling of said bonds. It is also provided
that the Governor of the State, the Comp
troller General, and the President of the
company, should constitute Board of Com
missloners for the management of said funds
to invest the same in the bonds of the State
or the company when they can be obtained.
And in case the company failed to comply
with these provisions it was made the duty
of the Comptroller General to report the
fact to the Legislature, who were directed
to enfore compliance with them in such
manner MS it may deem expedient The
fourth Section of the Act further provided
that if the said Greenville and Columbia
Railroad Company should fail to pay apy o
the bonds at maturity, the Governor of tho
State should notify the Solicitor of the c.
cult in which the company had its place o
business, who should Immediately file bill
in the Court of Equity to enforce the lien
of the State, which Court should appoint q
receiver, order n sale of the road and all tn.
property and effects of the company, and
otherwise decree as may be best to protect
the interest of the State
1t will thus be seen that in those turbu.
lent times, when the Confederate States re-
quired every assistance in transportation
&c, to meet the cxigences of the war, the
legislators of that period felt it their duty
to place the most prudent and wholesome
guards and restrictions, SO that tie interests
of the State might be protected, while
granting the required aid to the Greenville
and Columbia Railroad Company.
| In 1866, under the provisional govern.
ment, the Legislature was called upon tc
alter and amend the foregoing Act, so as not
only to re-affirm its provisions endorsing
the bonds and debt of the road to the cx-
tent of 500, 600, but in addition, to give
the endorsement of the State to the certiti
| Gates of Indebtedness of the company
issued for the payment of their interest, tC
the full amount which had accrued from the
Issuing of the bonds, and to accrue up tc
January l. 1868, to the amount of $3.50, OO(
these certificates, in all respects, being
similar in character to the bonds of the com
pany, with interest mt seven per cent, paya
BITE semi-annually, and running not more
than twenty years. Still further in addi
ton, there was another provision for the
endorsement by the State of bonds to cover
a floating debt Of the company, then due
of S750,OOO, principal and interest. The
Legislature, however, restricted the amount
of bonds to be issued to the ratio of one to
three of the debt, making the additional
responsibility of the State for the company
$3.50, 900, and the entire amount endorsed
and for the payment of which the State i.
responsible, 1900, 900.
1t will thus be seen that the company
from 1861, when the Confederate Legisla
ture gave the endorsement of the State tc
its bonds, has not paid dollar of it's debt
accommodating floating debt, designated il
the Act of 1866 as a ''bond debt for which
no mortgage or other lien had been created
amounting to $600,00 and, notwithstand
ing tue extraordinary amount of busines:
the road must have had during the war il
the transportation of troops end of military
stores, it shows that it was spending every
year upwards of S125, 900 more than i
earned.
The Act of 1869, now under considera
tion, gives the sanction of the Legislature
to the Acts above recited. wherein I fail tc
see anything to encourage hope of the
solvency of the road. or the security of the
State for the amount for which its endorse
ment has been given; but on the contrary
the conviction is forced upon me that it vii
eventually have to pay both the prncipa
and accumulated interest of the bonds thus
endorsed. But the Act goes still further
than the Acts to which it processes to be ar
amendment, and provides for the endorse
ment by the State of the bonds of the
company to meet the interest that accrued
between January and July 1, 1868, still
more decidedly demonstrating the inability
of the company to meet the interest upon
its debt; and the inference is unavoidable
that similar applications for assistance vii
be periodically made to the Legislature as
the company's interest becomes due OF
its floating debt becomes unmanageable
Whether it arises from the fact that the sec
ton of country which is traversed by the
road is insufficient to support it, or from
the neglect or incompetency of those having
the management of its affairs, the result is
patent that it does not earn money enough
to pay the interest on the debt which it asks
the State to endorse and guarantee.