Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-05-25
Beware Of South Carolina Bonds,
From the Cosmopolitan.

1t Is well known Vn&I 3lor long
time the Cosmopolitan has been the
leading journal in London which has
vindicated the character as well as
the intrinsic value of the. Southern
State securities. fact has come
to our knowledge regardingthe bond
ed debt of South Carolina which we
hasten to lay before our readers. We
have heard for some time hints that
there was something wrong. in the
Carpet -6agging Government which is
now running the executive and ad-
ministrative machinery OF that un-
fortunate State, but we we're not pre-
pared for such a startling disclosure
as that which we are now compelled
to make public. We have received
from a well-known correspondent the
following letter upon the subject
which sufficiently explains the facts,
to at least put the London public and
the financial world upon their guard.
We shall in due time make further
disclosures = ~
New YORK, April 4th 1871.
"We would caution our friends
not to invest dollar in. the public
securities of South Carolina, as it has
come to our knowledge that, through
the corrupt State officials, a very
large issue of bonds unauthorized by
the Legislature has been worked off
on our market, and these same men
are now trying to make, negotiations
in London of what is9termed the
Sterling Funded Bonds amounting
to el, 100000. The Act creating
these bonds was obtained by bribing
the negro votes, and any one of them
at any time can invalidate the issue
by making affidavit of TIE fact. 1t
was also passed under false preten-
ces-to wit: the funding of the
present issue of valid bonds, whereas
it is simply to take up the illegal
bonds, and to enable the Greenville
and Columbia Rail Road, now owned
by Governor Scott ands his corrupt
set, to steal the balance, about 8, ,000-
600 dollars. The public debt has
been increased (since 1869 from
about 100000 dollarsrtos over 25,- |
100000 dollars, and not one dollar Of
this vast issue has been spent either
for the benefit Of the State or5of its
inhabitants. 81
1t may be asked what isto be done
under such a state Of thin =? We
can only say, let every honest banker
in the world-every brok-r, every
person dealing or operating in such
securities-set their faces against
South Carolina until this .rottsnness
is fully exposed and purged from the
commonwealth. We are and always
shall be the friends and supporters of
the Southern people, as we have
known and understood them in the
past. In no State has high CONNER
cial honor always been more regarded |
than in South Carolina and we
would not have the world believe
that single son of that State would |
lend himself to these frauds. They |
are the work, solely and alone, of a
miserable ring of corrupt Carpet
baggers" of the North, who have
fastened themselves upon the throat |
of that fair State, and are sucking its
very life-5lood. We do not believe
President Grant will protect these
men from the penalty for their mis-
deeds. He has most difficult task
to perform, and we only hope that
he will turn his back upon the cor
rupt politicians who are responsible
for these wrongs, and give the
honest citizens Of the South, at the
earliest possible moment, the govern
ment and control of their own affairs
according to those nstit4tional guar
antees which cannot much longer be
held in abeyance.