The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-05-25
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE NEW YORK
TRIBUNE.
COLUMBIA, May 11th, 1877

ers of South Carolina have manEreal grievan-
ces of which to complain on account OF the
manner in which the finances of the State have
been administered, and a careful inquiry salts
fes me that the charges of corrupt practices
which. they make against the State Legislature
and many of the State offices are, to some ex.
tent, true, although greatly exaggerated. All
people, from the Governor down to private cit
liens of both parties, white men and negroes,
agree that, with few exceptions, the members
Of the Legislature were shamefully venal, and
sold their votes with little pretence of secrecy.
This we may pass over as an admitted fact; but
the amount of really bad legislation of which
they were guilty is not very great. The State
of South Carolina is too poor to afford much
plunder. There are no powerful railway COM
panies or other rich and grasping corporations
that can afford to pay roundly for legislation to
promote their interests; and the actual amount
of corruption money used at the last session
would appear ridiculously small to- the lobby
lists who manipulate the Legislatures OF New
York and Pennsylvania The measures for the
passage of which money was most freely used
were the Phosphate Bill (which gave to few
persons aAnonopoly. of the right to take phos-
phate deposits, for fertilizing purposes, from
the rivers of the State; J and the Greenville
Railroad Subsidy Bill, which passed the House
after an expenditure of $4,000, but which
finally failed to pass the Senate over the Gov
ernor's veto. The chief sin of the Legislature
was the extravaganza with which money was
spent for clerk hire, furniture, and incidental
expenses. The; cost of the last session was
nearly ten times as much as the average cost OF
| the sessions before the war. AS an illustration
of where the money went to, it is related that
one membe7 bought pair of horses and paid
! the owneriby giving him an order on the Trea-
! sury for pay as committee clerk, and that
| others furnished themselves with gold watches
| and chains in like manner inexpensive to
themselves. -.
But it is against three or four of the Stateofi-
GERS that the anger of the tax-dayers is especl-,
ally directed When the State Government
went into operation in 1861, the only capital OF
1 its members was their influence with the negro
/ voters and they carried all their tangible for
! tunes upon their backs. Now they live in fine
mansions, drive fast horses, buy railroads, es-
tablish banks, and give every sign of possessing
wealth. In commercial communities, where
riches are often rapidly acquired, such sudden
rise to fortune would not attract sc. much atten-
4 ton OF suspicion; but to understand the effect
it makes upon the public temper here, it must
be remembered that the people of South Caro-
lima are very poor, that nearly all the fortunes
once possessed by them were wrecked by the
war, that many who once lived in luxury are
i now reduced to actual poverty, and that the old
proud planters have nothing left but their bar
! rem acres, which scarcely produce CROUCH to
1 feed them. In these pinching days of adversi-
! ty, thong of unknown men come out of the
country of their recent enemies to seize upon
| all the places in the Government by the aid Of
| negro votes. No doubt large share of the
wealth of these men was acquired by what
would be looked upon in New York as legiti.
mate speculation, but here few make such dis
| tinctions. The South Carolina planters know
little about speculating: their fortunes used to
be in lands and slaves. Wealth was slowly &C.
quired, and was always an evidence of respecta,
bility and good, family; men who made money
rapidly were suspected, and the speculative in.
stinct was one of the Yankee traits which they
most despised. These planters now find them
selves poor, their taxes enormously increased,
their State debt much augmented, and the State
officers suddenly risen from poverty to aflu-
ence. Their wrath is naturally great at all this.
The taxpayers do not rest their case, how
ever, on general assertions of corruption, but
they make specific charges against some OF the
officers, and these chhrges are repeated and en-
dorsed by many respectable Republicans out of
Office. Perhaps the most serious of the charges
refer to the public land. Bonds to the amount
of 500, 900 were sold, and the proceeds applied
to purchasing land for the State with the pur-
pose of reselling it OH long credit and in small
tracts to colored men, as charitable underta-
king. A Land Commissioner was appointed,
with numerous deputies. 1t turns out that the
utmost value of tho lard purchased is not
| 100000, and that all the rest of the money
went into the pockets of the Commissioners and
sonic of the members of Supervisory Board,
consisting of certain State officers. One man
made $4,000 on single purchase. BE
bought a tract of land for $50 900, agreeing with
the owner that the deed should be made for
$4,000, drew the money from the treasury,
paid the owner and pocketed the difference. In
some cases land was bought in which there
we're unsatisfed mortgages, to its full value,
and the money drawn.to pay the mortgages has
disappeared. 1t is alleged that systematic
process has been carried on by certain State
officers of Sweating" claims against the State
that is, refusing and delaying payment until
claimants wearied by the delay, would sell
their claims at heavy discount to brokers,
who divided the profits with the officials
Doubtful claims have been brought up and suo
sequently made redeemable at par by legiBla-
tive enactments The same persons also made
large sum by purchasing the bills of the old
State Bank for almost nothing, and then get
ting aii Act passed funding them at par. In
other places the transaction would be thought
legitimate speculation, bat the South Caroli-
ma planter is not of this opinion, and invaria-
bly, characterizes it as "a piece of id ras-
cality." :,
l do not wish to give the impression that all
the State officers are bad men. There are some
eminent exceptions-men whose motives are
pure and whose hands are clean of bribes but,
as rule, the officers are not OF a class that
would be trusted with official responsibility in
any Northern community outside of New York
City. They came to the surface at time when
it was unly necessary for white man in South
Carolina to say he was Republican and
wanted an Office, to get one. Such men were
so scarce then that many were obliged to hold
two or three Offices at once. In the Taxpayers
| ..aza..a.,+ ...h;oh has hrounlt about the con-