The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-02-16

| dkideuds, Fhic6 theJ propose sag0nt;nues and In
the opinion. .of your committee wiz increase es
qasa asYoSr Sommtties % feel wsrTanted IN rSc5mnend
inEithI alopti6n OF The llovhgresolution:
IsesOred, That the report OF the president and
Directors, ana pefs 8ccompanyng 1t, are
highly sattsIac,ory.r aslshowiHg Continued i'm,
Essyis Rssyf!ssaI IL ssSs yatien'
taepal<msn aotlhy aud zsA for thesinteres'
;ef the stockholders. 4: j: WHITE, W IT, Uhalrman,
3. = >, u d /. giEsos', sasiS'
lStG s@-,-t aA.SEgFeNzcK. Z
Major E. W. setbel ouiscsed tothe report of the
eonmi,tee. On the ground that the report Of the
diSsstors wasnot in niashaDe whicit.e abied every
s.SScSGolisr 10 learn the tfue condition Of the
company. Z fpr instance. the fact1aivalue OF the
securities held -by4t the, Road-was not put do yn
Their. amount Yas--s:ated lat their costlto be
s5aedoa Yhue they were not worth Id the mar
ketmore than $ssa,pg1 sPnensaaalR the company
was credited with a. Huge debt Due tD 1t BY the
SdafhHestetn Raihsmf BanE; which, debt was Of
lises, II Sshy ;ssvalues; s!Thla ;conoeaimeut danc
gaod.-It was best 70 tell the whole truth. El!s
Was not ,itonee and he elalor SeteeN eould not
SAY thathsSwas satisfied. ..sas. .f5.ss,~ -.
'.aioaso WhlesE said that sneooanlsee
had nothing to do with the bad investments
which might have been made hy preceding ad'
minfstratiuns. There was the list. The sins IL
sins at all, we're committed long ago. The sub.
scripesons were thought to be good Investments,
and, whether good or bad they mus. be shown IN
the balance sheet The report OF the presidoat
and directors contained all the Information neces
sary to- be given. The committee appointed for
next year would take fifteen days' time and
wouid cost gres. deal q money, but Its report
would amount to nothing. There had been loo
much fault.fnding' at all these meetings The
stockholders we're abusing and reviling the man
agement, and doing their best to depreciate the
value Of their own property. What the road
wanted was confidence aud repose. II the pre-
sent board does not satisfy the stockholders let
new board re put In. But the stockholders should
show their confidence in whatever board they
may elect. He confessed that the committee had
taken hopeful view Of the position vi the com
psuy. This was justified by the report, and he
was sure that II his committee had taken fifteen
days instead Of one they could not have done
their work much better.
President Magrath explained that no other d =
position could be maze OF the assets and the deo.
due by the oank than was made In the report.
TIE money had been paid out, and the payment
must be shown in the accounts. II the bank had
no assets, that would not be the fault OF the rail-
road board. The money paid for the bank was
debt due by it to the road, and was therefore IN
asset Of the road. He was reminded by what had
been said by the first speaker, OF an incident IN
the public career Of Governor Brown, OF Georgia.
That official, s;me years ago, charged that all the
banks In Georgia were inso.vent, because their
assets and their liabilities were balanced IN their
accounts; and his experience showed that where
the amounts agreed so exactly, there must be
something wrong. This seemed to be the position
OF apreyious speaker, in his comments upon the
credits of the South Carolina Railroad Tor invest
mems, and for the debt due It By the bank. !,
The Hon. G. A. Trenholm explained thatsno
other disposition could have been mads OF the
amounts in question. The board had no autSor-
ity to wipe out the debt due by the bank. That
debt Could be met at once by calling up an nStas-
ment upon the road and bank shares. THIS was
not authorized to be DONE The company must
tefher reseryeits, ,dtMdfgds until iehe sceumala-
rtions were enough to counteroalance the bank
debt, or it must 90 on paying dividends and treat
Che bank debt as an asset Of the road. If the
bank deot were considered bad, and 1t was not 3
bad debt, tile property of the stockholders would
cost them half million dollars m1re-the loss
would be charged to property account. The board
could only treat the debt as an asset, yet they
were blamed for doing the only thing which they
could properly do. Mr.. Trenholm deemed the in-
vestment in the Macon and Augusta Road
good one, and that she increased business
brought by it TO the South Carolina Railroad,
would far more than make up Tor any
possible loss upon that account. The bank
directors had had the misfortune to lose all
their capital and the South Carolina Railroad, as
their endorser, had had to pay their debts. YsS
tue road directors were blamed for this mlsfor-
tune Of the bank. BY redeeming the circulation
OF the bank, the road had saved itself from suits
tnnumerable; and the action OF the road directors
had been approved by the stockholders. He be.
lieved that $6 share would cover oil the loss by
Improbable investments, and for tue remainder
Of the depreciation this administration was not
responsible. he had always thought 1t great
misfortune that the road had owned bank, but
last yearit was determined that the bank shoud
resume operations. How, then, could the road
directors do other than include the debt due by it
to the road amongst the credits Of the road? {.
The report and accompanying resolutions were
then unanimously adopted.
Mr.. Clarkson submitted the report Of the COM
mittee appointed to examine the report Of the
president and directors OF the Southwestern Rail-
road Bank The report explains the condition
of the bank, The small expense OF keeping 1t in
operation, and the great value OF its charter
privileges. In conclusion, che committee recon-
mend the adoption of the following resolutions !:
Resolved, That it is expedlent that the South.
western Railroad Bank shall, as soon as praGtl
cable resume its business as II oanN unoer les
charter, and that the president aud directors De
instructed to devise some plan to accomplish Ch,s'
Resolred, That II Is expedlent that an Inc ae
poslls Of The road be made lu its own bank.
On motion of WsL. Ellis, E'q., the report and
resolutions were laid upon the table.
Major 3. W. seibc,s offered the following reso.:
lulton, which was atdopsed:
Res0tted, That the Beard or Directors or the
South Carolina Railroad Company take imHe
dlate possession OF the assets Of the Southwestern
Rarofld Bank, and dispose OF them as soon as
possible Rnds appropriate the proceeds 10 Inc
llquldatlelf debt incurred 1y the ROAD iol 10
the bunk and that the bank be Immediately
| closed
The dominating committee, through Major Sci
bells, submitted their report recommending the
| election OF the following gentlemen as director:
OF the road for the ensuing year:
! J. P. B0yce GrsenrAle.
Q. A. Trenholm, Charleston.
| %. W. Williams, Charleston.
| Henry GourdIu, Charleston.
Z. d. DeSaussure, Charleston.
A. SImonds Charleston.
B. W. Rice, Union.
| II. H. DeLeon, Charleston.
! J. s. Globes, Charleston.
! F. J. Pczer, Charleston.
/ II r..