The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-05-25
ANDERSON G. It, G., THURSDAY MORNING. MAY 90 1911

ERsON G.. f, S. c., THUR
another bill was introduced into the
House, by which upon the ground that
the State was thus relieved of four mil
lions of liability, new guarantee was
given of four million to the Greenville
road, and these now guaranteed bonds
were' authorized Ito be converted under
the conversion act ainto State bonds. /
will not characterize this Legislation. 1t
needs no adiectives. When General Har-
rison reached .Columbia, the House bill
had passed, three. readings, and the Senate
bill, too. His duty to both the road OF
which he was in charge and to the State,
forbid him to allow such acts to become
law, without any effort at defense: Why,
if the bill, cancelling the endorsement OF
the State, had passed, if, as it proposed,
the existing indebtedness :of the road was
paid, what would ii have cost the State,
not in remote liability, but in nactual cash!
IA Just mortgage debt, with accrued inter-
est of something over two hundred thou
sand dollars, advances secured by the
bonds as collateral to between two and
three hundred thousand more, the dam-
ages claimed by the contractor upon a
contract of one million and half, broken
and abandoned, and if he had been base
enough, anything more which he might
choose to add as the recompense for his
consent. 81. D..
He resisted the bill; and defeated the
bill, and when the bill in the Senate failed,
the bill from the House was abandoned
because without cancelling the old en-
dorsement. of four millions, the new
endorsement of two could not be obtained.
Well, at this point, the Greenville road
proposed that the war should cease and
that the interests of the two roads should
be consolidated. Look at the proposal !:
The Blue Ridge road had but fifty miles
of completed road when they went upon
the market with their securities, they
met two difficulties /. That their unfin-
ished road was not adequate security. 2.
That the loan was not largo enough TO
complete the road. Tho consolidation
made road of near four hundred miles,
of which one hundred and eighty were
plete, and making q gross income OF eight
hundred thousand dollars, while the COM
pletion of the whole line opened an enor.
nous and lucrative traffic. The bonds of
the Bluo Ridge, endorsed by tho consoli-
dated company, would be securities sure
of easy negotiation. General Harrison
and his board consented to this consclida-
ton upon two conditions. l. That the
Blue Ridge road should be adequately
represented upon the consolidated road
and, 2. That sufficient guarantee should
be given that the four million Of Blae
Ridge bonds should be expended upon the
Blue Ridge road. But the general con-
solidation act required the election of the
new board, president, equalization OF
stock, etc., etc, which could not be et-
fected before the adjournment OF the
Legislature. 1t was agreed, therefore, to
accept the present act as preliminary
to the actual consolidation, General Har-
rison, stipulat!ng that, as an effort had
been made to discredit the Blue Ridge
bonds, by the attempt to cancel them,
that endorsement should be confirmed.
I say today, and l am willing to leave
it to the judgment of any impartial man,
that this proposed consolidation wss wise
and in the best interests both OF the rail-
roads and the State,
But tho ground taken by the repottand
resolutions, is that in one particular, this
bill is injurious to the State, inasmuch as
it postpones the statutory lien of the
State to the mortgage which protects pri-
vate individuals. My reply to that is:
1. That no statutory lien existed when
the mortgage was executed, and that
therefore in point of fact, and as an inevi-
@blo legal consequence, the mortgage is
prior to the statutory lien. When, by
the act of 1868, the endorsement of the
State was authorized upon four million OF
bonds, no mortgage was asked. Its secu-:
itv was purely voluntary. The statutory
lien of the State became binding, when
according to the provisions of the act, the
Comptroller General put his endorsement
upon the bonds. Under the most immi-
nent legal advice in the State, the mort
gage was prepared and recorded accord.
Il ine ? to law, but by delays unforeseen and
beyond the control of the company, the
bonds wore not signed for months after
the execution and record of the mortgage.
The priority of the mortgage is, therefore,
q fact Independent OF this Legislation
But besides this, there was first mort
gage, not large one, but as | havo said
V with accrued interest amounting to about
s27O.OOO, which was prior to both the
mortgage Of 1868 and t she statutory len en-
To complain thon OF THIS TINS l9glslais'Gn } ,,., Dc,
cause it postponos the State lien is simply
to reject the facts.
2. The mortgage was better security
than the statutory lien. 1t was cumula-
tive and voluntary. The statutory lien,
as every lawyer will admit, could not ex-
tend beyond tho limits OF the State, Gov
ering only fifty y-six miles OF road, OF when
only thirty-two were finished. Inc mort
,bo1o wood from ona end to tho other