The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1871-04-27
z.HoYT & CO., Proprietors,
From the Charleston Ne,us, april 1871.
A TALK. WITH GOV. SCOTT.
HiS VIEWS ON OUR FINANCIAL AND GEN.
ERAL CONDITION.

The presence of his Excellency, Governor
Scott, in Charleston, enables us to present to
our readers semi-oficial resume of his views
On several subjects, by which the public mind
has of late been agitated, and concerning which
his statements possess, at this time, peculiar
interest. The privilege of an interview with
him was freely granted, and theinterview itself
was unconstrained. The language of his Ex-
cellency, as given below, is almost verbatim,
and the freedom with which it was spoken, in
dieates that all of the questions treated have
been thoughtfully considered. After some gem
eral remarks, the conversation proceeded as
follows
THE STATE DEBT.
@. Governor, you are fully aware, from the
comments of the press, and the action of the
Board of Trade and Chamber of Commerce of
Charleston, that the people of the State are fe-
verish with an excitement which has grown out
of what they believe to be an oppressive taxa
ton, an enormous State debt, and corrupt
Legislature please state frankly your own
opinions upon these matters.
The Governor am free to say that, in my
Judgment, the disturbed condition of the public
mind results from misapprehension of our f.
tancial affairs. Either with q view to injure
the credit of the State or to achieve personal
objects-perhaps political in character-certa
individuals have sought to make it appear that
the State debt has been largely increased by the
present administration. Such is not the fact,
and propose to show the why and wherefore.
First, the act of the Legislature of 1868 au-
thoriaed the funding of the bills of. the Bank
of the State into State bonds. That do not
regard as an increase of the debt, but merely
as change In the form of an old debt, the
courts having decided that the State was un-
uuestionably liable for these. So much, then,
Is not chargeable to this administration. Sec
ondly, in the reorganization of the government,
it was ascertained that large amount Of past
due interest and other claims had accumulated
and were unpaid. To meet these obligations
the Legislature authorized the issue of q mil
lion of bonds. 1t will be seen, by reference to
the law, how these bonds were to be negotiated.
Thirdly, debt existed which had been created
by the issue of bills receivable Immediately af-
ter the war. They, too, had to be provided for,
or rather, retired, and an additional issue OF
five hundred thousand dollars worth of bonds
was made for this purpose. Fourthly, it was
ascertained, during the regular session of 1863
'69 that even with this assistance, it was i'm
possible, at the low price at which the bonds
were selling, to meet the liabilities which ex-
isted-debts, by the way, that had not been
created by this administration. Theissue of
million more of bonds was, therefore, au-
thorized, for the relief ofthe treasury. Thesum
total was then two million five hundred thous-
and dollars. Finally, the providing for the
organization of the land commission called for
seven hundred thousand dollars more of bonds,
and thus the total issues, since 1868, amount to
three million two hundred thousand dollars
Now, of these bonds, according to the last re-
port of the financial agent, at New York, about
cne million of dollars have been placed upon
the marker, leaving balance Of twenty-five
hundred thousand dollars in his hands. You
will see from this statement that there is no
foundation whatever for the rumors which have
obtained currency; and can readily understand
why. in consequence of those rumors our secu-
rites have been depressed, and the credit of the
State seriously injured.
@ Do understand you that MIR. Kimpton,
the financial agent of the State, now has TWEEN
ty-two hundred thousand dollars in his hands |?
The Governor He has, unless he has sold
IN amount since his last report. In raising
money for the uses Of the State, however, his
godus eperandi generally has been to hypothe-
cate bonds.
RAILROAD BONDS.
@. is not the State, largely involved on &C.
count of her endorsement of railroad bonds 2
The Governor The sum total Of the en-
dorsements of railroad bonds by the State is
about six millions and half of dollars, includ-
ing the Blue Ridge Railroad bonds, which have
not been put upon the market, and you must
bear in mind that these endorsements cover 8
period of nearly thirty years. do not, how
ever, regard the endorsements of the railroad
bonds as part of the State debt, because there
is no railroad thus protected by the State which
If put in liquidation would not pay the full
amount of the endorsement.
TIE SUN TOTAL OF THE STATE DEBT.
@. What, then, is the sum total of the debt
on which the people have to pay taxes and
this is point on which beg that you will be
explicitf
fhe Governor Between seven and eight
millions of dollars-not more. The exact fig
ures cannot give you, for have not got them
with me. We owe, besides, to the State agent
about million of dollars. Of this amount we
have on hand, in cash, 1--WE hundred thousand
dollars, and when the taxes for 1870 are col
lected, which is now being done, we shall rea-
lie more than enough to entirely relieve our
selves from this debt. l think, therefore, the
financial condition of the State is eminently
healthy, and see no bar in the future to Its
continued good management.
THE QUESTION OF TAXATION.
O. If such is the case, how do you account
for the dissatisfaction and the murmurs of the
people?
The Governor. With proper understand
ing of the subject-that is, taking into con,
sideration the aggregate of the three levies OF
tax which have been made-the people would
have no cause to complain. For instance in
1868, there was levy of seven and half mills
ON the dollar, which was collected in 1869; in
1869, the levy was only five mills on the dollar
AN amount which any man who will sit down
and figure up the absolutely necessary expenses
of the State Government will see is utterly in
adequate. Still, for political purposes, the
Legislature was then induced to fix this per