The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1872-01-12
O0LUMBIA,z S., C.
Rrs,ay Morning; January 10 1872.

Frt,ay Morning: January 10 1872.
bonded Debt OF the City or Colu mbi.-
Our Finances. 'l..n
The City Clerk gives us what we orght
long ago to have had-a statement of
the bonded debt of the oity.- He makes
ID as follows: 5 per cent. bonds. SIG, 800;
Sper gent. bonds, Sl67, s0G; per cent.
bonds. $161. $50 making total Of
1914, $50. The following. note is ap-
pended by the City Clerk:
s.In addition to the foregoing, there
was issued August 81, 1871, $3.50, 900 7
Per cent. bonds, to J. l.. Nengle. Esq,
as collateral security for loan of $40, 900;
said loan will mature March 4. 1872"
This is the secret and illegal issue
which we exposed, and OF which the
above is the first formal acknowledgement
We Lave had Of the transaction. At the
time OF the issuing of these bonds, the
City Clerk claims that he was instructed
to omit the matter from the offioial pro-
ceedings OF the Council. Now, how
ever. it is out Other things-f fraud, for
instance like murder. twill OUT" nor
can all Neptune's waters make some
hands s-as, for instance, the hands, black
and white, of the City Council-white as
snow.
Putting, now. the bonded debt OF the
city at 1914, $780,, let us see how our
finances stand. The annual interest is
S22, 150. The current expenses of the
city are estimated at SAG. 600 per ennnm.
This will put our annual expenses at
$58, 100. The taxable property OF the
CITY being estimated at $4,000, 600, the
ta1 of one per cent. win yield $4,000.
I'm addition to this, the income of the
city from other sources being estimated
at $35. 900, we have revenue of $685.
600, to meet an expenditure of $58, 8,15O,
leaving surplus of $26, $50 in favor of
She city for contingent expenditures.
This, now, was the condition of the city
finances before the Council set about
their bond movements. The City Coun.
Oil, however, were not satisfied thus to
rest They wanted to initiate, on q
small scale, the operations OF Tweed and
onr State swindlers. They decided that
Columbia wanted new market and
new City Hall. They decided to build
both, and contracts we're awarded.
Messrs. Smith and Simons, Aldermen,
got the market for $18. 600, and Mr.. a.
len, State Senator, got the City Hall for
$l3S. .O00-to meet which the City Coun-
oil secretly and illegally issued $3.50, 900
seven per cent city bonds, and pledged
them to DR.. Neagle for the advance, on
short time. Of $4,000, at the rate of
fifteen per cent. per annum. After it
was found that this remarkable piece of
fnanciering would not do-wes too glar.
ing monstrosity to be continued the
City Council, hard pressed and caught
and exposed, determined on another
step. They go before the Legislature
and ask for authority to issue eight per
cent. bonds, until the bonded debt of
the city shall reach $500, ,OOO-that is
assuming That the city debt is S344, $50,
they ask for leave to issue eight per
cent. bonds to the extent of $455. .15O.
agreeing not to go beyond that point,
and agreeing, further, to pay back to
Dr. Neagle his loan, and to cancel and
destroy those bastard bonds-$25O, 900
seven per cent.-that had been conceived
in sin and brought forth in iniquity.
So far as respects the City Hall mat
Ter, cur readers have seen how tho
swindle was exposed-how the whole
Council is implicated, actively or mas.
sively-and how the law has boon inter-
posed between the city and those who
sought to defraud it. The application
of the Council is before the Legislature.
The taxpayers have protested against
shis faithless and corrupt Council get
ting the authority they ask for. To
allow the Council to Issue eight per cent.
bonds to the extent of the margin asked
for, is to add 1856. 100 to our bonded
CITY debt, and to increase our annual
city expenses $36. thus making our
expenditures exceed our receipts every
T.