Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1872-08-22

public, although great efforts we're made in
both Houses Of the General Assembly to OBJ
tain report. Mr.. Hayne was appointed
Land Commissioner in March, 1871, and was
unable to get possession o. the records and
enter upon the duties of his office, until four
or five months after. BY very diligent and
thing of the doings of the Board and his pre-
decessors in Office. From his report it ap-
pears that about s50O,00O in cash have been
expended in the purchase of lands and no
more. 1 mean by this that it appears that
the whole aggregate of money paid for the
several tracts Of land purchased, as shown by
the deeds of purchase, amount to this sum.
Now, if you look into Treasurer Parker's re-
port of the moneys paid out on behalf of the
Land Commission, you will find that he
charges to the State about S750,000 in cash.
Thus, you perceive, upon their own showing,
admitting all the transactions of the Land
Commissioner to have been fair and just, here
is quarter of million of dollars unaccount-
ed for. Now, fellow citizens, what have we
to say to such public servants? [Cries of
"put them out put them out!"] I am un-
able to 20 into the details of the transactions
of the Land Commissioner or the Advisory
Board. 1t would be too tedious to you for
me to undertake it on this occasion. [Cries
of "tell it I" "go on! "tell it all"] But l
should say to you, to show how little conf
dence can be placed in the honesty of any of
their transactions that there was single pur-
chase in Charleston county, which, probably,
fairly illustrates them. On or near the San
tee river, in Charleston county, are some wild,
unimproved lands, significantly known as
"Hell Hole Swamp" These lands, constitu-
ting this swamp and the forests about it, were
purchased for $4,000. My recollection is
that the tract contains from twelve to fifteen
thousand acres. Now I learn, from reliable
sources, that the money actually paid for this
tract was about $4,000, leaving some one or
all of the gentlemen of the Advisory Board
and Land Commissioner to net the handsome
sum of 100000. [Cries of 'tell itp "tell
it al! !1
Now, fellow-citizens, 1 do not pretend to
locate the frauds Of the Land Commission
upon any one Of the gentlemen who have
been Land Commissioners, or members Of the
Advisory Board. All I have to say about it is,
the frauds have been committed. The Advi-
sorry Board, as have told you, without whose
sanction no tract of land could be purchased,
consists, and has consisted from the beginning,
of Governor r. K. Scott, Comptroller Cen
eral J. L. Neagle, State Treasurer N. T..
Parker, Secretary of State F. L. Cardozo,
and Attorney General D. H. Chamberlain.
The successive Land Commissioners have
been, G. P. Leslie, R. G. DeLarge, and Henry
E. Hayne. AS to Mr.. Hayne, it is but just
that should say that all the expenditures of
money for the purchase of lands were made
before he came into Office, and no imputation
or suspicion rests upon him. Of the other
gentlemen, individually, 1 have nothing to
say except this that, under their administra-
tion the frauds have been perpetrated, and, if
there is any one of them who has not partici-
pated in them, or profted by them, let him
come out and say so and let him show to the
people of this State who the guilty parties
are. It is fair to presume that majority of
the Board controlled its actions, and, that,
consequently, some one or more of the Advi-
sorry Board may be entirely free from the i'm
putations now justly chargeable to the Board.
If so, as I have said before, it is due to them
selves, and it is due to the people of the State,
that they make full exhibit of their record.
[Cries Of "tell it Tell it all "]
SINKING FUND COMMISSION.
Now, as to the Sinking Fund Commission.
On the 1st February, 1870, was approved an
Act to provide for sinking fund, and the
management of the same This is probably
one of the most pretentious Acts embraced
within three short Sections that was ever
drawn. 1t says: "That for the purpose of
paying the present Indebtedness of the State
and the interest thereon, and such further in
Governor, the Comptroller General, and the
Attorney General of the State, the Chairman
of the Committee of Finance of the Senate,
and the Chairman of the Committee of Ways
and Means of the House of Representatives,
are constituted Commissioners to be known as
the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund, and
they are to receive and manage the incomes
and revenues set apart and applied to the
sinking fund of the State" 1t is made the
duty of these Commissioners to sell, on behalf
of the State all such real and personal prop
erty, assets and effects, belonging to the State
as is not in actual public use; these sales to
be made upon such terms as they may deem
most advantageous to the State. They are
required to make an annual report to the
General Assembly of the condition of the
sinking fund, and all sales or other transac-
tions connected Herewith. This commission
has now been in existence two years. They
have sold large amounts Of property belong.
ing to the State, consisting Of both real and
personal property, but they have never made
one line or one word of report Of their trans
actions, although the General Assembly,
early last session, requested them to do So.
We know, by the disappearance Of the public
property, rather Its passage into the hands OF
private individuals and speculatoI5, that they
have been at work. But they have not deign-
ed to tell the people of the State, cr the Leg
islature the details Of their transactions. One
or two things, however, have come to light
that they have done, sufficient to indicate to
you what we are to expect when their full
history is written and published.
Fellow-citizens, you are all familiar with
the history of the Blue Ridge Railroad. That
was an enterprise espoused by the State and
the city of Charleston. The State and the
city of Charleston, up to 1871, owned all the
stock, or nearly 80, in the road. About three
millions of dollars had been spent in the con-
struction Ce the road. The State had expend-
ed about million and a half of dollars, and
the city of Charleston had expended some
thing over a million. The State had endors-
ed, in addition to this, and guaranteed the
bonds of the road, to the amount of four mil
lions more About fifty miles of road have
been built, equipped and put in running
order, and immense labor had been performed
on important cuts and tunnels. While the
work was in this condition, and the work of