Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-10-30

the aforesaid pay certificates, bills payable,
and scrip or other other evidence of State in
debtednesS, is recognized other than is herein
limited and expressed. Second. The bonds
and certificates of stock herein authorized TO
be issued shall bear upon their face the words
"bonds and certificates of stock" and shall
also bear upon their face declaration to the
effect that the payment Of the interest is Sc
cured by the levy Of an annual tax, and the
redemption of the principal is likewise secured
by a sinking fund provided for the purpose,
which declaration shall be considered con-
tract entered into between the State and every
holder of such bond or stock. Said bonds
and stocks shall be signed by the -, coun.
tersigned by the -, and have the great seal
of the State affixed thereto, and there shall be
preserved, in the offices of the Secretary of
State and the State Treasurer, description
of the amounts, dates, and time Of issuing said
bonds, and the bonds and scrip 80 taken up
shall be cancelled by the Treasurer, and list
of their dates, numbers and amounts, and by
whom signed, recorded in the Offices of the
State Treasurer and Secretary State. Third.
That the faith, credit and funds Of the State
be solemnly pledged for the punctual payment
of the interest and final redemption of the
principal ofsaid bonds, and stocks, and for
providing a sinking fund for that purpose
Fourth. That there shall be annually levied
and collected from until the bonds and
stocks herein authorized are extinguishcd,
principal and interest, in the same manner
and at the same time the general State taxes
are levied and collected, u tax Of mills
upon the dollar of each dollars worth of tax
able property in the State, in addition to all
other taxes. That the fund so created shall
be kept separate from all other funds, and
shall be applied: First, to the payment of
the annually accruing interest upon the bonds
and stocks herein authorized. Second, the
surplus of said funds remaining in the treasu-
ry after the payment of the said interest shall
be applied on or before the Of each year
to the extinguishment of the principal Of the
public debt, as follows: The -- and
shall constitute board of commissioners for
the management and control Of the said sur
plus fund for the extinguishment of the pub
lie debt The said board shall give notice,
by public advertisement for thirty days prior
to the - day f of each year, that they
have under their control the sum of - dol
lars to be applied to the purchase of such
bonds or stocks as may be presented for pay
ment by the holders thereof on the - day
f. as aforesaid provided that said bonds
be purchased at price not above their mar
ket value at the time of purchase, said value
to be ascertained from the principal stock
markets of the United States Third, that
the bonds and stocks so redeemed shall be
Immediately cancelled by the Treasurer in
the presence of the board, and be entered as
credits upon and to that extent in eXtinguish-
ment of the public debt. That detailed
statement of the number, denomination and
series of the bonds and stocks so redeemed
and cancelled, together with the price paid
for each bond and stock as aforesaid, shall be
prepared by the Treasurer, signed by the
board, and furnished to the General Assembly
at the commencement of each annual session
thereof That embezzlement or diversion of
said funds, whether directly or indirectly, by
speculating in said bonds, or purchasing them
at fictitious prices, be made felony, punisha-
BILE by fine Of not more than nor less
than -, and imprisonment for not more
than or less than --, proportionate to
the amount embezzled or diverted and the
person or persons so offending shall be forever
thereafter disqualified from holding any Of
fee of profit or trust under the constitution,
unless the General Assembly shall, by two
thirds vote, relieve him or them of such disa
bility, upon payment into the Treasury Of the
amount so embezzled or diverted. 1t will be
observed that the plan I have proposed for
the extinguishment of the public debt differs
materially from the one proposed by Cover
nor Orr. The scheme here presented is in
successful operation in the best governed
States in the Union. Experience has demon
strated that a sinking fund operating at COM
pound interest is not only liable to great abuse,
but very seldom, if ever, accomplishes the OBJ
iect of its projectors. In the words of DR..
Hamilton, of Aberdeen, "the increase of rev.
enue or the diminution ofexpense are the only
means by which the sinking fund can be en-
larged and its operations rendered more efec-
tual and all the schemes for discharging the
national debt by sinking funds, operating at
compound interest or in any other manner,
unless so far as they are founded upon this
principle, or by borrowing money elsewhere
at a cheaper rate ofinterest than at home, to
redeem the debt at present worth, are complete
ly aatsory" A forcible illustration of the
correctness Of this arrangement may be found
here at home"
A long dissertation on the subject oftaxation
generally, and in South Carolina particularly,
next follows, the document closing thus:
"The true basis of taxation is real and per-
sonal estate, and the new regime, in conformi-
ty to that experience, has adopted that system
for the new order of things. The political
operation of this new and equitable system
in South Carolina is the same as that expert
enced in the North half century ago. The
taxes fall chiefly where they belong-upon real
estate The owner Of real estate cannot af'
ford to keep thousands of acres idle and
unproductive merely to crafty his personal
vanity, and because he inherited them from
his fathers, and pay the tax upon them.
Stern necessity, therefore, will compel him
to cut up his ancestral possessions into small
farms and sell to those who can and will
make them productive; and thus the large
masses of the people will become property
holders; wealth will become more widely
diffused the people will become more pros
porous; immigrants will come and settle
amongst us and develop the vast resources Of
the State. Thus onward the march of civil
ization will make its way, and no cry by the
large real estate owner of excessive taxation
can stay its progress. But aside from this view
of the question, there is another matter which
I will now present. That the aggregate
amount received from taxation since 1860 has
increased, is a fact which none will deny
but this is also true of the National Govern
ment, and of every State Of the Union. The
question is not whether taxation has or has
not increased, but whether the comparative