Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1873-11-28
THE STATE DEBT.
Report Of the Public TrcaHureT.

Report of the Public Trca~"re-.
We make the following extracts tron
the Report OF Treasurer jenkins
Everything relating to the Debt OF tht
State must surely prove Of interest tc
our taxpayers. No subject will come
before the Legislature of more impor.
tance. The Journal has so often ex
pressed It's opinion npon all matters
relating to the Debt, tina: ii is useless
now to reiterate. When Holden, and
! Caldwell, and Littlefeld and Swepson
were holding high carnival in Raleigh,
we gave solemn warning, day after
day, that North Carolina would never
foot the bill'' for their proaigacy.
! The day oi reckoning has almost
come. Let those who oninypd the
dance pay the fidlIers.
! Treasurer Jenkins in his Report
] says /:
f. I again call the attention OF the
| General Assembly to the necessity of
making some provision in regard to
the debt. The statements show IN
| c.rtC.asu the amount of the same, when
, due, and for what purpose issued. 1t
is seen that the entire amount, exclud-
ing special tax and unconstitutional
bonds, is SI7, ,SS1, ,O45, with past due
interest, say 81, ,506, 154SJ.
For specific information I distribute
the same as follows
L. Ia
to the war, total amount, = S,37S, 200
Accrued interest ........ 2,513, 46O
J1,OO
These We're sold by the State, or by
Its agents, on an average at par for
gold.
ceeds were not honestly expended,
although in some instances the invest
ments were unfortunate. For exam
pie, the following enterprise, for which
1921 900 bonds are outstanding, are
almost if not quite tDt0i futures, add
ing little, if anything, to the wealth
of the State, viz:
Cape Fear and Deep River
Navigation Works, s145, 500
Fayetteville and Western
Plank Road, 5O,5OO
Neuse and Tar River Im-
prOvements, 25,000
Fayetteville and Centre
Plank Road, $1,000
Fayetteville and Warsaw
Plank Road, 10000
Tar River, $1,000
Total, 1921 900
The following enterprises for which
81 21O, 900 bonds are outstanding are
not failures, !. G., they add something
to the prosperity of the country, but
the interest of the State in them has
little, if any, market value:
Atlantic * North Carolina
Railroad, S1.351, 800
Albemarle 4 Chesapeake
Canal, :2l 900
Western Coal Fields Rail
road, 3e6. 900
Western North Carolina
Railroad. 1,136, 900
W. G. & r. r. r., now
c.. ..rc1ina Central.I 4 ola, 900
Total, S4,21O, 500
Tie above Compaies have never
declared a dividend. The Whining
ton, Charlotte < rutherford Railroad
Company has gone ont OF the hands of
the State altogether by sale of all its
.ranchise and property.
The following investments, for which
bonds nov outstanding amount to
81, So, 900, have considerable value,
VIZ:
The Insane Asylum, 81, 600
North Carolina Railroad, 2,194 900
The bonds issued for the North
Carolina Railroad Company are made
by the charter OF the Company,
lien on the State stock in the Com
pany. The bond holders, under
decree Of the United States Circuit
Court, i'll the sGit of SWaaoE and
others vs. the North Carolina hailroad
Company and others, are now receiv-
ing the dividends and will no doubt,
al least when the bonds become due,
obtain the stock itself, ii they SO de-
sire.
>. The second class of bonds con-
sists of those issued since the war, but
under acts passed before, ns follows
Wilmington, Charlotte and
Rutherford Rail Road. > l3i 900
Western North Carolina
railroad, 4,234 900
Total principal, 81. .72S, 900
These bonds were sold for not over
about SiAsy cents III the dollar tor cur
rency, when gold WAS at Il large pre-
MUM, netting to the company consid-
crably less than fifty cents iii gold,
I have already stated that the inter
est uf the State has been altogether
lost i'll the Wilmington, Charlotte and
Rutherford Railroad Company, and it
is probable that the same will sooner
or later be the case in regard to the
Western North Carolina Railroad
Company.
3. There Is third class Of bon Is,
issued during the late war and, for
that reason, not marketable, but hav-
ing been for internal limprovementpur-
poses, ,shoulA be included in q general
settlement of our debt, viz
Wilmington, Charlotte 4 Ruth
erford Railroad Company, $40, 900
Western n. G.. Railroad Go. 220, 600
Western Railroad Company, 100000
T,tuI s9I3, 900
4. A fourth class of bonds consists
of those issued to tt HG mp past due in
terest, Viz
Under the Funding Act OF
1866, A2,417, 100
Under The Finding Act of
1868, LII 400
Total principal, s4,12s, 800
Nearly all the bonds issued under
| the former act We're for old honds ma
turea and for coupons of old bonds.
| Those issued under the Funding Act
60 al