Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-03-05
$500, ,GGS 50 81, ,SgG,544 73

S26O,66S 59 81 l,S)6,3f4 Is
These facts exhibit the unprecedented spec
tacle of State in which the government is
arrayed against property. 1t has been openly
avowed by prominent members Of the Legis-
ature that the taxes should be increased to a
point which will compel the sale of the great
body of the land, and take it away from the
former owners The fruit Of this policy is
shown in the fact stated by the Comptroller
General in his official report, that for default
in the payment of taxes for the year 1872
alone, 268, ,523 acres of land we're forfeited to
the State And this result proves the fallacy
of the belief that the policy pursued promotes
the elevation of the black population, and the
acquisition by them of the lands thus virtually
confiscated. The reverse is the necessary re-
suit Lands are unavailable as security !;
mortgages in default of payment cannot sell ;
wages have declined; the cost of living is
made greater by the addition of the taxes to
the price of commodities; the poor are made
poorer, and rendered every day more incapa-
BILE of purchasing lands, and more hopeless Of
rising above the condition of mere laborers.
1t would have amcliorated the condition of
your petitioners if the effect ofthis policy had
been to create an active demand for lands on
the part of this large class Of our population.
But while the owners are, by oppressive taxa
ton, driven to sell, others for the same reason
are disqualified from buying.
The abuses in the Legislative Department,
that have been described, are not confined to
the mere raising and expenditure ofrevenues,
but they pervade the entire conduct of the
department. Schemes have been devised for
issuing State bonds and for contracting other
loans, by which the public debt has, in six
years, been raised from S5,000,000 to $751;
100000; and that without advancing any
public work, adding one dollar to the public
property, or to the payment of the public
debt Large as the sum Of the public debt
is admitted to be, there is reason to believe
it does not reach the true amount; it is found
impossible to ascertain the actual sum of the
obligations that have been issued. Schemes
of public plunder have been openly advanced
; by corrupt measures, of which one single cx-
ample will suffice. Two Clerks Of the Legis-
lature, in their official capacity, made con-
tracts with themselves, as private persons, for
the public printing. The appropriations
made in one year for the work done and to
! De uOue, ny LHcSe LHo oluClalo, "luouHIou w
S475 1000, exclusive of 100000 for publish
ing the laws. And in the fiscal year of 1873
there was actually paid to them for printing,
1881 900, leaving large sum still due to
them by the State. And this, notwithstand-
ing the avowals Of the officials Themselves
! that the work done was worth no more than
! 100000; and the testimony Of others that
its value was only $4,000. The stupendous
fraud involved in this and similar modes of
making the legitimate objects of public ex-
pendture the medium Of plundcring the
treasury, cannot be better illustrated than by
the following facts: The total appropriations
for public printing, made by the Legislature
of South Carolina, during period of sixty
years, from 1900 to 1859, is s271, ,1S0. Du-
ring the last year the amount actually ex-
pended for public printing by the present
Legislature was 1891 945 That is, SG0,765
more tian it cost the State for sixty years be-
fore the war.
Committees have received large sums as
compensation for reporting favorably on pri-
vate bills; and strong reasons exist for be-
lievng that large amount of State bank
bills, funded by the State to discharge her
liability, have been reissued by those entrust-
cd by the Legislature with the cancellation
thereof.
In the Judiciary Department., evils equally
grievous have been produced under the pres
ent State Government. The Judges hold
their offices for short terms. Their continu-
ance in office depends upon the caprices of the