The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1874-02-26

essarv result Lands are unavailable as secur-
ity. 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 moro III
capable of purchasing lands and moro hopeless
of rising above their condition of mere labor
crs. 1t would have ameliorated The coGdi'ion
of your petitioners if the effect oil TINS PohcS
had been to create an active demand loi ii'''''
on the part of this large class OF our popula-
ton, but while the owners are, ny Oppressive
taxation, driven to sell. others, for tile same 1I
reason. are disqualified from buying. Ihe
abuses in the Legislative department, that nave
been described. are not confined TO the mere
raising and expenditure OF revenue, pnt Ihey
neryade the entire conduct OF that department.
Schemes have been devised TOR Issuing otalo
bonds and for contracting otner loans, os
which the public debt mas. in EN- il,s, iJIs,
been raised from five millions dollars
to sixteen million dolaIs and that
without advancing any public work adding
one dollar to the public property, or to the
nayment of the public debt. Large as tie 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
tho actual sum of the oollGatons tnat nave
been issued Schemes of public plunder have
been openly advanced by corrupt measures. OF
which one single example will suffice: Two
clerks of the Legislature, i'll their official capa-
citv, made contracts with themselves rs private
persons for the public printing. The appro-
priations madein one year forthe work done. OF
to he done. by these two officials amounted to
S47j000, exclusive of 100000 FOR publishing
the laws, and in the fiscal year 1873 there was
actually paid to them for printing 1881 900,
leaving large sum still due to them by the State
And this notwithstanding the avowal OF the
two officials themselves that the work done was
worth no more than 100000. and the test-
mouy of others that its value was only S5G.0O0.
The stupendous fraud involved i'll this and SIM
liar modes of making the legitimate objects OF
publc expenditure the medium of plunderlnS
the treasury, cannot be better lilustrateu tlilh
by the following facts: The total approprla-
tons for public printing made by the LeSlsla-
ture of South Carolina during 4 period or
sixty wears, from 1900 to 1852 Is S2I, lo0; dtl-
ring the last year the amount actually expended
for public printing by the present Legislature
was 1881, ,945. That is $780, 7G5 more than 1t
| cost the State for sixty years before the war'
Committees have received large sums for COM
pensation for reporting favorably on private
pi1ls and strong reasons exist for believing
! that large amount of State bank bills. funded
| by tho State to discharge her liability, have
| been ressued by those entrusted by the LeGls-
Iature with the duty of the cancellation In
| the judiciary department evils equally Srlcrous
| have been produced. Under the present State
government, the judges hold their Offices Tor
Short terms and their continuance in Office de-
nends upon the caprices of the legislators.
The result is that the duties Of their high ofhce
are discharged under influences and RESPONSE
blities necessarily adverse to the independent
| and pure administration Of public justice Ile
iurors moreover, are selected by three officials,
of whom two are the appointees of the Gov.
ernor. The consequence IL, that the deleae Oh
| an obnoxious litigant may be made certain ny
the selection of the jury, or, If no special op
| iect be contemplated by these officials. the
choice is frequently made, of men unable to
either read or write, simply to bestow upon them
the patronage of their small pay, In either case,
the ends of Justice are defeated. In the Execn-
tive department all these evils culminate. 1t
is openly asserted and believed that Offices are
the subject Of barter, and the manner III Which
such offices are administered proves that qlail-
tication has little influence III the appointment
| In matters under the control OF single lndl-
yidua is difficult to prove corruption; but there
| is one state of facts that always should stand
| for proof. A large expenditure OF money
| by all official who is without any estate, and re-
ceiyes but small salary, establishes beyond
doubt that the money must come from some
| irregular or illegal source. On this principle
| the two Governors elected under the pres
ent constitution stand condemned III pubic
opinion. To detect and punish these crimes
| is impossible The Governor controls the
| avenues of Justice Indeed the entire
system is one of self-sustaining and self-pro-
| tccting corruption. In most of the States there
might be some chance Of redress through the
| ballot box: but here again the State govern
| ment intcrposcs an insupcrable barrier. lhc
elections are conducted by persons appointed
| in the interest of the officials and the returns
are under the absolute control of the parties III
| power. Under such circumstances voting Is
| form and elections !; mockeIy.
Suffering under such grievances and despair
| ing of relief from the State government, your
memorialists come respectfully to your honor
| able bodies for a redress. The government
which thus oppresses lis was virtually estab-
lshed bv Congress: and while we believe they
did not foresee the evils to which it has gwen
rise. we cannot doubt that they will assist III
removing them so soon as the are satlsll ell Oh
their existence All that we have asserted IL
capable of proof; but, knowing as we 40 that the
evils of which we complain are certain III their
existence, and are more likely to increase than
diminish, your ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS earnestly ask
your aid i'll providing the proper redress ana
relief.
The Convention, then, on motion Of MIR.
E. Z. Sell, of Charleston, proceeded to the
the State at large under the resolutions re-
ported by the committee on immigration. MIR.
Sell announced that the committee took great
pleasure in nominating Maj Franz Melchers,
of Charleston for the position, and that gen
tleman accordingly received the unanimous cote
of the Convention. On motion OF Alr. 5. L.
Hamilton, of Chester, committee was ap-
pointed to lay before the speaker of the House
and president Of the Senate of South Carolina
the resolutions contained i'll the following re-
port of the committee on
Increased Taxation,
Which was presented at the time by COL &. ii.
SimontOn
The committee on the canSes OF increase OF
State and municipal taXatloii ana the lnode anu
measure OF re- lief therefor beg leave TO report:
The committee being composed OF members
from every county In The state have had before
them full and detailed statements dts TO the man
ner or assessing and enforcing the heavy taxes
which our people have been called upon 10 pay.
Neither time nor space would permit llle re-
citol OF the particular cases which have been
brought - their attention. In all The cOuuLlcS
or the State the taxpayers are SUBJECT I'd inc
arbitrary regulation OF the county auQltor anu
OF the board or equalization, governed In many
much money as possible. In the majority OF the
counties. through the action ol the county audi
tors or the board OF equalization, Under the III
uuence IL is supposed of the comptroller
general, property especially property IN
land has been assessed 1T values far
exceeding those ruling at any period in
the history OF the state. In some of the colln-