The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-02-20

% y
Total. s26, ,O06 $50 sls9.e54,47s
The facts exhibit the Unprecedented spec
tace of State in which the government is
arrayed against the property Of its citizens.
1t has been openly avowed by prominent
members of the Legislature that the taxes
should be increased to point which will
compel the sale of the great body of the
land and take it away from the former OWL
ers.
The fruit of this policy is shown in the
fact stated by the nptroller-Genccal id
his official report that for default in the pay
ment of taxes for the year 1872 alone 269, ,52S
acres Of land were forfeited TO the State, and
this result proves the fallacy of the belief
that the policy pursued promotes the eleva-
ton of the black population and the acqusi-
tion by them Of the lands thus virtually con-
fiScated. TIE reverse ia the necessary re-
suit. Lands a. unavailable as securities
mortgages, in default Of payment, cannot
sell wages have declined the cost of liz
ing is made greater by the addition of the
taxes to the prices Of commodities; the DOG
are made poorer, aud rendered every day
more incapable of purchasing lands, and
more hopeless of rising above line con-
dtion of mere laborers. 1t would have
1
titioners if the effect Of this policy had
| been to create an active demand for lands
on the part Of the large class Of our
population; but while the owners are by
! oppressive taxation driven to sal, others for
tue same reason are disqualified from buying.
The abuses in the legislative department.
| that have been described are not conGncd to
| the mere raising and expenditure Of reye'
b,,t Ia tht, n
that department. Schemes have teen de.
yised for issuing State bonds, and for con
tracing other loans, by which the public
debt has in six years been raised from
five million dollars to sixteen million dollars
and that without advancing any public
works, adding one dollar 70 The public pro
perty, or to the payment Of the public debt
Large as the sum of the public debt is ad
mitted 10 be, there is reason to believe il
does not reach the true amount, aud it !:
found impossible to ascertain the actual sun
OF the obligations that have been issued
Schemes Of public plunder have been openly
advanced by corrupt measures, of which
ore single example will suffice: Tive
clerks OF the Legislature. in their officia
capacity, made contracts with themselye
as private persons for the public printing
The appropriations made in one.year for th'
work done or to be done by those two OIL
cia's amounts to $475, 900, exclusive Of s1OO,
eco for publishing the laws, aud in the fsca
year 1878 there was actually paid to then
for printing 1881 600, leaving large sun
then due to them by the State, und this not
witbstanding the avowal of the two officials
themselves that the work done was worth
no more than 800, 900 and the testimony o,
others that its value was only S5O,00O..
The stupendous fraud exhibited In this
and similar modes of making the legitimate
objects of public expenditures the medium
of plundcripg the treasury clnnot 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 $27l, ,1S0; during the last year the
amount actually expended for public print
ing by the present Legislature was 1891 ,945 ;
that is S60,765 more than it cost the State for
sixty years before the war.
Committees have received large sums as
compensation for reporting fayoraoly on
private bills, aDd strong reasons exist for DC
lieyiug that large amount of State bank
bills funded by the State to discharge her
liabilities have been tSsued by those en-
trusted by the Legislature with the duty OF
the cancellation. In the Judiciary Depart
ment evils equally grieyous have been pro-
duced. Under the present State Govern
mcnt the judges hold their offices
for short terms. Their continuance in
office depends upon the clprices OF the legis-
lators. The result is that the duties Oh their
high offices are discharged under influences
and responsibilities necessarily adverse to
tie independent and pure administration OF
public Justice. The jurors, moreover, are
selected by three officials, Of whom two are
appointees of the Government. The conse-
quence is that the defeat Of an obnoxious
litigant may be made certain By the seleo'
ton Of the jury, IL no special object De
sent up, and by these officials the
choice is frequently made simply
for the small pay OF men who are unable to
either read or write. In either case the ends
of justice are defeated. In tie executive de-
Inrtment all these evils culminate. 1t is
openly asserted and believed that offices are
the subject Of barter, and the manner in
which such Offices are administered proves
that qualification has little Influence In the
In matters under the control
OF single individual il is difficultto prove
corrup,ion; but there Is one state Of
facts that always should stand for proof. A
large expenditure. Of money By an official
who is without any estate and receives but a
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 present CoDStl-
tuition stand condemned in the public opin-
ion. To detect and punish those
crimes il impossible. The Governor con-
trois the avenues Of justice; indeed, the
entire system is one of seIEsustainipg and
self protecting corruption. In most CT the
States there might be some chance OF redress
through the baliot-box, but here again the