The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-03-02

'nds s'le sasato wus iuuepteu 70 suuury petSous.
I'm New York for the sum Of Sb47, ,622.5O,
borrowed by the financial agent at various
dates between September, 1871, and October,
1872. This sum wus secured by $l,Si8, 800
Of State bonds. The two years and half
interest due on the amount borrowed would
aggregate, at the rate Of seven per cent. per
annum, about $4,000, making total of
about $643. 900. Now. the real question is,
whether it is best to issue about $685. 600 Of
consolidation bonds III lieu Of the bonds by
pothecated. or to levy tax now to pay this
debt Of about $643, 900.
In conversing with that distinguished
fuancier, Hon. G. A. Treuholm as to which
Of these two courses it would be best to pur-
sue, he stated that it would be best for the
State to pay tho debt it owed by the issue
of consolidation bonds, in lieu of the bonds
outstanding, rather than to levy additional
taxos upon the people nt present; or, at any
rate, he remarked, that the State did not lose
the equity of redemption by funding them.
But downright ropndation, which 1.-The
unanimous voice Of the senate" attempts,
seems to me violation Of ono of the COM
maudmentsi
2. The committee regard the funding of
coupons that matured on or before July /,
1871, fraud upon the State. because, as they
affirm, the State was paying interest OH its
public debt in gold, land as there is every
reason to believe that the whole OF the inter-
est due by the State from 1868 to July, 1871,
or after, was paid previous to October 81, 1871,
the committee are compelled 10 believe that
these coupons were not n valid claim against
the State, aud that, therefore, it was u fraud
to fund them"
This is the substance Of the committees
reasons for making so grave charge as
fraud against the State-a nero inference that
inasmuch as the State was paying interest, it
was highly probable that if the coupons were
outstanding at that time, they would have
been presented for payment, aud paid. 1
grant the probability of their being presented
for payment, but their non.prssentation is not
presumptlvo evidence of fraud; there is
another and more certain method Of proving
fraud than relying upon such possibilities or
probabilities.
r The question of the payment Of interest and
the legality of outstanding coupons is not
subject of conjecture-it is q matter of positive
record in the Office Of the treasury; and, as l
have said in my testimony, made the subject
OF the interest upon the public debt matter
Of careful study before I funded any detached
coupons. ascertained that there wero
coupons in the treasury as vouchers corre-
spending to the amount Of interest recorded as
paid. would here remark incidentally that
all coupons, and Indeed all vouchers in nv
Office were Cancelled before entered it, as
Captain Little testified before the committee.
then saw from the records of the treasury
that there was large amount due to the ac.
count of the interest on the public debt.
| The committee state that they discover.
from the reports of the comptroller-genernl
that the state treasurer paid Sl43s4l6 moro
interest for the four years, 1868, 1862 1870
1871, than the comptroller. generals estimates
called for. This may or may not be truo. 1
have not taken the trouble to verify it, as it is
immaterlal. The comptroller-generals esti.
mates arc not tho proper sources from which
the account of interest on the public debt may
be ascertained. This account, as we'll as all
others is upon the ledgers of the treasurer's
and dcomptroller-general's Offices, and appears
upon the debtors and creditors statement of
the comptroller-general's and treasurer's Ne.
ports, where it will be seen that instead of
the account being over.paid Sl4,3s4lG, the
State really owed, October 81: 1871, the sum
of $9s7, ,57l.o5, less $3.50. .324.75, the amount
paid by Mr.. Kimpton, and accounted for by
the treasurer in his account of tho following
| fiscal year.
/ present here an account of the interest
on the public debt from 1868 to October,
1871:
AMOUNT OF INTEREST DUE
| oct 81, 1853. ................$ S43,078 IL
Oct. 81, 1870. 70............. 5l9.417 SO
| Oct. 81, 1871. 7l.............. 532,26l 81
$l,so4,7s7 SO
AMOUNT PAID BY N. G. PARKER
Oct 81, 1869. .$529,269 IL
Oct. 81, 1870. l90,s79 a
Oct. 81, lS71..... l77,O67 9s-Ss97,ol6 81
See comptroller-generaps report,
l87l-72. .................. 9s7,57 o5
Amount paid by H. H. Kimptou,
| ls69-10-"l .............. 43O,324 Is