The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-05-24
The State Debt.

}. good outline OF the arguments USED %
! The advocates Of each side of the quest
ton: - ''-'''''.''."''s +-' ~ ''2'
|1"l Upon this Mr.. Aldrieh Dem. had the
floor, and he said he was, Of opinion thai
all the difficulty which might arise from
4 the rendering. Of coupons in payment ol
taxes might Be avoided by the insertion
of a clause to theehect that county treas.
urers, in collecting taxes shall receive
nothing but goh,, silver, United States
4 legal tender notes and National Bank
bills. He was assured that the taxpayers
would rather pay the tax than submit
themselves to the courts for a remedy
which would not be. worth the cost Of
! getting it,, In reference to the rendering
of bills Of the Bank of the State, all they
had to do was to put in provision that
they would receive 10 per cent. of them
per .annum, that the State recognized
them as a legal debt and would pay them
in, time. Mr.. Aldrich then took up his
second proposition, viz: that the people
should not pay the debt if they we're able.
He did not recognize that the parties
who incurred the debt were; the legal
agents of the State, and when the bonds
were issued both the people and the press
rang out from one section of the country
to another that they were fraudulent and
would not be paid, if the true representa-
-tives of the State by; Gods, help ever got
possession of the government again. The
buyers of the bonds were given fair
notice that they would not be paid, and
they purchased at their peril. He could
not be scared with the cry of the stain Of
reputation. One could only repudiate a
debt valid both in law and morals, hav-
ing at the time of the act of the repudia-
tion ability to; pay,it. He did not pro-
pose to draw his, political ethics from the
stock jobbers and gamblers of Wall street.
So far as the non.payment of the debt
affecting the credit Of the State and her
inability, to borrowimoney was concerned,
he hoped to God she never would be able
70 borrow money. The people could
support the State, and they certainly
paid. enough taxes to do it. He was in
favor of paying every cent of. the old
debt of the State, if it took the last shirt
off the back of. every man in South Caro-
lima; but he did not propose to pay this
robbing, swindling, fraudulent debt.
Give the bond=holdersi back their bonds
and let them, go to Scott and Moses and
Parker for, their interest. The fact that
the bonds had passed into innocent hands
did not validate them. The bonds were
like the note that q man might give to a
highway robber with "a revolver at his
head, and he asked when you had reached
your home and friends again would you
hesitate to repudiate such a debt and feel
no stain on your integrity ?ss Under the
same condition were rthese bond s,issued.
South Carolina was in the hands, of..the
most abandoned set ofrobbers that ever
existed, and they seized the pure white
hand of our mother and compelled her
by force to sign those bonds, and we
could, only shake our manacled hands
and cry, aloud, touch; not those hands of
fraud They heard our cry; crry5! and laughed
at our agony 7,'-+Si - '".
b Mr.. Simpson,; Of, anderson followed
Mr.. Aldrich, strongly. advocating the
payment. Of. the interest. He; said :; I
am y ono apologist for the bonds or the
lBoRdholders Of this State have as
much prejudice against them as any'on
on this floor 3 but,I would be ,recreant to
my constituents and false to, myself were
I to let prejudice and passion sway and
govern my Judgment in The consideration
of matters Of so much importance in the
establishmentiof the, government of our
choice. While I am in favor of ipaYing
| the interest On, the bonds, L will. never
consent t6 paying o6eI dollar until the
;entire. bonded 1in debte edhessa has abeen
closely scrutinized and investigated, and
found to be valid and bona fde.f., There
are various classes or characters of in
debtedness. 1Let me divide them: First
class, bonded indebtedness, Bonanza
claims, and bills ofthe Bank Of the State;
second, claims, floating Indebtedness and
i contingent liabilities, The second class
are almost entirely fraudulent 81 tainted
iby yielding aup fraudalently tie States
securities. /. These claims, &c.; are. not
pressing upon US, and we can settle them
hereafter. But the -frst-class is different.
AS to the bills. Of the Bank of the State,
the Supreme Court of the United States
has decided them receivable for taxes
and the courts of this State have decided
or, adiudicated the question and have or
'dered the treasurer to receive them; but
we are yetin hopes of being able to send
the question back to- the Supreme Court
of the United States. As to the Bonanza
claims, knowing their fraudulent charac.
ter, every effort will be made to free the
State. from that burden. Fortunately
| these claims are not receivable for taxes.
The bonds are different, being issued in
accordance with the conditions and in
the nature of q contract, and their cou.
pons were made receivable for taxes
Therefore we could not repudiate them
if we would. The coupons are receivable
for taxes and we can't help ourselves
To adopt the subtitute Of the gentlema1
from Greenville would be earning all the
odium of frepudiation without reaping any
ofits Benefits, and to make no provision
for the interest or coupons. received fol
taxes would before the end Of the yeal
bankrupt the very government just estab
lished after so; much of labor. am sur
prised to hear gentlemen. advocating the
repudiating of the States honest debt
Have the ten years of darkness through
which we have passed sunk us to the
level of those who sought to destroy us
Instead oflifting up our long prostrat'
State and brushing off the mud and fltf
that has been cast upon her, we find semt
of her own sons seeking to stamp he
still deeper into degradation Now lie
us consider the figures. Previous Radi
'cal Legislatures have rid the State o
$4,000, ,000,s leavinga bonded debt, whet
all the bonds are consolidated, of Sc, 900,
900, The ante-bellum debt was Sc, 1888,
900. Thus, you see, that the bondet
debt is less than it was before the war
In times of danger we said to these hold
ers, give us your assistance, help us on
of our difficulties, and we will see to j
that the settlement Of the ndedindebt
edness shall not be disturbed. Let u
! not 20 behind this settlement. :. - i" ~
The Radical Legislature contracted tn
debts and irepudiated them and they ar