The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-06-28
THE PUBLIC DEBT.

speech Of DR.. w. G. Brown, OF Bclton,
in the House of Representatives, upon
the Fifth Section of the Appropriation
Bill. which proposed the Collection
and Application of $500, 900 for the
Payment Of Interest OH the Public
Debt of South Carolina.
.Mr. Spcahcr:. There perhaps no MEM
Der on this floor who is more deeply I'M
pressed with the magnitude of this un-
dertaking than myself. l very we'll know
the great influence which money exerts
on all mankind and the powerful exer-
tions which are being made by the bond
holders to pass the fifth section Of this
bill. The ancient Scipio, believe it
was, said to "give him as much gold as
he could carry on an ass: and he could
take any city, it mattered not how strong
ly fortified" Virgil, l believe it was,
asked: "What is there which gold will
not induce man to do ?" If it was not
for the great confidence have in the in
tegrity of large majority of this House,
l certainly would be more embarrassed
in attempting to oppose the passage OF
this section of the Appropriation Bill.
This fifth section, sir, proposes to APP
propriate 100000 to pay the interest on
the public debt of our State. Said money
not to be paid out until q commission is
appointed to investigate the debt, and
only to be paid on such claims as they
find bona file. In the first place, do
seriously object to wrirging S30O,OOO out
of the pockets of our already impovcr-
ished, and in some cases almost starving,
taxpayers to pay the interest OH pub
lie debt which we do not know that we
owe. This very act of ours would vlrtu-
ally acknowledge to the world that we
owed debt on which there are $500, 600
interest to be paid, as the bill provides,
and would make, as any lawyer will ac-
knowledge, a very strong point in law
towards establishing the validity of the
debt. I, sir, take the ground, that to
say the best of all this debt, that it is
tainted with fraud. 1t is true we did owe
debt before the war, differently estima-
ted at from four to about six millions of
dollars, which debt was at that time a
Just debt, but what part of that debt has
been paid out of the vast sum of between
fifteen and twenty millions of dollars
which the poor taxpayers of the State
have been forced to pay since the war, l
am unable to say or what part Of the
ante-bellum bonds have been bought in
by corrupt men, who have been robbing
and plundering our State for the last ten
years, out of the public money, and are
yet held by such men as Chamberlain,
Parker, and many others of like charac-
ter, do not suppose there is q man on
earth who can tell. 1t is said that eN-
Gov. Chamberlain owns between one and
two hundred thousand dollars of our
State bonds, and the Lord only knows
how much more is owned by him and his
plundering associates in Office.
l further take the ground, and | think
Justly, too, that all the bonds issued since
the war should be investigated exceed
ingly close, as it is known to every one
that our State was reconstructed under
military control. The polished bayonet
and cleaning swords glittercd in the
sunbcams in every town, city and village
throughout our entire State. At the
same time many of our best citizens be-
ing disfranchised, and not allowed any
voice in the management of our political
matters. All of our bravest people being
disheartcned and depressed from the re-
verses of the terrible war which had just
ended, were kept in state of feverish
excitement by military arrests and dis
plays, and by constantly seeing their
ncighbors unjustly arrested under the
pretencc of ku kluXing, or some other
false charge, and carried before a militia
ry court, and under a mock trial sem
fenced to the Albany Pcnitcntiary, or
some other prison. And, sir, while the
voices of our people were kept silent in
this way these carpct-baggers poured into
our State like gang of hungry vultures
or cormorants, called to their assistance
our former slaves, and thus organized
this State government, formed 4 new
constitution, elected themselves to all the
important offices in the State, made their
own Governor, Legislature and their
Judges; and by the laws passed by these
officials they passed laws to issue these
very bonds VIC arc called on to pay the
interest on.
They were not satisfied with taxing us
to the amount of between fifteen and
twenty millions of dollars since the war,
and could not even spare enough of this
money TO put respectable roof on the
house we now have the honor to sit in.
They built no railroads, or invested in
any other internal improvements, but
pockctcd The peoples money; and not
being satisfied with all the taxes the
State was able to pay, they went on
under tie pretense of law hcaping up
debt upon debt, and bond upon bond,
until, l suppose, if one WAS put upon the
other it would raise q structure as high
as heaven itself; and these debts, sir, arc
what they want us to saddle on our con-
stitucnts by paying the interest on them
now. This is the curse they want en-
tailed upon our children and our grand
children, This is the legacy they desire
to leave us and our children, on being
forced to quit the shores of South Caro-
lima and flee to avoid the prison and pen
itcntiary, where we all know they ought
to be!
Our Tax-Paycrs Union saw that this
immense debt was being made, and the
good people Of the State were not being
benefited in the least by it, gave notice
to the world in every possible way that
they could not, and they would not, pay
this debt, and warned honest men not to
invest in those bonds, which warning the
good people of our State generally heed
ed. As am told by one wcll-intormcd
in these matters, there are only some
thing over one hundred thousand dollars
of these bonds owned iii our state,
the rest being owned in the North. The
very men who applied the torch to house
after house in this once beautiful little
city we are now in, until flame rose to
flame, and one common conhagratlon
swept over the whole city, its lurid flames
lcaping above the clouds, and lighting
up even the heavens themselves, now
perhaps own many Of these bonds which
we are asked in such haste to pay the