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


I'm thg Essass OF Representatives. -upo,
the E6lh SeCti9A OF the sAEpropEiafi0f
EIll, which PROPOSED tue CoiieStfor
aud Application Of, ,ed0D, coo for shs
Payment Of KrtoSeat on the Hsubgia
Debt Of South Carolina. t..F :.
Mr.Speqker. There istsefhaps no mem.
Der on this floor who IL moro deeply i'm.
pressed With the magnitude Of this un.
dertaking than myself ] very we'll know
tho great influence which money exeYts
OH all mankind, and the powerful exer.
tions which are being made by 4lie4 bond
holders TO pass the, fifth So tion Of this
bill. The ancient Scipio, i balieve II
was, said to "give hin, ss much gold as
ho could carry on an ass, and he could
take any city, it mattered not how strong
ly fortified" Virgil, l believe It wac,
asked: "Whst is there which gold will
not induce d man to do p If iE was not
for the great confidence have in the in
tegrity of o large majority of this House,
certainly would be more embarrassed
in attempting to oppose the passage of
this section Of .'ie Appropriation Bill.
This filth sertion, air, proposes to APP
propriate $500 OO0 to pay, the interest on
the public deus 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 rs they
lind bona Gde. In the first place, do
seriously object TO wriDging $500. 900 out
of the pockets of our already impover-
ished, a,.d in some cases almost starving,
Taxpayers to pay the interest on pub
lie debt which we do not know that we
owe. This very Rct of ours would virtu-
al, ,rv,s, lnA1- a. Al.
owed debt on which there are $500, 600
interest to be paid, as the bill provides,
and would make, as any lawyer will &C.
knowledge, a very strong point in law
towards establishing the validity of the
debt. ], sir, take the ground, that to
say the best of all this debt, that it is
tainted with fraud. It is true we did owe
n debt before the war, differently estima-
dollars, which debt was at that time q
just debt, but what part Of that debt has
been paid out of the vast sum of between
fifteen and twenty mi!!;ens &C ac!!.-s
which Che poor taxpayers Of the State
have been forced to pay since tho war, /
am unable TO say or what part vf 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. It is said that ex-
Gov. Chamberlain owns between one and
two hundred thousand dollars Of our
State bonds. and tho Lord only knows
how much more is owned by him and his
pIunderihg associates IN Office.
further take the ground, and think
justly, too, that all the bonde 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
sunbeams In every town, city and village
throughout our entire State. At the
same Time many of our bes. citizens be-
ing disfranchised, and not allowed any
voice in the management of our political
matters. All of our bravest people being
disheartened 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 lunjustly arrested under the
pretence of ku kIuxing, or some other
false charge, and carried before n militia
ry court, and under a mock trial ssn-
fenced to the Aibany Penitentiary, or
some ether, prison. And, sir, while TIE
voices Of Our people were kept silent in
this way these carpet-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 n new
consultation, elected th amsefTest to all the
important ot.ccs in the State, made their
own Governor, Legislature and their
Judges and BY The. Iaws passed passed By theA.e
officials they passed laws &c Issue q; these est
very bonds va are called on to pay the
interest or.
They we're 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 10 pnt o respectable roof on the
house we now have the honor 10 sit In.
They built no railroads, or invested in
any other internal improvements, but
pocketed the peoples money and not
being satisfied with all the taxes the
State was able to pay, they went on
under the pretense of law heaping up
debt upon debt, and bond upon bond,
until, Isuppose, If one was put epon the
other IL would raise q structure as high
as heaven itself; and these debts, sir, are
what they want ns TO saddle on nl,r cnn-
stitueDts by paying the interest on them
now. This ia the curse they want en-.
tailed upon our children and our grand
childrenl This Is the legacy they desire
to leave us and our children, on being
forced to quit the shores of South Caro-
lima aand flee &c avoid the prison and pen.
itentiary, where we all know Trey ought
to'bei asA s. ..as ,i, = q
Our Tax Payers Union saw that this
immense debt was being made, and the
good people Of the State were;ppt being
benefited in the least by it, gave notice
to tho world In every sssossi5le way that
they could not, and they would not, pay
this deb, and warned honest men not te
invest In those honG..l, which warming the
good people Of our State generally heed.
ed. As am told by one well.informed
in th>seI matters, there are only some
rnlng oyer DlIs hundreds IN on salIE E1JiE iEars
of these bonds owned In our State
the rest beieg owned in the North. The
very men who applied the torch TO house
after house in this once beautiful little
city Yc ego now. in, until flame rose te
fame, and one common conflagratior
swept over the whole city, i!s lurid flames
leaping above the clouds, and lighting
up even tho heavens Themselves, nov
perhaps own many of these bonds which
wo are asked ia such haste TO pay Che
inte:sss o;s. 81
The honorable gentleman from Abbe
VILE Yesterday referred to the poor widow