The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-02-14

Treasurer as for the market and sent di-
rectly to the Financial Agent for sale or
hypothecation, without authority of law,
and the total amount is So, 100000.
The reports made and forwarded by
the Financial Agent to the Comptroller
General show the proceeds of the sale OF
bonds to have been as follows:
100000 bills receivable
bonds, at 7Oc................$ 100000 90
100000 bonds, at 70c........ 100000 90
S2,843, 900 bonds. 1,503,783 80
81, 800 bonds. ], ,23S,3A Oh
sS,442,127 SO
Showing that $242, 1869 more money
was raised by the sale of bonds than
WAS authorized to be raised
under the most latitudinarian construc-
ton of the acts which the Financial
Board, the Financial Agent, or the paw
nees could desire.
The pledging of the bonds in question,
therefore, was absolutely without author
ity and without necessity, and utterly
null and void. 4 The right of the State in
them was not, and could not be lost by
such proceeding. They did not, and
could not thereby become valid claims
against the State, and should not have
been consolidated under the act. .. .
While these considerations apply to all
the bonds in question, there are addi-
tional considerations which apply to
some of them with particular signif-
canoe. ;"r,,' 80 .;aa-
/. By the act to provide for sinking
fund and the management Of the same it
was provided that all revenues derived
from the sales to be made by the commits
sioners, should be applied TO the extin-
guishment of the public debt, by invest
ing the same in the public securities of
the State. Sales were made by the COM
missioners, and the revenues derived from
them invested in State bonds. By the
terms of the act, this was the extinguish-
meent of the public debt to the amount of
the investmert-that i8 to say, the bonds
in which the proceeds of sales were in
vested, in contemplation of law, were
paid, retired and cancelled, and were not
subjects of hypothecation by the Finan-
cial Agent h.
lands to the several States and Territories
which may provide colleges for the bene-
fit of agriculture and the mechanic arts,
it was provided that the land scrip therein
directed to be issued to each of the States
should be sold by said States, and the
proceeds thereof applied to the uses and
purposes prescribed in said act, and for
no other purpose or purposes whatever ;
and that all moneys derived from the sale
of the lands aforesaid by the States to
which the lands were appropriated, and
from the sales of land scrip therein pro-
vided for, should be invested in stocks Of
the United States, or of the States, or
some other safe stocks, yielding not less
than per centum upon the par value OF
said stocks; and the moneys so invested
should constitute a perpetual fund, the
capital of which should remain forever
undiminished, except 80 far as therein
provided for the expenditure of a sum
not exceeding 10 per centum upon the
amount received by any State under tie
provisions of the said act, for the pur:
chase of lands for sites or experimental
farms whenever authorized by the respec-
tive Legislatures of said States.
BY the act of the General Assembly
accepting the donation of lands for the
State Of South Carolina for the endow-
ment Of agricultural colleges, the State
of South Carolina accepted all the pro-
visions OF the said act of Congress and Of
subsequent acts, and consented to the
conditions specified in the said acts; the
proper officers were authorized to receive,
sell and. assign the scrip or land warrants
issued to this State by virtue of the act
of Congress referred to, and it MAS pro-
yided that the proceeds of sale should be
invested either in bonds of the United
States or in per cent. interest bearing
bonds of this State, the principal of which
bonds should be forever held sacred for
the purposes directed in the act of Con-
.gress aforesaid. .5 .r. -.
The agricultural land scrip issued to
this State by virtue of the, said act Of
Congress was obtained by officers author
lied to receive it and sold By them
through the Financial Agent, and the
proceeds of sale were invested in bonds
of this State.
According to the express provisions Of
the said act of Congress, and by the OBJ
legations of the State of South Carolina
assumed by. the act of the General AS
sembly accepting its provisions, these
bonds were held by the State, not in &C.
tual, ownership. but in. sacred trust, for
the purpose of endowing, supporting and
maintaining at least one college in this
State where the leading object should be,
without excluding other scientific and
classical studies, and including military
tactics, to teach such branches of learn
ing as are related to agriculture and the
mechanic arts, and for no other purpose
or purposes whatsoever, and were not
subjects of hypothecation BY the Finan-
cial Agent.
But the report of the special joint
committee, appointed by the General
Assembly to ascertain what bonds Of the
State were pledged by the Financial
Agent of the State rs collateral security
for State loans, shows that the bonds in
which the proceeds OF the sales mace oy
the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund
were invested, and which wereso as afore-
said paid, retired and cancelled, and the
bonds in which The proceeds of sale Of
the agricultural land scrip were invested,
and which were so as aforesaid held by
the State in sacred trust for the purposes
prescribed in the said act of Congress,
were all included in the bonds pledged
by the Financial Agent for State loans
between the 21st September, 1871, pr"
10th September, 1872.
As to bonds for the payment of inter
est on the public debt, second issue:
1856 bonds for 81 900 each......s $4,000
Attached coupons. lI3,595
Detached coupons. 99,o4c
Amount of bonds and coupons..sl ,049, ,44C
The act to authorize State loan to pay
interest on the public debt, approved
August 26, 1868, authorized the Govern
or Of the State to borrow on the credit o.
the State of South Carolina, on coupon
bonds, within twelve months from the
nocsaoe of the act a sum not exceeding