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

without I'm element of value or vitality
should be galvanized into life just long
enough to be passed over the Treasurer's
counter and filed away as vouchers for
consolidation bonds issued in their place.
There are four other classes of vouchers
which were consolidated under the act in
accordance with provisions, but which
the commission, under the authority con-
tanned in the joint resolution providing
for their appointment, respectfully report
to your honorable bodies as not having
been "issued in accordance with law"
5..-As TO THE HYPoTHECATED BONDS
r-''~ AND COUPONS. -"
Amount of all classes of bonds..$1, ,71S,30O
Amount of attached coupons. 263,759
Amount of detached coupons. 1S3;9SO
Total amount of all bonds and .; :;
coupons. ........................S2, l66 Wy
By the act to authorize State loan to
pay interest on public debt, ratified the
26th August, 1868, the Governor was au-
thorized to borrow 81 900, 900, or as much
thereof as he might deem necessary, on
coupon bonds, Within twelve months
from the passage of the act.
BY the act to authorize loan to re-
deem the obligations known as the bills
receivable Of the State of South Carolina,
ratified the 26Sh August, 1868, the Gov
ernor was authorized to borrow $500, 900,
or as much thereof as he might deem
necessary, Oh coupon bonds, within
twelve months from the passage of the
act. my
BY the act to authorize loan for the
relief of the treasury, approved the 18th
February, 1869, authority was given to
borrow Sl,000,000, or as much thereof as
might be deemed necessary, on coupon
bonds, within twelve months from the
passage Of this act.
Under the directions of the officers
mentioned in the several acts, the Finan-
Icial Agent might sell the bonds provided
for in the first and second acts and use rs
collateral security for loans, or sell the
bonds provided for in the third act.
/ BY the act to authorize thi, Financial
Agent Of South Carolina, in the city of
New York, to pledge State tonds as col
lateral security and for other purposes,
approved the 26th March, 1869, the FL
nancial Agent was authorized to pledge
the bonds of the State which the State
then had or might thereafter have in its
possession, as collateral security for State
loans, provided that in all transactions
he should conform to the provisions of
the act to authorize q losb to redeem the
obligations known as the bills receivable
of the State of South Carolina. And the
act to authorize q State loan to pay the
interest on the public debt and the act to
authorize loan to redeem the obligations
known as the bills receivable of the State
of South Carolina were so amended as to
extend the time during which said loans
might be negotiated to twenty-four months
from the passage Of said acts. 80:
Whether the authority thus given to
the Financial Agent gave him only the
same authority to pledge the bonds TO
pay the interest on the public debt and
the bonds to redeem the bills receivable
as he already had to pledge the bonds for
the relief of the treasury, or whether it
gave him authority to pledge other bonds
besides, it. is not necessary in Ghis connec;
/ tion to determine. Even if it gave him
the authority to plelge other bonds be-
sides, the proSiso limits the zine within
which he shall exercise such authority to
twelve months from the passage of the
act, SO that, while he might pledge bonds
to pay the interest on the public debt and
bonds to redeem the bills receivable until
the 26th August, 1870, he could not
pledge any bonds beside after the 26th
March, 1870. And yet the report of the
special joint committee appointed by the
General Assembly to ascertain what bonds
of the State were pledged by the Finan:.
cial Agent of the State as collateral secu-
rity for State loans, shows that the bonds
in question were all pledged by the I'll
nancial Agent for State loans between
the 2lst September, 1871, and the 10th
September, 1872; more than one year
after the latest time for -pledging any of
them had expired
THERE'S no evidence within the knowl-
edge of the commission that these bonds,
any of them, had ever been pledged
within the times limited by law. AL
though the very act which authorized
the Financial Agent to pledge the bonds
of the State as collateral security for
State loans directed him to make and
forward to the Comptroller General re-
port of his transactions quarterly, yet he
made no mention of any pledges Of these
bonds or of any bonds in any of the re-
ports he made and forwarded to the
Comptroller General, during his term of
Office. al
But even if these bonds had been pre-
viously pledged within the dates limited
by law, it. would not, justify another
pledge of them after those dates had
expired. It would be difficult to define
the legal principle or, public policy by
which compliance with law in one in
stance can be construed to legalize a yio-
lation of law in another. If the bonds
in question we're pledged by the Financial
Agent within the times limited by law,
the fact would establish nothing more
than that the law'in such case had been
complied with; it could not possibly have
any healing effect upon subsequent hy-
pothecation after the date limited by law
had expired. If it had any effect at all,
it would rather be to show that the au.
thority conferred upon the Financial
Agent had been exercised and exhausted.
1fit be suggested that these bonds may
have been previously pledged within the
date limited by law, and that their last
hypothecatioh was necessary to redeem
them from the first, and consequently
that the two hypothecations were practi-
cally only one, it is to be answered, that
there is no evidence such was the case,
but conclusive evidence to the contrary ;
for The records Of the Comptroller Cen
erals Office and the TreaslIrer's Office
show, that the whole amount of money
authorized to be raised by the sale and
hypothecation of bonds was raised, and
more than raised by the sale of other
bonds than those now in question.
Waving all discussion of the question
whether the several acts authorizing
loans authorized the issuing of bonds to
the amount of the several sums named
in them, or the issuing of rs many bonds
-, ,,o,,lJ oroIroa thooo cunc hy colo or