The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-03-07
PRINTING FRAUDS.
THE ENORMOUS sWINDI,Es or THE
PRINTING RING,
Tho Legislative Allies oe tho Repubuoan
Printing CouRany-Another InstalIment
or tho Investigating Com,nitteo's Report.

Printing ConRany-Another Installment
or tho Investigating Com,nitteo's Report.
---e-
The following additional report was
submitted by the joint investigating
committee yesterday, and exhibits the
inner history of the ''cifcle of friends. !"
who DETAINED the art preseryatiye by
using it as q cloak for robbing and plum.
dering the State. The story forms q
striking chapter in the volume of ,or.
rlption and prohigacy:
After having reported on other matters
referred to them. your committee has
now 70 consider the matter of public
printing. Deslre entering into the de.
tails Of asyste;n of fraud by which, under
this guise, the State Treasury was de.
pleted moro eeffectuallythan by any other
scheme (uuleSs IL be through the Issuing
of pay certifcates) the committee desire
to engage in advanc- Inc public indul-
gence. Whilst fraud, bribery aud cor
ruption were rife in every department of
the State governments; nothing has
equRlled the magnitude and infamy at
tending the management of the public
printing. sSo much of comment is ne
ceSaary, even thongh each statement we
shall make is verified by reliable testi-
mony. sy
The corruption was every whore prev.
alent, aud the division of the spoiis eE-
tended from the highest official to the
humblest members Of the General As.
sembly indeed it embraced majority
of the State officials and two-thirds OF
the members Of the General Assembly.
In addition TO tho amounts expended fog
the benefit Of those persons, the fond
obtained was devoted to the establish.
ment aud support of various Republican
jaurnsio, daily and weekly, but princi-
pally 10 aid the Charleston pailu Ren,.h-
l:ootsTs, lE:oot1sT7ss tho Columbia Daily Union and
Columbia Uaion- Herald. Alargelm amount
Of money was expended annually sas .he
support Of these and kindred papers
without any legal authority, and bills
purportiDg to pc presented under, or by
virtue of law illegally and fraudulently
increased in anount to many thousands
Of dollars, were paid year after year from
the State Treasury. Az first, as will ap-
pear from the testimony, under Mr..
Denny's contract. the sp6ils were con.
fned to few of-the leading members of
the General Assembly but majority
did not like Denny's close manner Of
conducting business. Hence the Cnro-
lima Printing Company VAS formed,
cs:;sirsa;sa ri ri certain .Eiate oiiciala and
the editors of the Columbia B5,ion and
Charleston Republican. After this the
system of Issuing pay certificates ecr
public printing for division become al.
most universal, resulting in many thou
sands of dollars worth of printing, pay
certificates being Issued annually with.
out any considerations, TO pc paid "out
of any money not otherwise appro-
priated,'' unless tho taking ofit by the
officials and members can be construed
as an appropriation WHICH it literally
was not content with this, claims when
paid by the Treasurer for permanent and
current printing were in several in
stances raised to three times the original
amounts and thusy paid and divided Z
these payments thus raised weTe added
to the printing accounts in order that
this ring should not lose thereby. The
checks and evidences show that the Clerk
Of the Senate (WoodrnfD was, to take
care Of the "circle Of friends" "a the
Senate, and Clerk Jones of ";he friends
in the House," and they were Jointly to
take care Of State officials.
Your, committee experienced great diff
fculty Id arriving at the amounts actual.
ly paid for public printing, as the aum
was largely in excess Of that charged on
the books OF the State Treasurer. We
ascertained that large payments. had
been ostensibly for printing which werc
charged to other convenient accounts,
and hence we were Obliged TO examine
and go through al the vouchers from
1868 TO 1876, at the expense of much
time and labor. The amount appropri-
atod and paid during this time, 'lclud-
ieg the publication of the general laws,
and claims Tor printing, was $1,326, $50
"a sum largley in excess of the cost of
public printing, from the establishment
Of the State government up to 1868, in
'cluding all payments made durii.S the
war in Confederate currency. In this
connection, ne respectfully invite atten-
itioh 10 paper marked exhibit E.~Q. G.,
in further ILLUSTRATION of the extrayagant
and enormous cost Of public printing
during theAa flush times Of the so-called
printing ring alec to the appropriations
made at the sessions .1S72-73, when ap-
propriations for public printing and
amounts paid newspapers for printing
acts reached $45, 900, or $l71,759 moro
than the printing cost the State for
twenty years commencing ut 1904
aud ending I865.66, including .$42-
51al.oo, paio during tne wax In 1864 in
Confederate currency. for ono year'a
printing. This statement includes pay
ments made throughout the war, when
the due value of labor and materials
ascended in ratio with the depreciation
Of Confederate currency; and included
algo the amounts paid for printing at ihe
sessions of 1865, when owing TO .te
destruction of our railroads, tic ireights
upon printing material alnne, cost moro
than material and freighes combined
in 1928. The public printing In this
State, cost S450, 900 for one year, exceed
iug the cost OF ike work in Massachn-
sets, Pennsy tania, Ohio, Maryland and
New York by $122,9S5l8, embracing as
they do, FIVE of the largest and mott
u0pnlous of the Northern, Eastern,
Western and Southern States.
A -,essess:ss ff;sssSiison bstween the cost Of
printing during tho came year in Ohio
and South Carolina, with regard to
population and wealth will prove how
enormous were the inroads made onithe
Treasury by the printing ring Of this
State.
Wealth OF Ohio..o........$l ,167, ,73l ,697 90
Wealth of South Caro-
ilGa, under sextrsya- n
CANT asgessnent.,..... 193,9lS,3 1857 90
Population Of Ohio. .:......2s6o5, ,26O
Population of South Caroliia... 705,606
Amount appropriated for
printing in Ohio..,.......,.. $6S, Goa. 90
Amount appropriated for
printing N S1dta Caf0iinG. 4SG, ,O00 90