The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-02-14
Amount of payments by State
Total amoun. of payments. 81 600, ,214 o4
Excess of payments over
$14,641 88

Excess of payments over - !
2 estimates. s.., s14,641 SS
In addition to this, there have been
So, ,474 of coupons which matured during
! the same years consolidated with the
bonds to which they were attached,
showing payments of. interest for those
years Of $17, ,115.8S over and above the
amount estimated BY the Comptroller
General.
While this fact would seem to afford
comparative evidence, in the. absence Of
any proof to the contrary, that all the
interest on the public debt maturing for
those years had been paid, allowing even
q wide margin for any possible underesti-
mates of the Comptroller General, sn the
presumptions in the matter point to the
same conclusion. The State was not
only paying the interest as it became
due, up to and after July l, 1871, but
paying it in gold, and the holder of q
coupon had every possible inducement to
collect it at maturity. In occasional
cases, absence, illness or other causes
I.mayahaye prevented him from collecting
it promptly, but neither absence, illness
NOR other causes would have led him to
detach it, from the bond, when no praeti-
cal purpose would or rScould be subserved.
thereby. -.--.-r.
| It is a matter Of both legislativeand
| judicial record, that all matured coupons
were cut off from bonds,before the latter
we're issued from the treasury or Finan-
cial Agency; and all the circumstances
attending these transactions indicate that
the detached coupons in question were
obtained in that way or from that atsource.
But, however or wherever obtained,
they 9were not valid claims against the
State, and were not authorized to be con-
solidsted under the act. -
Whatever proof exists that any part of
the interest on the public debt maturing
on or before July !, 1871, remained un-
paid mt1st.be found in the fact that GER
! tain coupons maturing on or before that
date remained attached to the bonds to
| which they originally belonged, or in
the presentation of certain certificates of
stock with evidence of the non payment
of Interest thereon up to that date In
l-thesmatter of such coupons particularly,
the TACT they remained attached to the
bonds to which they originally belonged
must be regarded as conclusive evidence
that they had not been paid and if they
were III all other respectsaiundable, the
fact that they matured Oh or before July
l., 1871, would not tend IN any wise to
stender them INVALID.
In this view the commission have
treated as valid the $2,474 Of coupons
already mentioned as consolidated with
the bonds to which they were attached.
/. 4. AS to detached coupons funded by
| r. K. Scott, L. N. Zealy, agent, and Y.
J. p. Owens, agent, between June 10,
1874, and June "a, 1874, inclusive,
amounting to 1881 1896.
| Nearly all of these coupons matured
on or before the 1st July, 1871, and
would be properly regarded on that
ground alone as not valid claims against
theSate; but the testimony of Niles G..
Parker, late State Treasurer, herewith
submitted, as well as the testimony of
other Witnesses. and all the known cir
cumstances of the case, point inevitably
to the conclusion that all of these cou-
pons, as well as those which matured
after the 1st July, 1871, those which ma
tured on and before that day, were "cut
off the bonds that passed through the FL
nancial Agents hands," and remained in
his possession as the property of the
State. -
They were, in no sense, valid claims
against the State, and there was no au-
thority for consolidating them under the
act.
The commission submit that the
grounds herein presented against the
consolidation of the detached coupons
respectively mentioned are in no wise
inconsistent with the spirit or intent OF
the act, and in no wise impeach or i'm
pair the policy for the settlement of the
/ public debt which the act was intended
| to effect. 1t could not have been the
purpose OF the act that coupons which
matured before the bonds to which they
belonged were issued, and which were
not issued with the bonds to which they
| belonged, but were previously detached
from them and filed away in the treasury
Land financial agency as vouchers to show
that they had never been issued and had