The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1884-10-14
FLORIDA'S STATE DEBT.
A BRIEF SUMMARY OF OUR FL
NANCIAL HISTORY.
MR. JOHN r. HUMPS QUESTION. t'ARE
WE A NATION OF RASCALSf" AN.
SWERED AS TO FLORIDA,I


A plain Statement fr~sn Cons &rseut
Authority. ii
In an article entitled, Are We d Ma
lion OF Ras:ala," Mr. John F. Hume, in
the North American Review for August,
makes the statement that twelve States
of the Union have repudiated abouEthre
hundred million OF dollars. OF :this
amount he charges Florida with $a,ssO,-
600. !;
the following paper is written for the
Information of those who may be auter
ested in the affairs of Florida, of whose
public debt the following is a statement
Binds of 1871, per cent. 80
Bonds of 1878, . per cent 80
years. Observation-Disclosures. 6So,UV-Nl. Sto.UU
Bo DIS of 1885, per cent,
which have never been pre-
srnted for payment aud are
prr-umed to have been &c
Total debt. ........... 81. 476,so'
Upon this amour. the interest is $s0,
900 per annum, which is promptly paid.
If We deduct the amount OF Sinking Fund
Tor these bonds, viz: $l99, 900, we have
as the net dsbt OF Florida 81, l,077, 500 OF
this the State holds in ElucationAi Fainds
$529,O0O, leaving III The hands of lndi
viduais the sum of $54s,5oo, Or little
more than hail OF the net debt
We hope to be able to show, iI.Sthis
short article, that the foregoing i. ttr to-
tai indebtedness with which the StsIe of
Florida is justly or legally chargeable,
and that the STATE of Florida has never
repudiated, scaled, readjusted, or de-
nj tod NJ int
est Of her public debt, except certain OBJ
iigstions incurred during her connection
with the Confederate States of Anenca,
! the reputation of which was maiefa
condition prece"-"v ~~A.r;asin,,
u the Union.
The Government of the United States
holds in the Indian Trust Fund $4,000
Of Florida per cent. bonds, issued in
1857, to meet the increased expenses Of
the state incident to the Indan war ~
that time These bonds have not been
included IN the sta:em-nt ot tue debf,
for the reason that there is nov III proce>-
Of settlement with the Fedora. Govern
ment a claim for reimbursement on ac
count OF the Iulian war expenditures 10y
| the State This claim IL. y. IL b. fore
! Congress for voral yet, ,vlng been
audited 10y tue Var Department, and its
, payment recommr nded by he M!iLsry
| Committee of the 4s h Congress in Stim
| much greater tuan the princi pal andl in
terest Of the bonds held by the Indian
Trust Fund
The Territory OF Florida, ny acts ap
! proved January 10th, 1881, February
, 18th, 1885, and February l4!h Of the same
! year, pledged the faith of the Territory
! in the sum of about $500, 900, il aid: II
the Bank of Pensacola, the l aion Bank
Of Florida, end the Southern Life lieu
rance and Trust Company. OF sh.ase
! pledges about 81, ,aOo, 900 were negotiated
The act Of Congress establishing the
Territory of Florida (section s. provided
| tha, sail bills 70 tax the inhabitauts .,
the Territory, OF their property, shopid
receive the sanction Of Congress before
they b, come lave, except wheu said ixws
shsll authorize county, city and town OH
GERS, 10 collect taxes for the use aud bcIe
fit of their respective counties, cities snd
towns, and for no other purposes" Fhe
sanction of Congress to the acts which
sought to pledge the faith Of th- T-rrL
tory was never obtained and grato
doubts were entertained before and st the
time Of. as we'll ~ after, the passage bt
the acts' authorizing the guaranty, as 70
the power of the Territorial Legislature
70 pass them. The Secretary OF The Ter
rltory was SO impressed with their irr~gn-
larity and iIlegality that he refused 70 at-
;ach the Territorial seal to the bonds ::
and it was affixed by another person nt-
der the authority or direction Of the Gov
ernOr of the Territory.
Section "a of the act of February 18th,
and like clause i'll each OF the other acts
mentioned above, prohibited the sale II
negotiation of the bonds Issued thereutl-
der at . discount or for less sum than
the amount named or expressed III sAid
bonds, =" and in every such case each bond
sold for less than the a,noun: named ard
expressed therein shall thereby beoonse
forever absolutely null and void"
The Territorial House of Represents
tives. by a vote of l9 To- 4, on the 23d
day OF January. 1s42, adopted the fol.
lowing:
g Resolred, That the Territorial Legs
!ature does not possess the right, nor wss
! it ever invested with the authority, t.
pledge the faith Of the Territory so as q
render the citizens OF the Territory respon
sibls for the debts or engagements Of ans
corporations chartered by said Territt,
rial Legislature"
The Committee on Corporations OF rht
same House said: The Committee dy
, not on this occasion deem it necessary Il
: comment upon the effect Of the dispo.s
. tion of them (the faith bonds) under par.
} If the validity Of the bonds % lisbll
| ity of the people OF Floridx were &C
r knowledged, then would The question b
+ we'll worth considering. But the peopl
: Of Florida have decided the question d
{ 90 theif liability for the bonds upo,