The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-02-07

bonds sued on by South Dakota were not
authorized by the carpet bag legislature,
but by honest men. The Generalization
however, caused by subsequent blanket
bond issues made it impossible for the
State to realize more than twenty five
cents on the dollar on those bonds-the
sum at which the State has refunded all
the bonds except those owned by the
Schafers and their associates.
In view of the present interest about
the bond issues of that period. we print
below an article written in August 1S9i
by the late Hon. Daniel R. Goodloe. con-
tanning chapter of congressional history
that has never before been published. 1t
was found in his papers by his nece, Mrs
w. G. Randall who sends it to the News
and Observer to print. 1t will be widely
read, not only because of its historic val
Ne, but also because it Shows a noted SER
vice rendered to his state and the whole
South by Senator Ransom-a service that
VIII be more appreciated now than ever
when the South D;Eota suit threatened
the State with the necessity of paying
over 100000 for the sum of about SIS, 900
actually received by the State. Mr. Good
loes article, timely now though written
ten years ago, is as follows:
Ills was written by the late Hon. Dan
lei R. Goodoe.-Annie Goodloe Randall
The rule of the carpet-baggers over tho
South constitutes, in many respects, the
most odious and despicable episode in
modern history. Less bloody than the
reign of terror which followed the first
effervescence of popular feeling in France
caused by the tyranny of the Bourbons
carpet-bag-lsm made up for its short COM
ing in this particular. by its utter base
ness. In the name of universal freedom,
phllanthrophy, and enlightenment it en-
franehsed the emancipated slaves. but
left them in their native ignorance, with
out the means of education. It turned
society upside down. placed the iliterate
negroes on top. and the enlightened white
Teoplc under their. feet. In the name of
internal improvements they chartered
railroad companies and appropriated mil
lions on millions of public credit, in the
form of State bonds-sold the bonds for
anything they would bring in New York
and stole the money they got for them
The railroads were not built. In many
cases not a SPADE of Garth was turned.
In North Carolina the debt created by
the carpet-baggers in convention and ''les-
lslature," so-called, amounted to twenty
five millions. The Supreme Court of the
State, though elected under the rule of
these men, with chief justice Pearson at
it's head, declared something like half or
these bonds to have been authorized and
issued IN violation of the very Instrument
which they had just made, and imposed
upon the people as Constitution
But the money derived from the sale
of the remainder of the bonds was not
applied to the building of railroads in
North Carolina, or any where else. It
oil
swlndling pretease of another, to the
private uses of the negotiations of the
loans. 1t all went into the pockets of the
patriots and philanthropists who issued
the bonds, and placed them on the market
Some or these carpet-bagger bonds, which
the people of North Carolina were called
upon to redeem al par were sold az low
as ten cents in the dollar. and none
brought above fifty cents in the dollar.
This, however, was a point of secondary
consideration with the people, as none Of
the proceeds were destined to be expended
Tor their benefit The facts are too we'll
remembered by the PEOPLE to need recital.
The generation has not yet passed away
that witnessed and suffered under them.
But the bonds had passed out of The
hands of the men who had issued them
They were in the possession of other men,
the wholesale knaveries by which they
were created and placed on the market.
These investors in fraudulent funds find
ing that the people of the State denied
their validity, and through their reprcsen
tatives had declared them null and void
sought the aid OF the Federal Govern
trent TO enforce payment. But there was
an obstacle in the way. Exemption from
liability to be sued is among the reserved
rights of the States; and how to avoid
the difficulty was the question. Certain
Northern members of Congress who deeply
sympathlzed in the scheme of robbing the
South. thought like Sam Patch, when he
jumped over the tennessee Falls that some
things can be done we'll as some others.
But they met with similar fate. They
were doomed to disappointment Their
attempt to smuggle through Congress the
bill authorizing the United States circuit
courts to issue mandamus commanding
sheriffs and other collectors Of state taxes
to pay over the money or pay it into court,
for the benefit of the holders of fraudulent
State bonds was failure.
The history of this nefarious legislative
conspiracy and how it was thwarted and
defeated. is curious ard interesting
In the House of representatives Janu.
aIy 10, 1874. Mr. r. c. Parsons, Republi-
can, OF OHIO, introduced a bill to regulate
proceedings In mandamus. This bill SIM
ply provided for keeping alive a proceed
ing by mandamus against United States
officer. who might die or resign, and to
hold his success or to the duty required.
This may have been a very proper act.
for the prevention of needless DELAY in
legal proceedings. According to the state
mcnts in the Congressional Record, it was
passed twice in the House first, on the
day of It's introduction, and again a month
later, on ebruary 10. Bat it was an crrOr
of the reporters as the journal shows.
1t was received in the Senate February
20. and referred to the Judiciary Com
mittce, where the process of incubation,
in the course Of three and a half months,
hatched out a monster with claws de-
signed fer scizing upon the life blood of
the South. The House bill simply pro-
vided THAT in all proceedings in man
daGus in any of the courts of the United
.G