The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1910-09-29

uaH mas uCtu the Cunu1Cl Oh tue
editor OF that paper toward Marion
Butler~as attorney for the collection
OF the North Carolina ''ten-share sec
ond mortgage bonds"
The First Lying slander.
That paper first started It's TRADE
of abuse of Mr.. Butler by declaring
that those were fraudulent carpet
bag bonds. and that il was dishonest
and unpatriotic to attempt TO enforce
their collection.
The editor OF that paper either
knew better at the time, or was dense
ly ignorant about the facts, which he
could have easily learned. One thing
is certainly true. and that is that he
was either publishing a wilful and
malicious falsehood or else he was
guilty of criminal reckiessness.
For a short while he succeeded in
fooling many good people. When the
facts were produced, did the editor of
that paper publish them and make a
truthful and honorable correction?
No. He refused to publish the facts,
and by his conduct showed that he
hoped the falsehood would never be
overtaken by the truth.
Then and there the editor of the
paper became a self-confessed falsi-
fier-one of the wilful and malicious
kind. And to this day those who de-
pend on the Raleigh News and OBJ
server for their information are still
in ignorance of the facts and still be-
lieve that the published falsehoods
are trne. 1t always gives a sneaking
and contesnptible shmderer a great
deal Of pleasure to know that he still
has some good people fooled.
DIR. Battles Testimony-An Honest
Debt.
Now let US for a moment again
look at the facts The law which
authorized the "ten-share second
mortgage bonds" was passed by a
Legislature controlled by our own
white people, when Hon. Jonathan
Worth was Governor and DR.. Kemp
P. Battle was State Treasurer. In
order 10 induce the public to buy
these bonds and to pay 100 cents on
the dollar for them, the Legislature,
in the Act of 1866, offered a mort
gage on ten shares Of its stock in the
North Carolina Railroad as security
to go with each $1,000 bond, and
declared in the Act that this was
done to enhance the value of the
bonds and induce the people to pay
for them. DR.. Kemp P. Battle, the
State Treasurer, did advertise those
bonds with this security, and did sell
them for 100 cents on the dollar.
Dr. Battle testified to these facts in
the suit brought in the Supreme
Court of the United States to collect
those bonds.
Honor of the State Pledged and
Backed by Security.
So if there ever was an honest
bond, and If ever the credit and
honor of the State was pledged in
good faith to pay an honest debt, 1T
was in this case. But the State not
only pledged it's honor and good faith
to pay these bonds and the interest
on them in full, but it put up valua-
BILE security and induced the public
to part with it's money and pay more
for the bonds than would otherwise
have been paid. and by this means
the State got higher price for the
bonds than it could have otherwise
received.
The Value OF the Security ON Which
the State Gave a Mortgage.
Now let us look at the security.
1t is very valuable. The State is now
and has for many years, been getting
an income from this security tits
stock in the North Carolina Rail-
road)-an income large enough To
pay the interest on the first mort
gage bonds and have $4,000 each
year left over The interest on these
..ten-share second mortgage bonds
should have been paid out Of this
money which the State has kept In
short, the security pledged by the
State to make those bonds sell at a
high price is valuable enough to pay
both the principal and the interest in
full OF the first mortgage bonds and
also the second mortgage bonds and
for the State still TO have left over
100000. And these are the bonds
that the State repudiated and re-
fused TO pay. while keeping every
dollar of the large income from the
security,
What the Supreme Court Held.
These are the facts that were
| brought out in the suit before the
Supreme Court. Is 1t strange that