[315]AtlantaConstitution, Nov. 3, 1871.
[316]S. J., 1871, p. 17.
[317]AtlantaConstitution, Nov. 2, 1871.
[318]S. L., 1871, p. 27.
[319]Art. iv, sect. i, § 4.
[320]H. J., 1871, p. 179.
[321]For vetoed bills see S. L., 1871 and 1872, pp. 12, 15, 18, 27, 68, 74. See alsoibid., p. 260, and H. J., 1872, p. 25.
[322]E. M., 1870-74, p. 277 (pardon of V. A. Gaskill); Minutes of Fulton County Superior Court, vol. J, p. 404 (pardon of F. Blodgett).
[323]H. J., 1872, p. 25.
[324]Ibid., p. 31.
[325]K. K. R., vol. 6, p. 327.
[326]Digest of tax laws, 1859, p. 11.
[327]S. L., 1865-66, p. 253.
[328]Ibid., 1866, p. 164.
[329]Ibid., 1868, p. 152; 1869, p. 159.
[330]B. L., p. 11.
[331]C. R., 1870 (printed in S. J., 1870, part ii, p. 83).
[332]C. R., 1870.
[333]C. R., April, 1871.
[334]C. R., April, 1872.
[335]B. L., p. 9; B. A., p. 42.
[336]Report of state treasurer Jones, published in H. J., 1868, p. 361; R. C., 1870; R. C., April, 1871; R. C., April, 1872.
[337]S. L., 1865-1866, pp. 12 and 14;ibid., 1866, pp. 10, 11, 143.
[338]Compiled from the financial documents above cited.
[339]S. L., 1865-66, p. 250.
[340]Compiled from the financial reports above cited.
The enemies of reconstruction were fond of placing the state expenses of Bullock’s administration in juxtaposition with those before the war. Contrasts truly horrible could thus be produced. But it was not a fair comparison, for the expenses in such circumstances as prevailed after the war and after the social revolution would naturally be larger than before. The expenses of many states besides those which enjoyed reconstruction increased largely after the war.E.g.the records of Pennsylvania show that “Expenses of Government” were—
Pennsylvania Executive Documents, Auditor’s Reports, for the years named. In Massachusetts the “Ordinary Expenses” were—
Massachusetts Public Documents for the years named.
[341]C. R., 1870.
[342]C. R., April, 1871, p. 14; C. R., April, 1872, p. 17; B. L., p. 13; Conley’s message to the legislature, Jan. 11, 1872 (quoted in B. A., p. 6, and in K. K. R., vol. i, p. 141).
Of these bonds 3,000, representing a debt of $3,000,000, were issued under a law of Sept. 15, 1870 (S. L., 1870, p. 10), authorizing the governor to issue bonds for various purposes without specified limit as to amount. The rest were issued under an act of Oct. 17, 1870 (omitted from the session laws, see Conley’s message just cited), authorizing the governor to issue to the Brunswick and Albany railroad state bonds to the amount of $1,880,000 in exchange for bonds of the railroad to the amount of $2,350,000.
In addition to the bonds already mentioned, bonds to the amount of $600,000 were issued under acts of 1868 (S. L., 1868, pp. 14 and 138.) These were not sold and were returned to the possession of the state during Bullock’s administration (Angier’s statement, K. K. R., vol. 6, p. 162). Also, before the issue of $3,000,000 mentioned, bonds to the amount of $2,000,000 were issued (Conley’s message cited). These were hypothecated with several bankers in New York. Some of them, amounting to $500,000, were returned and cancelled during Bullock’s administration (Conley’s message). The rest, amounting to $1,500,000, remained in the hands of the bankers. Conley stated, in January, 1872 (message cited), that these bonds had been replaced by bonds of a later issue and canceled during Bullock’s administration, and had therefore ceased to be a claim against the state. This statement conflicts with three facts. 1. The bankers who held these bonds refused to return them after their alleged cancellation. 2. One of these bankers sold the bonds which he held after their alleged cancellation (Henry Clews,Twenty-eight Years in Wall Street, p. 277). 3. The legislature of Georgia repudiated these bonds in 1872, which would have been unnecessary if they had been cancelled. It seems probable, therefore, though not certain, that this $1,500,000 should be added to the debt incurred by the reconstruction government.
[343]S. L., 1868, title xvii.
[344]Ibid., 1869, title xv.
[345]Ibid., 1870, title xi, division vii.
[346]Angier’s statement, K. K. R., vol. i, p. 129.
[347]Conley’s message above cited.
[348]It is to be remarked, however, that four of the roads whose bonds the state had guaranteed became bankrupt before 1874. See Poor’s Railroad Manual for 1873-4, pp. 432 and 582; and for 1874-5, p. 426.
[349]E. M., 1870-74, p. 449.
[350]See the case of Hoyt, Minutes of Fulton County Superior Court, vol. I, pp. 371, 445.
[351]Report of the investigating committee of the legislature appointed in Dec., 1871. Its report was printed in Atlanta in 1872. It is bitterly partisan, but a minority report made by a Republican admits, with humorous resignation, that the charges are true.
[352]A. A. C., 1869, P. 305.
[353]See K. K. R., vol. i, pp. 137 and 138. The statements are on pp. 11 and 12 of the letter as published in Atlanta in 1871.
[354]See Conley’s message cited.
[355]In the latter part of 1868 and in 1869 the governor paid to a certain H. I. Kimball $54,500 from the treasury. He paid this to be used in furnishing a building which was at that time occupied as the state capital. (Bullock’s statement, B. A., p. 29.) There was no law authorizing this payment, nor was the state under any obligation to make it. The state bought the building in 1870 by an act of the legislature which provided that the $54,500 should be counted as part of the price. Thus Bullock’s advance was ratified by the state. (S. L., 1870, p. 494.) This, however, does not change the character of the act.
[356]See C. R., April, 1871, and April, 1872. Bullock was accused of indorsing the bonds of three railroads contrary to law. In the case of two of these (the Cartersville and Van Wert, or Cherokee railroad, and the Bainbridge, Cuthbert and Columbus railroad) he refuted the charge beyond contradiction in his address to the public of 1872. In the case of the third (the Brunswick and Albany railroad) he admitted that he had indorsed bonds before the road had complied with the conditions required by law, but said that he did it for the public good. (B. A., pp. 39-41.)
[357]AtlantaConstitution, Jan. 3, 1878; Minutes of the Fulton County Superior Court, vol. N, p. 261.
[358]Ibid., pp. 263, 273.
[359]AtlantaNew Era, Oct. 31, 1871. Printed as an appendix to B. A.
[360]Appendix to B. L. (printed in K. K. R., vol. 7, p. 825).
[361]K. K. R., vol. 7, pp. 767 and 780.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Punctuation has been corrected without note.
Other than the corrections noted by hover information, inconsistencies in spelling and hyphenation have been retained from the original.
Footnote 141 appears on page51, but there is no corresponding marker on the page.