[TABL F-CONTINUED.] PAID FROM PROFITS AND OTHER FUNDS. YEARS. Public Debt-Six Paid from Capital, for REPORTS OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE BANK IN ANSWER TO SPECIAL CALLS. (1841.) Communication from the President of the Bank of the State of South Carolina, in relation to the salaries of the Solicitors. COLUMBIA, Dec. 4th 1841. To the Honorable the President and Members of the Senate.. The report of the committee appointed to investigate the affairs of the Branch Bank at Columbia, laid upon your table yesterday, contains an error in regard to the Board of the parent Bank, which justice to them requires should be corrected. I endeavored to have the correction made before the printing of the report; and while it was yet preparing for publication, had a personal interview with the Chairman of the committee for that purpose, to whom I pointed out the error referred to, and furnished a written statement of facts. The report has since been laid upon your table printed, and without correction, and as no other means of correcting the error remains, I ask leave of your Honorable body to submit the following facts. The error referred to is that in which, on the fourth page of the printed report, in commenting on the employment of the Solicitors as Attorneys of the Bank, the committee state that after the Branch had earnestly urged a repeal of the regulation employing them, and its Board had "finally, on the 23d of July, 1840, passed a Resolution disapproving of the said regulation, which was transmitted to the parent Bank, and no action had upon it until some time in March last, when the said salaries were discontinued, and this Branch left to select and pay its own counsel." The facts in relation to that matter are these: Immediately after taking charge of the Bank, under your election, as its President, I took into consideration the system for the collection of our debts. I found the Solicitors were employed as retained counsel, at salaries of $300 per annum each. I was not satisfied that it was the best arrangement, but not being disposed to make changes unadvised, and as the year had already * A similar communication was sent to the House of Representatives. begun, and their right to the salary was vested for the year 1840, I directed my attention to devising, for the future, a better system; inquiries were directed by the Board to be made through me at such sources as would give them the best information. I was in Columbia in July, 1840, and attended a meeting of the Board of the Branch Bank, brought the subject before them, and finding they unanimously opposed the system, suggested the very resolution, as indicating their opinion, which is referred to in the report of the committee. It was forwarded to the Board at the parent Bank, but so far from there being no action on it until March, 1841, the subject received a great deal of attention-was referred to a committee-and finally, the Board informally instructed me to bring the subject before the Legislature, and to endeavor to procure an alteration of the law which would enable us to simplify the collection of our debts. The Committee of Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, and of Finance in the Senate, will bear witness that their directions were at the last session attended to by me. A bill for the purpose passed two readings in the Senate, but was not acted on in the House. Immediately upon its failure, I wrote, in December, 1840, to the Board in Charleston, informing them of the fact, and advised some immediate action. The Board promptly passed a resulution dissolving the connection with the solicitors, and informed them of it; as those of them now here can testify, and as one of them did state to the Chairman of the Committee of the House of Representatives. No Solicitor is, or has been, in the pay of the Bank at the salary of $300 during any part of the year, 1841, nor has one cent been paid on that account for 1841. The salary of one of them for 1840, was not drawn until since the commencement of the fiscal year of 1841, a circumstance explained, as the President of the Branch informs me, by himself, to the Chairman of the Committee of the House of Representatives. Respectfully submitted, F. H. ELMORE, President of Bank of the State of South Carolina. (1841) Report of the President of the Bank of the State of South Carolina, in obedience to a Resolution of the General Assembly, on the Bonds due at the Parent Bank, and the Branch at Columbia. To the Honorable the President and Senate, and Speaker and House of Representatives. In obedience to the resolution of your Honorable body of the 18th December, 1840, I have the honor to lay before you the accompanying statements of the number of bonds due at the parent Bank, and at the Branch at Columbia, and such as are becoming due, with the year in which they respectively fall due--the original amount of said bonds, and the amount remaining unpaid on the 1st October last. No report has been rendered yet from the Camden Branch, but as soon as received, it shall be laid before the Legislature. It will be seen by reference to the statement of the parent Bank, marked A, that since 1830, three hundred and twenty bonds have come into that Bank. Of these, two hundred and sixteen have been finally settled; nine have been sent to suit, and are in progress of collection; and ninety-five remain in the bond account. That of those remaining in Bank, the original amount was nine hundred and nine thousand four hundred and seventythree dollars thirty-three cents, ($909,473 33) and that besides interest paid in, there has been collected of principal, three hundred and two thousand nine hundred and one dollars seven cents. (302,901 07) I have further to report to your Honorable Body, that strenuous efforts have been made by the Board, to carry out your instruction contained in the resolution of the same date, requiring them "to call in the bonds held by the Bank, and which are past due, as speedily as the circumstances of the country and of the individual debtors, will permit." The circumstances of the country are known to have been exceedingly embarrassed, and those of the individual debtors, in many instances, were not less so. Where a failure to pay resulted from unavoidable misfortune, such as loss of crops, or other accidental disabilities, which, in time, the industry and proper exertions of the party might remedy, and where the disposition to make all proper exertions were satisfactorily shown to the Board, they considered that they acted conformably to your instructions, and for the best interests of the Bank, the State, and its citizens, by giving such indulgence as the circumstances of each case required. They endeavored to exercise the same judicious discretion which a prudent and humane creditor would always pursue as an individual, where debts would be endangered, and sometimes lost, if forced to the extremity of immediate collection; but which are often rendered perfectly safe, by either procuring additional security, and enabling the party to work out of his difficulties, or by saving his property to better times, when its value may be obtained for it. A course of rigorous exaction which makes no allowance for misfortunes, and has no forbearance for those who have unhappily been caught, heavily burthened with debt, by the sudden change of a period of great prosperity into one of extreme hardship and pressure, and which would give no time nor opportunity for industry and economy to work through their difficulties, would, it is true, force large sums into your Bank, to be again employed in loans, discounts or dealings in exchanges; but it will be equally clear, that the Commonwealth would be injured, the estates of debtors sacrificed, and the property of every other citizen greatly lessened in value, by the quantity forced upon the market at ruinous prices. The natural consequence of such action, on the part of the Bank, which is the largest creditor in the State, would be to alarm all confidence, and to cause other Banks and large creditors to rush into a like course, causing immense amounts of property to change hands at nominal prices, involving many families in wide spread ruin, and sending your slaves in crowds, to improve by their labor, other States, while nobody would be benefitted by the operation, but those who are out of debt and in the command of money and who can stand by in the general wreck, and buy up the property thus needlessly forced into market. The increase apparent in the Bond account, has not arisen from original loans, but from Bonds received in payment of property sold for debts due to the Bank, or as additional and collateral security for debts already subsisting. All of which is respectfully submitted, by F. H. ELMORE, President Bank State of South Carolina. A Statement of Bonds due at the Bank of the State, in Charleston, on the 1st October, 1841. Original Amount. 2,808 37 95 $909,473 33 $606,572 26 The principal of the above Bonds has been reduced, by payments, $302,901 07. From 1830 to the present time, the Bank has held three hundred and twenty Bonds, of which two hundred and sixteen have been finally settled. Nine have been transferred to Suit account, and are in process of collection. Ninety-five remain in Bond account. Of a portion of these, the Bank has taken measures to enforce payment. The above statement alludes to the year when the whole bond became due. B C. M. FURMAN, Cashier. Statement of Bonds due at the Branch Bank, Columbia, on the 1st of Since the end of the fiscal year, there has been paid (3,333 32) three hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-two cents, on the above bonds. M. A. MOORE, Cashier. December 3, 1841. * Since paid. + $3,000 since paid. |