Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

I personally know Mr. Cardozo's statements as to the reasons of his reducing the balance in the bank early in January to be the reasons which he then disclosed to me. His motive then met my approval, and I still approve it, though he acted at his own risk. That is, if he had failed to replace the funds he would have been liable on his bond and to the penalty prescribed in the Act. If the General Assembly, however, desire a strict and literal construction of that law, it can be secured without visiting any punishment upon an officer who erred, if he erred at all, because he sought to favor the General Assembly and to save the State funds from loss.

The position of the News and Courier on this question is a perfectly fair and just one. If Mr. Cardozo has falsified the records, or knowingly done any fraudulent act, or any wilful act resulting in injury to the State, then let him be duly punished. If not, let good men baffle those who have entered into a conspiracy to knock down one of the strongest pillars of the present reform Administration. At any rate, whether I stand alone or with many, that will be my course to the end. Consequences can take care of themselves.

The publication of the above despatch was followed by an editorial article, from which the following extract is made.

[From the Charleston News and Courier, March 12, 1875.]

The charges against State Treasurer Cardozo, as set forth in the address to the Governor, are (1) of irregularity and misconduct in office, and (2) of wilful neglect of duty. Under the first head he is accused of having funded certain bonds and coupons which, for different reasons, were not entitled to be funded, and of having diverted the interest fund; and under the second head, he is accused of having failed to make monthly reports to the Comptroller General of the cash transactions of his office as required by law. This second charge will hardly be held sufficient to warrant the adoption of the address, if the defence on the first charge be found sufficient. Mr. Cardozo has already explained to the General Assembly that he had not the clerical force to enable him to make the reports in question, but his books have always been open to inspection by the Comptroller General, who has repeatedly been invited to examine them. The Treasury Department has been overburdened with work, and we see no reason to think that Mr. Cardozo has not done, in the making of the various reports, the best that he could. When half a dozen things were required to be done at the same time, and it was not possible to do them all, he appears to have applied himself to those which were most urgent in their nature. We assume that Mr. Cardozo will stand or fall by the specifications of the first charge, which are, in brief, the charges contained in the report of the Special Investigating Committee. As we have said before, we shall not express any final opinion as to the innocence or culpability of the Treasurer, until his full and final defence shall have been put in ; and the public may count on our saying exactly what we think of that defence, whether we concur or not with the two thirds of the General Assembly whose votes are required for adopting the address. Mr. Cardozo has, however, one witness who has cheerfully spoken in his behalf. That witness is Governor Chamberlain, and, in view of the boldness, persistency, and fidelity with which he has defended the public

interests from the very day of his installation, the Governor's opinions, especially in a matter involving the honest management of the State finances, are entitled to great weight.

Governor Chamberlain said, in his conversation with the Columbia correspondent of the News and Courier, that he had read every word in the different documents connected with the case of Mr. Cardozo, and he finds in them nothing to shake his faith in Mr. Cardozo's honesty." There is no mystery in the charges. The public know what the Investigating Committee know. Governor Chamberlain probably knows more than either the Committee or the public, and he unhesitatingly says that, while he holds himself open to the consideration of any new facts or evidence that may be brought out, he has entire confidence in Mr. Cardozo. Nor does the Governor content himself with glittering generalities. Governor Chamberlain, who was Attorney General from 1868 to 1872, and who is certainly familiar with the fiscal legislation of the State, says positively that "the bonds and coupons alleged to have been wrongfully funded” are all exchangeable under the Funding Act, if they were outstanding at the time of its passage; and he does not think that Mr. Cardozo would have been guilty of any offence "if he had funded any and all coupons which were made fundable by the terms of the Act." This is a plain and sensible view of the case. So long as Mr. Cardozo was governed by the law, in its letter, he was not guilty of any official misconduct. If he was in collusion with any persons presenting bonds or coupons illegally outstanding, then he was guilty; but Governor Chamberlain does not see any such evidence, nor any evidence pointing that way." This is the deliberate opinion of a gentleman who ranks with the first of the foremost lawyers in the State, and who would be involved in personal and political ruin, with the Treasurer, if he sustained that officer in any unlawful act, or proclaimed him to be innocent when he had any reason to believe him to be guilty. It is, moreover, a strong point that the information now published about the bonds alleged to have been unlawfully hypothecated was before the public last summer. There is nothing new in it. The information was submitted to the Attorney General, who, in his Report to the Legislature, said that he did not consider it important enough to cause him to advise that these bonds should not be funded. On the contrary, the Attorney General expressly defends the funding of all those bonds." Mr. Cardozo is blamed for doing "what the law directed, and what the Attorney General advised." Governor Chamberlain advised the Treasurer, last year, that there was no reason why those bonds should not be funded, and he “says the same thing now.”

44

With reference to the diversion of the interest fund, Governor Chamberlain says that the law is susceptible of the construction given by Mr. Cardozo, that the State has not lost a dollar, and that it is evident that Mr. Cardozo acted from good motives. We think, nevertheless, that the construction put upon the law was not what the Legislature intended, and we think still that an Act declaring the exact meaning of the statutory provisions relative to the interest fund should be passed, so as to avoid any more complications in the future.

An important statement was made by Governor Chamberlain in explanation of the animus of most of those members who demand the removal of the Treasurer. We reproduce the Governor's own words:

"I saw this storm gathering long ago. I knew that any man that did his duty as Treasurer, who lent himself to no jobbery, and had no private ends to serve, would

I

make himself the most unpopular man in South Carolina. Cardozo knew it too. confess I did not expect to see the elements which view the public service as a mere chance to make money, able to make such headway as they are now apparently making against Mr. Cardozo. I did hope for better things, but I also expected to find a howl and outcry against any man who did his duty by the Treasury. I do not wish to be understood as implying that all who are opposed to Mr. Cardozo are consciously striking down a faithful public officer; but every man here in Columbia knows that the real force which urges on this attack upon Mr. Cardozo is not a desire to guard the Treasury. I speak now what every man confesses to me when I ask him the question."

This confirms us in the opinion we have frequently expressed. The Conservatives can have no other purpose than to see the case fairly tried; but the Radical members, with few exceptions, are only anxious for Mr. Cardozo's removal because he has been faithful and capable, and has jealously guarded the Treasury. Governor Chamberlain would not make this declaration unless he had ample warrant for so doing; and no honest man, Republican or Conservative, can hesitate to give full credit on this point to the Republican Governor, who, without counting the consequences and looking only to the public good, has stood like a wall of adamant between the public robbers and the honest and law-abiding people of the State. We are profoundly impressed, we frankly admit, by Governor Chamberlain's words. We believe that through him, and by the line of conduct which he pursues, can the Conservative citizens, as well as the Republicans, attain most quickly and easily that reform of abuses and the reduction of taxation which are vastly more important than any political victory. And we say to Governor Chamberlain what he says of Treasurer Cardozo: We are not half so anxious to make friends or avoid enemies as we are to do right, and until evidence, facts, compel us to lose faith in Governor Chamberlain, he shall have our confidence and our personal and moral support in every form.

The attempt to remove Mr. Cardozo was defeated by a union of the reform Republicans and the Democrats. The following extract makes still plainer the meaning of this incident, and its influence.

[From the Columbia Union-Herald, March 20th.]

The struggle is over. By an emphatic vote in both houses Mr. Cardozo has been sustained. We entered into the fight earnestly, and we have put forth every energy to win success. We would be more or less than human not to exult over our opponents. To say that the result is a distinct triumph for Governor Chamberlain's Administration is to say only what every one knows. But the whole affair has been so significant in all its bearings from first to last that its lessons should once more be stated. We do not wish to stir up the passions which have been called out in this conflict; still less do we wish to pronounce every man as false or true, according to the side in which he placed himself in this conflict.

But, speaking generally, we express our conviction, based on what we call knowledge, that the struggle has been really and distinctly a struggle between honesty and corruption, between an effort to restore good government on the one hand, and an effort to perpetuate the disgraceful records of the Scott and Moses administrations on the other hand. It is now perfectly apparent that a large section of the Republican party regarded the platform and professions of the last campaign as mere baits to

catch votes. All they wanted of Mr. Chamberlain was a respectable name to cover disreputable practices. They really wanted Frank Moses, minus his personal profligacy and debauchery. Official integrity, public duty, economy in expenditures, competency in officers, low taxes, all these things they neither desired nor intended to permit.

When, therefore, Governor Chamberlain showed his determination to stand upon the pledges of the campaign, these men marked for vengeance every man who stood by him. Conspicuous among these was Mr. Cardozo. To say that these men were moved to any degree by a desire to uphold official integrity is to mock the common knowledge of all men here. Plausible grounds existed for the attack. The utmost looseness of administration had grown up before Mr. Cardozo entered upon his office. Mr. Cardozo had not been able wholly to conduct his office on the highest plane of strict and undeviating adherence to the best methods. If he had done so, the storm would have come earlier and from opposite causes. These deviations from the strict letter of his duties were seized upon by those who desired to crush him for his fidelity. It was a perfect illustration of the folly of casting pearls before swine. Those who had demanded official looseness and favoritism turned to rend the man whose failings had come only from a desire to conciliate the favor of his present enemies by a too liberal construction of his duties.

The plot was well laid and enticing. Under the guise of punishing official misconduct, they sought really to introduce unbounded official profligacy. The cloak for a time concealed the assassin. The Conservatives were led to array themselves against the Treasurer and alongside of the Corruptionists; but the alliance was accidental and short-lived; and we say now, what we have not said in times before, that the Conservatives, in the final yote, have vindicated the purity of their motives, and deserve the unqualified approval of all who uphold public morality.

The blow aimed at Governor Chamberlain has been parried by a combination of the true friends of reform. His strength has been immeasurably increased by this very struggle. The cause of reform in South Carolina has been promoted by this most desperate attempt to crush it out. But the greatest gain of all will be found in the freedom with which Mr. Cardozo can now uphold the cause of official integrity. The plunderers have done their worst. He can now square accounts with them. He can now shake off their importunate demands and their dishonoring contact. Henceforth he will plant himself on the letter of the law. Henceforth he will have no favors to show to any man. The disgusting favoritism which these political traders have hitherto been able, in some measure, to enforce is forever ended.

[ocr errors]
[graphic][merged small]

Closing Days of the Session-The Legislature Persists in Evil Courses-An Accumulation of Vicious Measures-A Series of Resolute and Effectual Veto Messages.

WHEN the end of the session of the Legislature approached,

WH

the Governor's opponents marshalled their material and their forces for making what may be described as an attack upon his whole line of reform. Between the 4th of March and the 18th of the same month, the date of adjournment, four bills designed to secure and continue the system of plundering extravagance, which the Governor and both parties were pledged to reform, were passed in swift succession. They were all vetoed, the messages of disapproval constituting a body of sound doctrine and faithful instruction.

When Governor Chamberlain came into office he discovered that throughout the Administration of his predecessor the funds of the State had been kept in one depository, the Bank and Trust Company, at Columbia, commonly known as "Hardy Solomon's Bank." The State's deposit sometimes amounted to more than one million dollars. The capital of this bank was $125,000. Mr. Hardy Solomon, the principal owner and the manager of the institution, was a prosperous business man against whose financial credit there were no imputations. He was a Republican, and had ingratiated himself in the favor of officials by such accommodations as were much desired by State officers and others during the prevalence of the peculiar financial methods of the Moses Administration. One of the early acts of Governor Chamberlain was to take away the bulk of the State's deposit from Hardy Solomon's. bank and distribute it among five other institutions, two in Columbia and three in Charleston, all having larger capital and the reputation of a more conservative management. In this ac

« AnteriorContinuar »