Here©s Georgia! LIBRARIES - the Digital Library of Georgia

62 FACTS ABOUT GEORGIA
the capital. The failure of this institution in 1840 caused a big
public scandal, and, together with the railroad construction, was
responsible for the State debt, which at one time amounted to
nearly ten million dollars. The depositors lost nothing by the
failure as the State made good. Georgia has faithfully kept its
constitutional pledge to the annual reduction of the bonded debt,
and the income from .the railroad property more than covers
these payments, besides the 50 per cent, of it that goes annually
to the school fund.
Under the State constitution of 1877, provision was made by
the creation of a sinking fund, to reduce this bonded indebtedness
at the rate of $100,000 a year. About three and one-half million
of these bonds matured in 1915, and a refunding issue, of serial
bonds, at 4 l/2 per cent, found a purchaser among Georgia©s own
citizens, at a premium of $17.82 on each $1,000. No better
demonstration than this could be had of the State©s splendid credit
and the patriotic resourcefulness of its people.
It is not generally known that in the thirties of the last century,
the country was so rich that the Federal Government, finding in
its treasury some $28,000,000 that it did not know what else to
do with, divided the amount pro rata among the states. New
York is reported to have put her allotment into loans on New
ROAD VIEW NEAR ALBANY