61/83 At the beginning of the carpetbag period the debt was about $11,000,000, but railroad and levee bonds were issued rapidly. Though a constitutional amendment in 1870 forbade the State to contract debts in excess of $25,000,000, the Legislature went steadily on until in 1872 the debt was variously estimated at from $41,000,000 to $48,000,000. Kellogg was Governor, the State began to fund valid obligations at sixty cents on the dollar. By action of the courts the debt was reduced to about $12,000,000 bearing interest at seven percent. |