The miners' express. (Dubuque, Iowa) 1849-1854, 1853-08-31
Gge 4neekly Crpress.
-EDNESDAY MORNING, AUG. 81, Is5
SOMEBODY IN THE FOG.

SOMEBODY IN THE FOG.
The Dubuque Express, while speaking il
come ction with the fact Of Jones county having
voted TO take stock in our Railroad says
The sovereign people of Iowa are becoming
pretty heavy debtors In place OF limiting lhei
indeb;ness TO the amount of one hundred thou
sand dollars, as prescribed by the Constitution
they have stretched it 10 over a million already
with fair prospe CT of large ond speedy addi-
tons"
We don't know that it. S of much conse que nee
for an editor Of a small country paper, printed
away back in one OF the " rural districts" to re-
ply TO anything said by city paper, bec,use il
night seem, IN the eye of many people Toe
much like " whs,lng agin the wind - but We
will venture to remark that where we went te
school, we were taugh, that State government.
were one thing and County organizati ms ano.h
er that when State Constitution prescribed
that its State Legislature should not permit the
accumu!at on OF a greater amount of State in.
deb,ness than one hundred thousand dollars, i
was meant to apply t, The State integrally, ane
not to Co, nty, or the people ofa county. /
the people of Dubuque county, in their corpo-
rate capacity, wish to borrow half million t.
construct plank roads or railroads, they have the
power, and there is nothing in tie Corstilu ioi
10 the contrary Will our neighbor Of the Elk
press please to look little further into this mat
Ter, to see if he is not in the fog. One of U.
certainly must be.-.4namosa .Nens.
We have ngreeably to the request Of ou
modest neighbor, looked as far into this matter
as our vision will extend and have discovered
no fog, except that which clusters about his ow
Sanctum. The question raised here, is, simply
whether counties have the right by our Cons,i-
tuition and Code to vote their credit to Railroad
corporations.
We deny that they have and We will now pro.
ceed to give the reasons upon which our denia
is based.
In the first place, all municipal corporations
whether state, county, town city, are organ.
lied for the benefit and protection of the people
Their powers are derived from the people. whu
are sovereign; and for any abuse cf those pow
ers, they are responsible to the people, after a
certain prescribed form has been observed -
Each corporation has its specified powers, laid
down in a written Constitution and laws and
those powers are graduated in Importance, to
with the limits Of their jurisdiction
The State corporation being first in the scope oi
its jurisdiction, is of course the fountain from
which emanates the supreme authority. All
powers not primary with County organizations,
are derived from the state and as no such author
ity as County subscriptions Of stock to corpora,
tions, is TO be found either in the fundamental
or statutory laws, we may very reasonably con-
clude, that the power is not possessed. AS these
corpor atoms are instituted for the convenience
and welfare Of the people, some may argue tina,
the will, caprice of the majority, should at all
times be the Supreme law; but it must be borne
in mind, that while laws are made for the con-
venience and welfare OF the majority, they are
also made for the protection Of the minority
and it is only through the prescr bed forms by
which fundamental laws may be changed, that
the minority are, in perhaps majority of cases,
protected from the unjust encroachments Of the
majority. But what have we in the fundamen,-
al law which justifies the assumption Of such a
power. Nothing at all. But on The contrary,
wehave the 9TH Article of the Constitution, en-
titled "Linsitation Of State Indsbtedness, which
emphatically denies to the state, the power to
contract an indebtedness exceeding 100000,
'sreept in case Of ,car to repei inuasion, or sup
press insurreetion," unless by the observance of
a certain prescribed form which is, that an ex-
Lraordinary necessity shall exist for raising a
greater sum than 100000; that the law max
ing power of the state shall pass a special Act
tor the purpose; and that the people shall sus-
ain that Act by their vote at the ballot box
Not a word is said in the Constitution about
;ounties-an inferior organization-having this
power and when we consider the extraordin-
Try caution observed by the trainers of the Con-
'titution, in limiting this power with the state
Legislature, we cannot with any show Of reason,
that they intended to confer power
upon County corporations-a subordinate organ
zation, but component part of the state-which
hey cautiously and wisely with held from the
state itself-that they iatended three Commits
sioners (Which was the old mode of transac,ing
The county business) should exercise power,
which they were afraid to trust in the hands Of
The lawfully constituted Representatives of the
people. solemnly convened in legislative assem-
bly,. But those who claim this power for the
Counties, we suppose, base it upon some writ.
en law fundamental or statutory. If upon the
Constitution, it must be in the 7th Article, limit
ny state indebtedness, for this is the only clause
bearing upon the subject Granting then for ar
yument sake, that this clause gives them the
,ower, have they followed the form prescribed
~ the Constitution, for obtaining consent to
oan the credit of Counties, We answer no.
'or the constitution in SO many words, pre-
crbes that the Legislature shall first pass a
pecial law, providing how the money shall be
aised, when and how paid, and stipulatng the
ime and manner the vote shall be taken. Thi.
las not been done, and therefore, if the right is
claimed by provision of the Constitution, it is
n our judgment illegal and totally void Of any
binding force.
There is another view to be taken Of this sub.
ect. Admitting the right that is set up here
or counties, aud what we ask within the pro.
vince of state legislation can they not do' If
hey can without any authority of state legisla-
ion vote to loan their credit to railroad corpora.
ions, they certainly can vote to loan it for any
'ther speculative purpose, such for example, as
| steam boat corporation, banking corporation,
'r any kind of manufacturing corporation -
The plea Of benefit to the county, will apply as
we'll in the one case as the other And if they
possess the right to legislate for themselves in
this case by mere vote, they possess it in all
cases, and the necessity for state Legislature
ceases. We have certainly never been more
surprised at the exercise of power, than in
'he case of our own state upon this question, and
we greatly fear that it will be the means of in
7olving period of bankruptcy, more lasting,
and destructive in its ffrcts, than that
which visited our sister state Illinois few years
lgo. From the unexampled desire for, and ex-
panslon OF credit among the counties of the
STATE, with scarcely an exception, we see no
way to avoid the awful blow. High taxes are
Always terror to any people, and this, taken
q connection with slate OF prospective bank