Plymouth banner. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1852-1855, 1853-12-29
If the townships vote diverselv ;,,s

feature taxes effect by virtue of the vote
In the townships voting "no license" it
has no force or operation in consequence
oil such vote. Thus has the general as.
sembiy merely proposed the license fea-
iure to the people for them to give it vi
tality or reject il by townships.
1t seems needless further TO maui re
whether the act in question is general and
uniform in its operations. A law ex-
preSsly providing for license in this town
ship and no license in that, by name, and
SO on alternately throughout the state,
would not in its operation essentially diff
fer from this. Had the question been
10 vots Of the State at large. the License
feature whe Their adopted or rejected would
have. at least, had the recommendation
of uniformity. Besides. such an act. it
Is presum al, would not have had plausi-
biiity enough TO mislead any one into the
belief that it was constitutional. But
this act is specious and accommodating
refinement of local legislation-ingeni
onsly comprehensive-anually presenting
to the townships an aspect suited to the
taste Of each.
lr some respects there is very strong
similarity between the school law of
1919. and the liquor act Of 1853. If
county" be substituted for "township ;"
the TWO acts ar, scarcely TO be distin.
gnished. III this. that their taking effect
Is made to depend upon the action of the
people in their primary capacity. The
school law. like the liqdor law. was de-
clared III force from and after its publica.
uon- Yet the same section provides that
II should Dc left to the popular vote of
each county. II is believed that Mont.
gomery. and some other couaties. never
adopted the school law. so that practical
!! II remained local law. made so. like
the license act. By contingency over
which the legislature had no control.
Many legislative acts. though declared
in force from their passage, are inopera
tive until the officers charged with their
execution are elected or appointed. But
these are easily distinenishable from the
school law of lS49 and the license act of
1893. In such elections, the question is.
who shall BE- designated to execute the
law--not. as here. shall the law be per-
mitted to go into operation;-shall any
one be suffered on any terms to execute i,
or &C, underi:.
Nor is 1t easy TO see how, on principle,
pubic measure can be submitted in the
abstract to popular vote consistently
with the representative system. In |
effect. 1t is changing the government 10 |
what publlcists call pure democracy.
such as Athens was. If one enactment
may be submitted 10 such vote, so NAV
another. so might all. Thus, would the |
representative system be wholly subvcr-
ted. Ii the people desire TO resume di.
rectiy the law making power which they
have delegated to the General Assembly.
they have only to change the constitution
accordingly. /
Again, If this system Of drafting bills
with double aspect. leaving it to the
people which they will adopt, is to pre-
'aii. OF what use is the constitutional
provision reqnirins the yeas and nays on
The final passage' IL the object of this
provision was TO subject the action of
me representative 10 the inspection of
us constituents. ii is thus con- pletely
,vaded For the vote. whether yea or
nay, means nothing. indicates nothing
neither adopts nor rejects any policy, ex-
;ept that 1t ingeniousiy shifts the respon-
'ibility of final action from the legislature
10 the people.
If we regard the act Of March, 1853. in
orce from its passage, as i. claimed in {
argument. then we conceive it to be in a
with Sec. &c. Art. 4. That sec I
ION reads. 1.-THE operation of the laws
nail never be suspended, except by au-
hority from the General Assembly,
An Illustration of the exercise of ;his
'ower occurs in chapter l. S. & l.. laws.
o32. entitled IAN act to suspend certain Il
cts therein named" That the operation |;
i the Act of 1888 was left TO be suspen- t.
ed. or otherwise. according TO the vote
i each township, is SO evident as to need
My 10 be stated. The townships which Il
his year votes "license" and thus puts
ne law into operation. may next wear
ote mo license" and thus suspend the "
perauon. Under the Constitution. the
sgislsture alone can suspend the opera
ion of the laws And this power is not Z
istinguishable from any other legislative o
over. 1t cannot be delegated The IL
spending act is itself law and must q
menate from the law making power =
'ecifying the act suspended, and perhaps :,
;e period of suspension. An existing y
w is rule o: action. open to every cit nj
en- to comply with its requistions.--C
ut, in case of a negative vote. there is 8,
0 law left to be complied with. AS to
lat township it has no effect or opera
ION. II is suspended. b,
AS license law, the act is complete a,
! itself without the part relating to the q,
'wnship vote. So much as relates to D;
Lat vote may be considered as stricken Y,