Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1862-06-25

been organised for commercial. manu-
trading, and tho various d.
,ails Of Internal improvement l
In other wosds they are invested with |
corporate attsibutss SUI ns0dn that is,
for special ends, and local necessities. |
They may be said to occupy the place |
II intermediate agencies or instruments
81 government, standing between the
people and the sovereignty Of the State,
iior the purpose or dev'siog and exeeut-
ing certain local police regulations
which it would be incoovepient, If not,
indeed, impracticstle in some instaoces,
to do directly by the Legislature. Their
powers are oil derived, and beiDg purely
civil and political, they cannot oversteP
the boundary that limits their true mu-
nicipal province.
Almost from the necessity Of the case,
municipal corporations must move in
their appropriate and prescribed orbits,
outside OF which they have no priv.
leees, nor can they legitimately exercise
any power or OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
in . few exceptional cases, touching
guaranteed regulations, the supply OF
water to cities, &c. These objects, pro-
noting alone the health and comfort Of
those within, are strictly municipal, al.
though the money to be expended, and
the means to be employed, in occurring
them may be external to the chartered
limits Of the city.
Tie condition Of membership in these
corporations is not that OF the payment
Of . given sum OF money, but simply .
residence therein, under the implied
obligation, however, that such resident
will yield a submission in obedience to
their police regulations, and share their
just proportions Of the burdens imposed
10 the execution OF their various trusts.
These burdens come in the form of tax
es, to levy which is, to be sure, an attri-
butte of sovereignty, but under the Pc
culiar plan or economy of our State
government, is shared in, to . limited
extent, By counties and cities; and even
School districts. To those several
quasi. corporations are con6ded distinct
trusts they move thereftre in spheres
separate and distinct from each other.
If School district should levy and At
tempt to collect tax foreign to the OBJ
iects of the common school system, the
act by common consent would be pro.
uounced invalid. If . city should tax
| it's Inhabitants to build court house Tor
the benefit af the whole county, or to
defray the expenses o. the district court,
the act would encounter At once the re-
sistance of such inhabitants - unjus,
and unequal.
1t will also be conceded that counties
in exercising the taxing power must be
restricted to purposes alone municipal
and local. The citizens Of particular
county cannot be taxed separately 70,
an object in which the public at large
is generally interested, nor, on the 9th
er hand, should the whole State b
taxed for an object partial and limitee
in its benefits to a single county. Chan
cellor Kent in bis commentaries Vol. 2
331, expresses the true doctrine on thi
subjec, when he remarks,-"Every per
son is entitled to be protected in the en-
|joyment of his property, not only from
invasion of it by individuals, but from 81
unequal and undue assessments on tn
part of the Government. ....... III
citizens are entitled to require that tn
Legislature itself shall cause all public
taxation 10 be fair and equal in proper
ton to the value Of the property, so the
no one class of individuals, and n
, species Of property, may be unequal.
or unduly assessed.
} All this the people of this countr
very we'll understand, and have readiI,
acquie.ced in the taxing power witbou
complaint, as it has generally teen exeI
cised. Mr. has there been much COT
fl,ct Of opinion respecting what are, an
| what are not, legitimate objects Of mu
nicipal regulation and superintendent
until cities and counties began to il
. volve their citizens in heavy liabilitie
: by subscribing in their corporate capat
, tiles, stock in railway companies. Thi'
/. from the beginning, has been regalde
4 by many as an alarming innovation upo
the rightful province of these corpor'
lions, and as a consequence has been th
) fraittul source Of much legal controvers,
, It is admitted that, as the counties hav
been heretofore constituted, as instru
, ments Of government, they could nj
+ lawfully make such subscriptions will
) out an additional special grant OF powt
( from the Legislature to enable them
Q do so. This, at the threshold, prove
! tie power to be preternatural. In OF
: Judgment it is more,-it is wholly VI
, unsuitable, and is not, aud cannot be, d,
: rived from the revenue power Of th
county, at all. Whyl Because count
. revenue must be paid into the coun,
treasury. There is no other deposition
!. where it can 60, or be placed. Whe
] there, it must be under the control an
disbursements OF the county agents.
0 No other authorized agencies or cftice1
J. have q right to touch It. Then, agar
8 it must be applied, through the regulA
" constituted agents, to public and NJ
. for private otjecte,-that is to say, I
8 matters pertaining to the internal polio
8 Of the county, in which oil citizens ha'
b common interest.
i Nov what b the case with failroa
. subscriptionl As matter Of form It
r called tax, and % matter Of CONVEX
fence it 10 collected BY the same proce'
{ as county revenue. But is it treated ,
). county revenue sitter it IL collected
!. Does It 90 into the county treasury!
it collected and paid ont BY count
I ecnuta fo. cour&v rnrnnaoa0 The IN,