The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-04-16


hort of the Finance Committee. The
mission was no fault of ours. A re-
bort was submitted in the Second
branch and was read by tho presiding
fRcer. After the adjournment, our re-
,orter asked the Clerk 10 be allowed to
ook at it, He was referred by the
fIerk to the President, and by him TO
ne Chairman of the Committee. That
Gentleman said the paper was not In
lis possession. Other gentlemen vol
inferred the information that no &C
lion had been taken on the report, and
being, therefore, unfinished business,
would beimproper TO make 1t public.
bur reporter, in conversation with the
President of the Second Branch, re-
marked that the report had been read
n Council, and was, therefore. as much
matter for publicity as any other pa
per after presentation to Council. The
President replied that If our reporter
undertook to be the judge of what 1t
was proper to publish, they mould see
tChcthcr they mould alton htHa to publish
any of their proceedings The request to
be allowed TO see the report was, there
fore, denied the reporters of both the
INrEL1GENceR and Register, as both
IRentlemen state in notes to their reports
yesterday morning.
This is such an extraordinary proce-
dure we scarcely know what to say OF
] liz. It has been apparent for long
time that the city's financial managers
commissioners OF the sinking fund,
we believe they are celled,) were ex-
Exceedingly rel uctant to make any ex-
hibit. II has been the practice In Coun-
Gil for "a mum Der 81 years, when ever an
exhibit was made by the Finance Com
mittee (for IL seems this Committee is
merely II medium of Accommodation for
the Commissioners and knows nothing
except so far as the Commissioners
phoose) for the presiding officer or one of
ne Commissioners to request the rePor'
3ers to make no mention OF it for the rea-
son 1t would be IDJudicious and Inn
proper TO make such matters public.
The reporters accepting this statement
As true, have as constantly deferred to
! he suggestion; SO that even this source
pr Information has been scrupulously
guarded. Members OF the Council who
iwere not quite satisfied with this mode
|of proceeding, have said TO US that the
reports made to tho Council (fOr re-
ports were made at intervals, long
while HEo,) We're perfectly unintellig!-
bio ns reHd, and they were unchnritable
enough to suppose they were intended
4 to be so. Members of the Finance
Committee who honestly desire to sec
things done on the square, say they
are not permitted TO tnste the forbidden
fruit that grows only within the sacred
precincts of the Commissioners. Their
profane eyes have not beheld tho ark,
nor their understandings comprehend
ed the grand arcanh in which the sink
ing fund is shrouded. They are rs
wise as sucking babes concerning the
compromised debt OF the city, and quite
as contenred with their knowledge.
What they do not know the Commis'
sioners do, and that sufices. A gem
tlemnn remarked yesterday to n friend
that he had been on the Finance Conf
Inittee for years, and yet was little bet
ter than one OF the ignorant. Happy
dispensalicn. under which all knowl-
edge is the preroEative of the CHI osen
few! for knowledge is power" and
1t is very "injudicious" and 'improper'
to distribute 1t in too many hands. But
this is DEPRESSION.
The demand for this report WAS be-
gun by the Council at least a year ago.
Some time last summer paper WAS
presented in the Second Branch
by tho presiding officer, who said
1t was inRucial exhibit. 1t WAS
not read, however, and was
hustled out of sight in II few moments.
Our reporter went next day to tho City
Clerk and asked TO be allowed to see
the document; but the permission was
denied except by consent of the gentle
man who presented the paper in Coun-
Gil. That consent was not asked for.
This reluctance to exhibit became so
noticeable as to excite public curiosity,
and from that day to this the wish to
have that curiosity gratified has been
growing stronger. Believing this state
OF things ought not to exist. and espe-
cially ought not to continue, it has been
orr unpleasant duty, as .mouthpiece
of the public, to add our opportunities
to those of the Council. Matters of mo.
ment to the city were contingent on
facts which might be thus or might be
so, which II was essential should be
known, and which were yet i'm
possible to be Learned EXCEPT through
the ciIy'B Commissioners. Our reTer-
ences to the subject have been charac.
teriEed by these gentlemen, we hear, as
Incorporate, injudicIous improper,
damaging to the credit of the city. &c.,
&C. We are not surprised this should
be their estimate OF them. But we may
say this, that nothing but facts can
damage the credit OF the city; and IL
we have been dealing In facts, it is APP
parent it will be better for the city 10
have her credit damaged u little now
than 10 be bnnkrupted after n while, as
she will be II things go on as they have
been.
AT last these gentlemen have felt
constrained TO furnish an exhibit tothe
Council. Anticipating it, we expected
to lay before our readers yesterday
morning, " round, unvarnished tale u
that would explain away the unpleRs-
ant financial circumstances we have felt
called upon to refer to, and that would
fully exonerate the Commissioners
from any Encouragement of the ctty's
funds. How different is the fact.
The report is presented in Council,
1t is read In such manner as to be