The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-05-15
The Railroad and Bridge subscrlp.
lions.


The Railroad and Bridge Subscrip'
lions.
We were not without expectation thai
the City Council would, last evening
amend their action in submitting The
propositions now before the people o.
Wheeling, TO subscribe to the capita
stock Of the wheeling & Lake Erie
Railway Company" and ofthe wheeling
& Ohio Union Railway Company" Il
will be borne in mind that as these propo
SiIionS now stand, no limitations are i'm
posed on the power or discretion Of Coun
Gil. II we vote for subscription in eithel
case, we vote authority to Council sbsO
lutely and without reservation TO make
the subscription and pay the money just
when and on such terms as majority o.
Councilnen may see fit. Everything Is
left 10 the discretion OF Council.
1t Is proper this should be well under
stood; because the taxpayers Of the city
with whom the voting Of so much new
debt as proposed is no triling matter,
ought thoroughly to consider whether
their confidence IN the present Council is
equal to this demand on 1t. We do not
forget that when Council voted away the
city'S right to tax the property Of the
Baltimore s Ohio Railroad Company
forever for paltry one hundred thousand
dollars, how blindly the majority in each
body obeyed the nod Of their file leaders
nor how deaf they were to al! arguments
OF law and reason nor how negligent o.
plain duty they were in investing the
Mayor with authority to make contract
absolutely such as he might please with
out requiring its ratification OF Council.
We have seen good deal OF the way
things are done in Council; of the way
contracts and jobs and fayors are manip.
ulated; Of the way one or two members
in each Branch can carry any measure
Just as they please, however absurd or
improper, and defeat any one, how.
ever reasonable and just. We presume
many others have been observers OF the
same things. This body has chosen to
say to the people Of the city, II you vote
for these subscriptions it must be without
any checks on us; we must be at full
liberty to do as we please with this money.
Does our confidence in the discretion and
integrity Of Council, especially with the
present lack Of exact information about
the real status of the enterprises them.
selves, warrant it? That is a serious
question to be considered.
1t is suspicious circumstance that
when the ordinance submitting the Bridge
subscription was in the First Branch and
Gov. STANTON offered a prOviso that the
subscription should not be paid till an
equal amount had been subscribed in
good faith by other responsible parties, it
was promptly rejected, and he, avowing
that with such a protection for the city
he would vote for the subscription, was
insulted and sneered at as "the gentleman
from Ohio" whose only object was to de.
feat the enterprise altogether. Do these
gentlemen intend that the city's money
shall be paid over to this bridge company
before enough has been subscribed by
other parties to insure that the work will
be finished9 II not why object to Gov.
sTANToN's proviso! II the Railroad
Company which is asking for 100000
really expects to be able, and in good
faith intends, to turn right round and give
100000 to the bridge, and II tho Cleve.
land & Pittsburgh road is going TO give
one or two hundred thousand, why object
to providing that Wheeling's subscription
shall not be used till at least as much has
been subscribed by somebody else2
When the ordinance submitting the
railway subscription WIS. passed, no one
seems to have deemed It worth while to
propose any conditions. thought to have
pFovided,we submit, that no money should
be paid until the rest Of the local subscrip.
tons required by the construction con.
tract Of the company come two million
dollars) had been secured in black and
white There ought to have been a re.
qulrement that the money should be
expended at this end Of the line, begin.
ming at the city. Council ought to have
offered the people guarantee that their
money would not be spent in making a
piece OF road on the western end which
might be gobbled up by some other cor
poration before everit would be extended
within fifty miles Of this city. Mr.
WILSON, Of New York, told our peoplc
when here that he would finish twenty
miles Of tho road before requiring apy
money. Now, if we remember, thu,
Ohio municipalities, &C., cannot subscribe
10 the stock Of the company but must
oulId their quota Of the road themselves
"eGet ahint that the first money the
contractors would get rs pay for this
twenty miles q road, would verv like,v
DO from Wheeling. Now will MIR. WILL.
son undertake to build the twenty miles
OF road at this end, requiring a mile OF
tunnel before calling for any money!
Certainly not. So il this programme
were carried out'the work would be com.
menced at the other end Of tho line and
there is where our money would 20 unless