The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-12-10
.GhnguteILig
Tho ConstItutiOnaI Suspension Of
the Subscription Business,

DO held this evening. We presume II thG
friends Of the railroad subscriptions think
themselves strong enough to carry their
measures through the First Branch they
will be promptly taken up for action in
that body. With the Svowed partisans ol
these measures we do not hope that any
suggestions Of ours can have the slightest
influence. We do hope, however, thai
the balance Of power in that Branch Ia
still with mon who are not beyond the
reach Of appeals to reason, prudence and
duty. J".a.t
We ask these gentlemen to consider
irst OF all that they cannot now vote
these subscriptions without direct viola.
ton Of the supreme law; OF the State.
The enew Constitution which came into
operation in August overrode and sus.
pended the authority granted by and I'm.
der legislative act to incur this proposed
debt The debt OF the city is already
greater than the limit fixed by the con-
sdtution. This proposed addition to II
could have been made II the corporation
Of Wheeling through It's legal instrumen.
talities had made these subscriptions and
ordered bonds to be issued, before the
ssd Of August. But not having taken
this step, the constitution interposes Its
superior authority and the proceeding Is
stopped justwhere 1t tstood on the 22d day
OF August. The only case where any debt
In excess oil s per cent on the tax basis
can be made by municipal corporation
Is where such corporation has already
l. O., before August %, 1921 authorized
its bonds to be issued" This the corpor.
alton OF Wheeling had not and has NOT
yet done. That Is the purpose Of the or.
dinances pending before the First Branch.
The Wheeling Registers argument that
bonds have been authorized by the cor.
poration because the people Of the city
are the corporation and they have en-
powered Council to order their issue, Is a
mere quibbIe In an abstract sense the
inhabitants Of . city are the corporation,
just as the inhabitants Of this country are
the United States. But for all business
and legal purposes 1t is the gov
eminent created by the city charter
that Is the corporation. That govern
ment is the legal representative OF the
people ot the city. The people of the
city, individually, cannot sue or be sued.
It is the Council and executive officers
that constitute the corporation with which
constitutional and statutory provisions
and legal processes deal. Nothing Is
done by municipal corporation until it
Is done by the officers created by the
charter to exercise the corporate powers
conferred on the inhabitants. The vote
Of the people merely invested the legal
corporation with discretionary power to
authorize an issue Of bonds, and did not
OF itself authorize that issue. A le.
gal act is not authorized so long as
the authority is not complete. I'm
less the vote by the inhabitants OF
the city constituted Of itself an actual
and complete subscription to these rail.
roads It Is, impossible that 1t could
have authorized an issue OF bonds
for there had to be q debt
before bonds could issued. And unless
ponds could issue without further author.
ity, the issue was not authorized by that
vote. OF tcourse, we know bonds could
not issue except upon legal enactment by
Council, and OF course 1t follows that
the issue OF bonds is not authorized till It
It is done by an ordinance Of Council
No such ordinance having been passed
betorethe 22d Of August, the authority
Ior Council to pass 1t no longer exists and
the subscriptions cannot be made. Coun'
ell may so on and go through the
form of enacting this legislation but
it will be null and void; any attempt
to carry 1t into effect viii be Immediately
stopped, we presume by Injunction; and
possibly the members thus wilfully VIC
lating the law may find their action at
tended by some consequences unpleasant
IN themselvaa h4Ia 81 as