The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-01-26

pose of subscribing to the stock OF any COM
!Iany Incorporated for work of Internal I'M
provenent, or other purposes, tcfthoan 1trst
being authorized to do so By three:f OF
the legal roters Of the city Tottn9 ON he qtes.
tion; ami the Council shall, ,c'tcn such deot
or loan is created, proutde sinking tuna JT
the payment of The same. Neither shd" me
city endorse the bonds Of any such company
,rithottt the same authority"
Formerly expenditures by Willcn tne Guy
debt was permanently increased were au-
thorized by special laws, founded on na-
jority vote Of the taxpayers. subsequently
the charter was SO amended as 10 ailoW Tue
Council to submit to them the questlon,
Whether there should be subscription, anu
for how much? But when universal SUI
fr,re was adopted it was deemed safe to In
corporate in the charter the present restric-
lions: That the vote for subscription, and
for how much, should be carried by three
fourths instead of a majority; ana tnae In
every case where debt was thus created
sinking fund should be provided for It's pay
ment, If this was wise precautlon When
it was first adopted, it would seem TO nave
lost none of its wisdom under the change
which the constituent body has since uhacr-
gone. .,;.;os -
The City Council, in making addltions TO
the permancnt debt, assume the rlSht 10 us
regard these restrictions in the ciarter. Last
month they voted 100000 OF city bonds at
thirty-forr years to aid the CHESAPEAKE ana
Ohio Railroad Company to tunnel Churcn
hin without any vote on the subject by the
nconle. and without providing any SINKING
fund. .t,o
The Council would never have come TO tne
T legislature in this instance but for iesai
obstacle which they could not surmounC III
any other way. They had subscribed 3-oV,-
600 TO the bridge, withoutreSard to the cilartel
restrictions, as in the above instance, aitnougn
the bridge charter, under which the subscrip-
tion WAS made. repealed those restrictions by
eynrcss reference to them. But an liDuuc'
tion he'd been obtained last May to their car,
ryinr out the sl1bscriptiorhupon tne glounu
Of their want Of power under Tie cnailel "
| make it, which remains III lorce' anu Vac
unveiled from. It was TO get riu OF tllls III
;nnction hy m act of the Legislature that inc
| Co,,ncil asked it to validate this lllegai ana
void s,l,scription, rs will appear ny titen
| ro.oIution of january S, 1872, when, alpci
roc;t;ur tiat they had made SUBSCRIPTION
hrJ,jcb hos been pronounccd by the courts as
?Eeanj and roiD. asks that Gan act be passed u
,u,3orizinr and making valid the said Sub
scription made by the Council, ac,tho1t suo-
1oiiijno Inc same to The people," Nothing, is
said about the charter requirement OF the
sinking fund. -,
Council will 20 on to spend the money. Five
hundred thousand dollars will thus in few
months have been added to the permanent
debt, without sinking fund and without n
vote of the people. y large number OF heavy
tay-payers interposed by petition in behalf
of the charter, including two members of
the City Council I felt it my duty to repre-
sent their views, aware the while how
Intellectual my efforts would be. The only
rrounds heard assumed for the bill were
that the peoples wanted the bridge, which
was highly necessary; and that to take vote
would cause expense and delay. But it would
seem that if the requisite majority did want
it they might easily siloty it by their votes
and that if expense and delay were iii this
c:r:e reason for suspendins the charter, the
reason would be equally good ut amy time
hereafter, and would justify dispensing with
if whenever the Council should desire to free
thcmscyc; from its restrictions.
Respectfully, X. L. DANIEL.