, 1876-08-13
COURTHOUSE, which will substantially consume
this sum Of $177,O0

ILLS sutn o1 9itl,U0U-
WHAT NEXT?
Under the act of 1872, if it we're still in force.
two-thir1s OF the County Board could authorize
the issue Of bonds amounting IN the aggregate
to over s3,5oo.000 The question is, However,
whether that law is still III forre On the 31st
relation to counties, which contains, among
other provisions, the following:
SEC: 10. When the County Boara OF auy county
shall deem It necessary to Issue county bonds to
enable them to perform any Of the duties imposed
upon them by law, they may, by an order entered
Of record, spccfying the amount OF bonds required
and the object for which they to be issued sub
nit to the legal voters Of their county, at any
era election, the question ct Issuing such county
bonds. The amount Of the bonds so issued shall
not exceed, including the then existing indebted
ness OF the county, per centum the value Of
such taxable property Of such county, as nscer-
tanned by. the assessment for the state
Sic, ssid w, vete ~ ;.! sh:ll be hy ballot,
jorty Of the votes at such election on that question
1 sha31 be For county bonds. such County Board
than $lo0 nor more than 81, 600 each, payable. re-
spectivey in not 1ese than ono year nor more than
twenty years, with interest payable annually, at
The rate OF not more than 10 per cent per annum.
The language Of this section should be care
fully considercd-"w when the County Board Of
any county" This allows Of no exception. It
includes Cook County as we'll as It does Alex
ander. There is no saving clause by
which ~ the law of 1872 is kept in force.
Sec. 70, setting forth the manner OF levyipg
tax to provide for the payment Of the princi-
pal and interest OF bonds issued in accordance
with its provisions. That, however, was pusscl
a year prior to the act Of 1874, which also con-
tains Il provision relative to the manacr of levy
ing tax beyond the constitutional limit. Even
il the language OF the act OF 1874 were not as
explicit as it is, there can be no question, under
the recent decision Of the Supreme Court in the
case Of Bill 800, and the provisions Of the Con-
latton, that the att Of 1872 is repealed.
The result Of this is that, unless the County
Commissioners venture to take the risk Of
plunging the county into labyrinth Of littga-
tion lar worse than the one the City of Chicago
has been laboriousty wandering through, the
issued will be by q vote of the citizens OF the
county.
ANOTHER POINT
has been raised, the effect OF which will also be
to deter the County Board from an attempt to
that is, that the act itself is Of doubtful consti~
tutionality. The Constitution Of 1870 pro-
vidcs, in Sec. q Of Art w., that
the General Assembly shall not pass local
or special laws regulating county and township
affairs 1t is claimed by some tnat this act Of
1S72 was purely local or special law regulating
county affairs in Cook County, and, therefore.
in violation of the Constitution, and that the
bonds already issued under it arc valuclcss.
In siew Of all these facts, 1t is not likely,
even ii the contract is let to Mr.. Walker that
that individual will find himself in a position
to make any money out Of it. By the time he
begins furnishing stone the Public Building
Fund will be exhausted, and there will be no
source from which money can be obtained to
pay him. It is possible that the Commissioners
might attempt to resort to the method which was
used during the first months Of 1877 Of issuing
what we're then called coupon orders; but the
Courts have ALWAYS held that these were bonds,
and the County Commissioners would, there
fore, find themselves estoppod from borrowing
money even in that way The only manuer ap-
parcntly in which they can raise the funds Is
By making direct levy on the people. They
have, taking last year as 4 basis, a margin Of
cents, which amounts to $15o00o. But 1t
must be borne in mind that the interest on the
bonded cebt is much larger now than it was last
year, and that this margin Ia very nearly ex-
haustn6