The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1877-09-06
The Constitutional Amendments.

Next Monday two proposed co Institutional
amendments will be submitted to the people
of this state for ratification or rejection. The
first of these, relating to municipal indebted
ness, had its origin in the bitter experience
of towns who, like Rasselas, have listened
with credulity to the whispers of fancy and
pursued with eagerness the phantoms of
hope, who have expected that the defcien-
cies of the present day will be supplied by
the morrow. 1t is sadly true that the people
of Maine have been led by the sanguine
American temperament to pledge not only
their present but their prospective resources
for years to come to the furtherance of enter
prises which will be unproductive for long
time, and which may never realize the hopes
of their projectors. The debts thus in
Cured are in many instances burdensome
and oppressive in the extreme. 1t is to
guard against the repetition of such ill
Judged and mistaken generosity tnat the fol-
lowing constitutional amendment is submit
ted to the people:
No city or town shall hereafter create any
debt or liability, which singly or in the aggre-
gate with previous debts or liabilities, shall ex-
ceed five per centum of the last regular valu-
alton of said city or town. Provided, however.
that the adoption of this article shall not be
construed as applying to any fund received in
trust by said city or town, nor to any loan for
the purpose of renewing existing loans, or for
war, or to temporary loans to be paid out of
money raised by taxation during the year in
which they are made.
The resolve submitting this amendment
passed the Senate 10 to 6, and the House 81
to l. There is little doubt that this en-
phatic vote Of their representatives will be
ratified by the people. Experience has
shown that five per cent. of the valuation of
any city or town is the extreme limit to
which municipal debts should be allowed to
rise. A greater burden so increases taxes as
to seriously embarrass legitimate enterprises
and impede the normal growth of communi-
ties.
The second proposed amendment forbids
electors to vote who have not paid legally
assessed tax for the two years preceding their
appearance at the polls. The justice of this
constitutional provision is plainly apparent.
Those who enjoy the protection Of the law,
should in strict justice be compelled to con-
tribute to the maintainance of the machinery
through which it is administered and exc
cuted. That however is not insisted upon;
but it is asked that the men who are to
choose the rulers of the State, the makers
and executors of our laws, the assessors of
our taxes, should do something toward pay
ing the expenses of maintaining the social
system from which they derive so much bene-
fit or else be debarred from the choice of ad-
ministrators of that SYSTEM. Certainly the men
who pay the bills should have the say as to
the disposal of the money. The tax imposed
is scarcely more than nominal, and the man
who cannot in the course of year
exercise enough frugality, thrift, and
industry to earn three dollars above his
actual living expenses is not well fitted to ex-
ercise the right of suffrage, and surely should
not have the power to vote away the money
of his industrious neighbors. A separate
box will be provided next Monday for ballots
upon the proposed amendments. The ballots
will be marked,
For the proposed amendment in relation to
Electors
For the proposed amendment in relation to
Municipal Indebtedness.
Those who desire to vote against either OF
these amendments, will cancel the obnoxious
proposition with ink or pencil. Those who
desire to vote for them, will deposit the bal
lots as printed.
SKIN this be?n The first six months of
Gov. Nicholls's administration in Louisiana
are said to show an expenditure of half
million of dollars over that of the correspond
ing period of Gov. Kellogg.