The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-09-19

alone, but is also for the benefit of DOS.
terity, and, therefore, postarity ought 10
help to pay 1t. This reasoning will NOT
bear examination. Each generation has
Its own demands upon its purse. 1t should
not be called upon to pay for the cast-off
garments OF its ancestors. N
The appliances and structures which
our ancestors provided for water, light,
streets, parks, cemeteries, for putting out
fires, for police, for locomotion, for educa.
ton, and for the thousand other necessi.
ties Of city life, would not be well suited
to the tastes, habits, and wants Of our
day. This generation must have steam
fire engines and water works, and It's
taxpayers do not want TO be called upon
to pay for the cisterns, the fire buckets,
and the pumps Of thirty years ago.
Municipal borrowing Is the parent Of
waste, profligacy and corruption. Money
that comes easily goes easily. In this ca
reer Of reckless extravaganza, cities build
and buy what they do not need, and nav
forwhat they get lar more than It Is worth.
/ adopt the words Of the valuable re.
port. Of the Pennsylvania Commits.
sion appointed to devise a plan
for the government of cities. To
sum 1t up, it too often hap!
pens that "the men who authorize the
contracts are substantially the men who
profess to perform them. The men who
fix the prices are substantially the men
who receive the pay for performing the
labor, and the men who issue the bond are
the men who receive the money!"
The magnitudeand the growth OF this
evil are shown by statistics with which the
public is familiar. lido not Choose 10 de-.
tain you BY repeating them in detail.
a few weeks ago the New York Tribune
called attention to an excellent article on
this subject in the Princeton ReuietC, BY
Mr.. Robert T. Porter, In which tits shown
that local debts have, since the war, in.
creased out OF all proportion to the in.
crease OF property and population. Mr..
Porter shows that in one hundred and
thirty cities the debt increased from so2I. :
S2l 900 in 1886, 70 S644,37s, 66S in ls76.
The percentage OF increase Is about 200
per cent in ten years, while the property
OF these cities increased but rs per cant.
and their population only 8S per cent.
The total local Indebtedness Of ali Of me
States, emitting the Territories. Il "a est;,
mated in the article referred 10. az the
close Of 1878, was 81 ,05l, 100, ll2. In many
instances II is shown that the annual
amount Of interest paid by cities on their
debts Is almost equal to the total annual
expenses for carrying on their local gov
erntnents. The volume OF the local in.
debtedness of the country already exceeds
one.hal the great war debt OF the Nation,
and the interest upon them, from the
high rates usually paid, will soon equal
the total interest upon the National debt,
Tho urgent question that's now pressing
for consideration Is, how to deal these
large and increasing local debts, The
best answer It seems to me Ia simply,
ready at hand, and sufficient, Do not
have any local debts, Let Il be embodied
IN the constitutions and laws Of every
State, that local authorities shall create no
debts; that they shall make no appropria.
tons OF money until 1t Is collected and on
hand that all appropriations shall be ior
specific objects, and that as to existing
debts suitable provisions shall be made
Tor their extinguishment. 49,
To pay of the old debs-to create no
new debts-will be difficult and embar.
rassing. Valuable reforms always are
difficult, and thorough work often Is EN-.
barrassing. II We would be rid OF The
peril Of approaching bankruptcy and re,
pndiation which now threaten 50 many
towns and cities, there must be q halt "a
this dangerous downward march. II tht
remedies ! have suggested are too radical
let others be proposed and acted on, ant
that promptly. ~
The policy Of preventing the creation
1ol local debts BY positive Constitu
aonal prohibition II fully sustained
BY the experience OF the State
| with respect TO debts. Constitutions h
many OF the old, and in all Of the new
States have been adopted within the las
thirty or forty years, and almost all o
them contain provisions denying 10 Stat
legislatures the authority to create ideb
except In case offwar, instruction, o
other extraordinary emergency. d UndeI
the operation Of these prohibitory pro
visions, the debts existing at the time q
their adoption have been greatly reduced
isandthe only States now embarrassed B