The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-12-18

purpose contemplated by the act of March
56. the statute on which the ordinance is
by its terms based and from which alone,
therefore, il can draw its yigor.
2. A mart of the Indebtedness which it is
proposed to fund by the bonds was invalid
in its creation and is still invalid; and the
invalidity of this part would faint the
whole issue.
q part of the indebtedness which it is
proposed TO fund" by the bonds is not
existing Indebtedness of the city at all;
as To this part the issuing of the proposed
bonds would be an original creation of new
debt and that debt would be, all or nearly
all of it, in excess of the constitutional
limitations.
Permit me to state briefly the facts, and
the legal principles applicable TO them, on
which these three propositions rest.
T. The act OF March ~, on which the
ordinance is by its terms based, is entitled,
San act authorizing cities and towns to
construct internal improvements and to
issue bonds TO pay therefor, and declaring
an emergency. The phrase internal
improvements" as here used, is of course
controlled in it's meaning by the text of
the act. Section l authorizes any city to
construct or purchase water-works, to con-
struct system of sewerage. and to buy or
build gas works or electric light plants. It
thus relates to three special kinds of mu-
nicipal enterprise as to the mourning of
debt for which section q of article of the
constitution prescribes q special limit,
wider than that prescribed as to debt for
ordinary purposes; and the section grants
power as to nothing else than these three
Undertakings. Section is with equal
strictness confined TO the same subject
matter, requiring the corporate authorities
to specify and adopt by ordinance the plan
proposed for the contemplated water
tf.rl.f al
and to submit the same to the voters of the
city. Section 3 of the act prescribes certain
details as to the terms and execution of
municipal bonds, section requires tax
levy to meet the interest, and later, to
provide sinking fund for payment of the
principal, section prescribes the mechan-
zeal makeup of the bonds and the stat
utory matter to accompany them, and
section provides for their sale and regis
tration; and these four sections are gener-
al III their terms, section 3 beginning
Whenever city or town shall be author
lied to issue bonds,n and hence these sec
tons may have a bearing upon any mu-
nicipal bonds TO be issued, whether those
issued in pursuance of the provisions of
sections 1 and of the act, or otherwise.
But these last four sections contain no
grant of power to issue bonds, bnt simply
regulate the issue of those elsewhere arl-
thorizcd; and hence unless we can fInd au-
thority for our proposed issue of bonds in
sections l and of the act of March 70, We
cannot find it in that act at ALL Now
these bonds are proposed neither for the
construction or purchase OF water-works,
sewerage, nor light works, but for the
funding of existing debt incurred for quite
other purposes. Nor are thew brought
within the act of March a6 by the silly de-
vice of labelling the issue Seattle I'M
provement Bonds"
And the ordinance, referring solely to
the act of March 70 as its basis, can derive
support from no other act. In case where,
the statute under which bonds were pro-
fessedly issued being held void, it was
sought to sustain them by virtue of other
statutes, the supreme court of the United
States secuted such an idea, saying: "And
as the bonds recite that they were issued
under this act, and that the vote was taken
under ii, we cannot see that the power
purposed to be exercised under other and
very different circumstances can be in
voked to give validity to an act which is
void by the authority under which it
processes TO be acting" School Dist. vs.
Ins. Co., 103 u. s. 707.
2. So much of the road and fire funds
warrants proposed to be funded by the
bonds as have been issued since the time
when the city's net total debt reached
$4,000 are absolutely void as legal obliga-
tions, and cannot be funded till they are
ratified by the voters pursuant to express
statutory authority for such ratihcation
This fact has been studiously ignored
throughout the consideration of this bond
ing ordinance; yet it is too plain for dis
pute, to all who have looked into the
matter.
The limitation of our city's debt by the
old territorial charter was $4,000. The