Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1895-06-29
ntrolled and managed by Daniel

board oil trustees has been organized
and acts it has terminated the pow
er of an existing board at its pleas
and conferred the same, AMI other,
or different pofers upon a new board
of trustees but if The press nj hoard
OF trustees has under the authority
of this act of 1882 the power to del
egate this management TO some one
else, they put it beyond the ability
OF the Legislature to make another
such change for the period of SO
years. / hold that no power except
the Legislature can do this.
This is the first objection to the
contract the second is, that it VIC
lates one of the provisions contained
in section OF the act Of 1882, and
in my Judgment this objection is
well founded. The contract provides
that the grantees under this contract
with the hoard, in addition to the
imp ovemcnts upon the public
grounds and the new bath houses,
shall also build hotel; tie sane
person who is TO build the hotel is
also given the management and the
control OF the property, and it there
By appears to NE that tue provisions
in the act that the trustees shall not
grant to the proprietor of any hotel
or any other person any special or
exclusive privileges in the use or en-
joyment of the said springs or pub
lie ground, is violated. 1t puts the
proprietor of this hotel in control OF
the springs and public ground, and
gives him possession of them and
that, it seems to me is certainly a
special aud exclusive privilege.
Again, it i. further Objectionable
in this respect The contract says,
that Cornelius for HAS and his
assigns covenant and agree with said
trustees of Berkeley Springs, that
they shall and will build new and
modern bath houses at an expendit-
ure of $4,000; one-half Of which
shall be expended within one year
from the date of the contract and
the remaining $4,000 within three
years from its date that the SAID
bath houses shall be arranged for
furnishing Russian and Turkish
baths, and all other of general use,
during the winter as we'll as summer.
All hot and cold baths shall be open
ed to the general public, and the
charge for them shall not exceed the
general rate Of Is and l2k cents all
other baths to be charged for at the
rate fixed by said Daniel Cornelius
and his assigns; and the general pub
lie shall have the same privileges in
the use Of the baths and waters as
heretofore.
This merely provides that they
shall have q general use in them, but
they may get the use Of them only
at very exorbtant prices. For GER
tain baths, it is true, they shall only
be charged limited sun of money !;
but for the rest there is no limit to
the prices which Mr.. Cornelius and
his assigns may fix. And, as he has
the possession and control, he may
thereby divert the waters from one
bath and use it in some other; and,
if the higher priced baths should
prove more profitable, it is not I'M
reasonable TO suppose that he would
do it.
Again, suppose Mr.. Cornelius(a and
| only use his name because he is the
party named in the papers) shall
build this large hotel and the supply
Of water is found not to be sufficient
for this hotel, all the other hotels,
and purposes to which it may be put,
is it not reasonable to suppose that
he would first give his boarders
ali the rights and privileges neces-
sary, even if some of the others did
not get their share. 1t might be
said that you could restrain him from
so doing by an injunction; but it
strikes me, that while the board of
trustees have very comprehensive
powers, as to the way in which they
control the property, they ought not
to put the property in this position
and if they can legally do so, then
Mr.. Cornelius is given the same
management and control of the prop
erty that they have, and an injunc-
ton would not reach his acts.
The only way this board of trus-
tees reserves TO itself any continuing
duty whatever is that they shall re-
ceive one per cent. of the net pro,
ceeds derived from the baths, but it
does not appear what the object WAS
in retaining that money. They
could not by any means whatever
use it upon the property without
permission from Mr.. Cornelius. He
would have absolute control over the
property, and it would be optional
with him whether or not he would
permit the money to be expended
upon the property.
Now it was argued at some length
that this contract on the part OF the
trustees was proper and laudable
act, designed to improve this prop
erty, and make it of more general
use to the public. | am not COM
planning of counsel, but they can
readily see that this is matter
which could not affect the judgment
of the court; but, as you are aware,
the court has to consider the law
only and the contract made in refer
ence to that law alone. These ar2u-
ments are very properly addressed to
the Legislature Of the State, which,
it is recognized, has absolute control
over the whole matter; but this
court has no authority whatever to
/ make or change the law. Any ac-
ton on the part of the board oil
trustees, however proper it might
appear to be for general rea-