The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-03-22

N0W 4OEk Is among the clues which
own the ferries, though at present it
leases them out. Thus the concept Of
a municipality is scarcely government
a at all, except incidentally for the
enforcement of its ordinances, but it is,
IN truth, a great business agency to
supply it's people with the prime neces
stiles Of a crowded population, light,
weter, sanitation, clean and well paved
streets, and protection against fire.
Indeed n of the most fruitful
causes of inequality Of condition and
the creation of a few enormously
wealthy men at the expense of the gen
eral public, has been the great profits
made by private ownership of the pub
lie franchises of furnishing light, water
and transportation to large bodies Of
men incorporated into cities and towns.
Judge Dillon cites other countries in
which lights and water are furnished,
either altogether, or, in a majority Of
cases, by the municipalities.
THE general government of the age
in which we live is towards the owner
ship and operation Of these franchises
by the people of towns and cities for
themselves through the agency of their
municipal corporations, as one Of the
recognized and chief purposes of town
and city charters"
There can be no doubt that the power
TO light the streets and public places OF
a city is one of It's implied and inherent
powers, as being necessary to properly
protect the lives and property of it's
inhabitants and as a check upon i'm
morality. This is fort IDLY set forth by
Jud ge Dillon in his work on Municipal
Corporations, as follows:
SIN a most important particular,
however, Rome suffers by comparison
with modern cities. It's public places
were hot lighted. ALI business closed
with the day light. The streets at
night were dangerous. Property was
insecure. No attempt at public illumi-
nation was made. The idea does not
seem to have occurred to them. Per
sons who ventured abroad on dark
nights were dimly lighted by lanterns
and torches. No more forcible illus
tration of the necessity and advantages
of lighting a city can be given than the
pictures drawn by Lanciani and Ma
caulay, of the state Of a great city
buried in the darkness of night; and
they show how clearly the power to
provide for this is essentially and pecW
LiGTly one pertaining to municipal rule
and regulation. Nor are these studies
and the facts that they reveal without
practical value to the jUrist. They
demonstrate that a large and dense
collection of human beings occupying
a limited area have needs peculiar to
themselves, which create the necessity
for municipal or local government and
regulation, and this in it's turn the ne
cessity for corporate organization. The
body thus organized, as it has duties go
it acquires rights peculiar to itself as
distinguished from the Nation or State
at large" Dillon, supra (4th Ed } sec
ton ga.
Upon this paragraph the Supreme
Court of Indiana in Charlottesville We.
Braden, $50 Ind. at p. 1877 IA R A
1868 says: "While Judge billions re
marks have Of course special reference
to great cities, the difference in that re
spect between the greater and minor
municipal corporations is a difference
in degree and not in kind. Wherever
men herd together in villages, towns
or cities will be found more or less of
the lawless or vicious; and crime and
vice are plants which flourish best in
the darkness. So far as lighting the
streets, alleys and public places Of a
municipal corporation is concerned in
dependently of any statutory power
the municipal authorities have inherent
power to provide for lighting them. II
so, unless their discretion is controlled
by some express statutory restriction
they may in their discretion provide
that form OF light which is best suited
to the wants and financial condition OF
the corporation"
1T is we'll settled that the dir cretion
of municipal corporations within the
sphere of their powers is not subject to
Judicial control, except in cases where
fraud is shown, or where the power OF
discretion is being grossly abused tc
the oppression of the citizen (citir e
Valparaiso We. Gardner, 81 Ind. 1 Ii
Am, & Eng. Enc. 1O4U. We can see
no good reason why they may not also,
without statutory authority, provide
and maintain the necessary plant tc
generate and supply the electricity
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