Potosi journal. (Potosi, Mo.) 1894-1929, 1901-08-14
The Next Step In Conspiracy.

Next year there will be submit
ted to the people of Missouri a
cons titutional amendment under
which, if adopted, the democratic
state administration will at once
propose the renewal of extension
of the school certificates of intsebt-
edness soon to fall due. The first
| Of these certificates viii be due and
payable in July in 1903. If, at
the next election, Its renewal and
indefinite extension is not authoriz-
ed by IN authorization in the form
of constitutional amendment the
administration, forced either to
take mp the certificate with the
cash, or to acknowledge that the
cash is not Oh hand, would find it.
self in a dilemma. If constitn-
tional amendment can be adopted
authorizing the renewal of this
certificate, and all the others to
fall due within the next few years,
the Bourbons will breathe easier.
The submission of this amend
ment to the state by the Bourbon
majority in the two houses of the
legislature last winter, is in itself
Il confession of the misappropria-
ton of the school moneys. The
entire proceedings were unconsti-
tutional, and particularly SO was
that part of the work involved in
the taking of money out Of the
school fund raised by current tax
alton and making it the basis of a
debt to be paid, principal and in
tefest, by the people. This was
plain violation of both the letter
and the spirit of the state constitu
tion, whatever the cancellation of
the bonds, and the substitution
therefor of certificates, may have
been. The original conversion
was private speculation, pure
and simple-a transaction never
authorized by the legislature, and
undertaken and accomplished by a
few men for their own gain. When
the law authorizing the consolitlat-
ed cancellation was passed the men
who passed it doubtless failed to
look beyond the occasion. They
failed to sec the abuse of the power
they had placed in the hands of
the men of the fund commission,
although it will he contcntled that
the law they passed nowhere auth
orizcd the exercise of such powers
as the fund commissioners have as
s,,med to exercise, and have cxer-
cised, under it.
1t is not for the purpose of es-
tablishing the validity of these
transactions that the Bourbons
have come before the state asking
Il constitutional amendment. They
| were aware, at the time they were
taking this unconstitutional course,
that the constitution was being
violated. We can not doubt this
without doing violence TO their in
telligcnce, for the language of the
consultation is so plain as to the
creation of new state debts, and
the issue of certificates of indebted
ness against moneys raised by cur
rent taxation was so clearly the
creation of Il new state debt that
none of the men responsibsible for
its creation will, we take it, deny the
fact. They care no more for their
constitutional obligations now than
they did then, and if these certii-
Gates had even as much as four
years yet to run the last assembly
would net have been called upon to
submit to the people an amend
ment to the constitution establish
ing their validity. For really, it
is not validity but perpetuity that
is sought. If the amendment is
adopted, the certificates can be re-
newed and perpetuated indefinitely
If it fails of adoption, the first of
the certificates will have to be met
within a year after the election.
How are the Bourbons to meet
Iit9
They do not anticipate defeat of
the amendment. No matter what
the state may do they expect,
through the exercise of the police
power and the power of control of
election machinery in st. Louis, to
carry the proposed amendment.
What their success will mean of
future spoiliation of the people and
the schools it is useless to conjec-
ture. But we well may ask, see
ing what they have done without
constitutional warrant, and in di-
rect violation Of the plain letter and
, spirit of the instrument, what may
we expect of them when the shield Of
; constitutional right and power is
interposed in their behalf, giving
validity and sanction to such ex-
preparations as that of 1883 and
1884, not only concealing the
wrong done already, but making
lit possible for future and greater
wrongs to be perpetrated without
fear of exposure.
i And herein is one of the most
dangerous powers of a machine,
fortified by police and election laws
for the subversion Of the peoples
will. The right Of a majority to
rule in all things, is, or should he,