The Bellefontaine Republican. [volume] (Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio) 1855-1905, 1902-07-25

The City Council Undertakes
a New Work.
Notice That No Further PrOSecu-
tisn will Be Made.
Where Was the Necessity For
Adopting Any Such Res
olution2

The City Council at its meeting,
Tuesday evening, adopted . supplement
tary report, of Mr.. Doty, recommend
ing that NO suits be brought TO recover
any mUoey illegally drawn from the
Treasury, So
DIR. Blair was not preseut- Dicken-
son and Roger voted no. Barton, Cos
tin, Doty, Rsnney, and Purcell voted
yea. =, -
The reason given for this action Is
given In this paragraph of MIR. Doty' s
report:
SIT IL, / believe, the desire OF this
City Council that no sucn suits be filed,
IS Il would be o waste of the money OF
Taxpayers TO institute any such litiga-
tlon and would result In harvest for the
attorney who was chosen TO bring the
different suits"
This Is worse than the action taken.
A test case could be brought without
costing the city $50. The facts have
already been reported by an investiga-
ting committee. The City Solicitor Is
able to take care OF such = case, with
out any cost 10 the city for attorney
fess The only question would be one
Of Law, and this could be determined OF
by the court So this bugsboo about q
''hsrvest" for the lawyers, Is only .
scsrecrow.
But Why should the Council act at all?
We cannot see any good reason for It.
II they had let the matter rest with
out endorsing Mr.. Doty's report. the
result would have been the same. IL
they had brought no prosecution. no.
body would have been prosecuted and
thsre would have been no .'waste of
money OF the taxpayers" and no char
vest" for attorneys. Surely then, las
these sre the reasons they give for not
bringing prosecutionsl the same end
would have been attained by doing
nothing.
By acting, however, they haye set .
precedent that may work much evil in
the future. They have virtually said
that when money is taken from the
Treasury, Illegally, ir Is not cause
for action, IL the same thing has been
done by others; and that while the
money of the taxpayers has been wasted
by paying it out Illegally, no money
should be wasted In trying to get IL
back This is Q new kind of moral
code; and it would be very hard for Mr..
Doty TO tell where he found It. 1t il q
notification to officers, in the future,
TO help themselves 30 well that there
will be no money In the Treasury TO
prosecute them! What . precedent
this is for an Official body to set.
Nobody, who has taken money from
the Treasury would have been injured,
II this report had not been adopted, for
the Council need not have prosecuted
any one, II they had not seen it But
this action OF the Council Is . virtual
bill OF acquital 80 far rs they are con-
cerned.
No officer Of the city can now bring
suit against any Of those who have taken
money illegally from the Treasury, the
action Of the Council stopping any pro-
ceeding against them by the Mayor or
Solicitor.
| The action of this Council will no,
however, bind the council that follows
IL, nor any future Council. Nor will
it prevent any one who feels that he ha:
wroogfully, Obtained money from the
Treasury, from returning it voluntarily
The Council only speaks for itself
not for the officials concerned, not fol
future Councils, not for the people.