The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-27
The Fifty Million Am endmrnt.

The Fifty Million Am endmrnt,
y. The State Constitution in Article. VII.
u makes minute provision for the regula-
3 ton Of the States, power to contract.
Z indebtedness. Its second section pro-
q vides that debts not to exceed 81 ,0o0 600
may be incurred ito, meet casual def
4 cts or failures in revenues Section
n grants authority to contract debts
ito repel invasion, suppress insurrec-
ton, or defend the State in war The
fourth section Ii in part as follows:
Except the debts specified in Sections ? and 8
! Of this aHicie. no depB shall be hereafter con-
4 sracted by or behalf OF this State, unless such
debt shall be authorized by a law, for some single
work or object 70 be distinctly specified therein;
and such law shall impose and provide for the col
iectioo OF direct annual TO pay. and suticlent
70 pay the Interest on such debt as falls due. and
Y also TO pAy and discharge the principal OF such
4 dsbA within eighteen years from tho time OF tho
contracting thereof. No such law shall take effect
until II shall at general election. have been sub
z ssitsed 10 the people, and have received ma
5orty Of al the votes cast for and against 1t at such
election. No such law shall be submitted.
10 be voted on within three months after Its passage
or a any general election when any other law.
d or any Bill. or any amendment to the Constitution
!; shall be submitted to be voted for or against"
The intent of the trainers OF the Con-
stitution, Endorsed by the people when
they adopted it, is set forth plainly in
this section. 1t was deemed unwise to
empower the Legislature alone to in
crease the States indebtedness except
in time Of great emergency, and it was
written in the fundamental law that no
statute authorizing the contracting of q
= dett should become effective until it
had been Endorsed at the polls by the
u voters. So important was this held to
4 BE- that the provision was inserted that
no law authorizing the contracting Of
q debt should be submitted to the people
In. Z. year when other measures we're
\ placed before them for their action.
y Thus, in 1908 the law Chapter lat, Laws
Of 1909 authorizing the State to con-
tract . debt of SOL, 00o, 900 for the "im-
provement of the Erie Canal, the Os-
wego Canal and the Champlan Canal"
a. was submitted to the people, and no
N other questions were put before them
The object of this was. plainly, that the
voters attention might be directed
Il solely toward the one question OF the
3advisability OF mourning a debt for the
k5bject described, and not distracted by
kkher and perhaps more technical ques-
lions involved in amendments to the Con-
q titution. 1t is wise provision and pro-
q sS,ition, with the principle Of which no
one can disagree.
It Is apparently too wise prohibi-
tion to suit the wishes of ALL For years
agitation has been continued for State
add In highway Improvement. This agi-
tstion. holding out alluring promises
& TO the taxpayers Of fine roads through
out the rural districts of the State, built
1t low cost to the benefited taxpayers,
resulted in the adoption by the Legisla-
ture elected in 1902. and by the Legisla-
ture elected in 1904, of the following
proposed amendment to the Constitu-
ton Of the State, designed to repeal, for
4 the benefit of the highway Improvement
/ cause, the closing sentence Of Section of
Article VII. of that Instrument:
by law for the improvement OF highways. Such
s highways shall be determined under general laws.
which shall also provide for the equitable appor-
q tSoiment thereof among the counties. The ag-
\ efesate Of the debts authorized by this section
n shall not at any time exceed the sum OF SO.
~ 10000. Tho payment of the annual interest on
such debt aud the creation of sinking fund OF at
least per centum per annum to discharge the
riff hall b.
laws, whose force and effect shall not be dimin
ished during the existence OF any debt created
y Hereunder The Legislature may by general
4 laws. require the county town or both to pay to
The sinking fund the proportionate par, of the
{ cost Of any such highway within the boundaries
4 OF such county town. and the propor,iona,e
pan Of the Interest thereon, but no county shall
q any time for any highway be required to pay
4 more than thirty nve -hundredths OF the cost
& OF such highway. and no town more than nfteen
hundrrdths. None Of the provisions Of the fourth
ssctsn OF this article shall apply to debts for the
Improvement OF highways hereby authorized"
.;;lis proposed amendment to the Con-
sttution, which excerpts highway
q debt Of $50, 0oo, 900 from the operation Of
the safeguards thrown around all other
debts, Ia to be submitted to the people
4 for their action at the general election
Nov. 7, with six other proposed amend
ments, making seven propositions on
which the electors must vote "Yes" or
NO. On the official ballot the ques-
ton to be answered will appear thus;
\ shall the proposed amendment to Article VII
: Of the Constitution. relating TO Improvement OF
n Niehways, be approved"
In that form the voters must answer
Q question involving the creation of a
debt half as great as that proposed
q, q. :i@pE9yemspts Of canals. and