Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1906-03-08
REPRESENTATIVE BURCH
ANSWERS JUDGE KENNAE.
Says That Measure He Advocates il
Constitutional-A Plea For Good
Roads.

Editor Of LEDGER: In you issue o.
the 28th inst. | find a communica
tion addressed to me personally by nj
friend, General W. II. Kennan OF thii
city, raising the question Of whether
the Legislature has the power under
the Constitution to appropriate any
sum for the improvement of the high
ways, and referring me 20 sections 43
"A, 45 and 46 of Article -Four OF the
Constitution, under the head Of
"Limitation Of Legislative Power. y
Many laws enacted for a good purpose
have been held unconstitutional,
and 1t is well that this phase Of
question should be considered.
I did not deal with the legal argu
ments In my previous communication
because Of the space 1t would con
sumo. | believe after 8 study OF the
Constitution that the Legislature has
the power to appropriate money fol
the Improvement OF highways. In
this view / am supported by a mum.
Der of attorneys with whom | have
had the pleasure of discussing the
question. Let us examine the sec
tions to which / was referred.
Section 43 prescribes the order in
which the various appropriations
shall be made, establishing the pre-
cedence of certain appropriations. In
the seventh and last subdivision Of
that section We find these words;
"For the pay OF the General Assembly
and such other purposes not herein
prohibited as it may deem necessary
l call attention to the words, ''such
other purposes not herein prohib'
tied, p and draw this conslusion, that
unless there is some clause in the
Constitution that expressly prohibits
the State from making such appro-
priations, then it has the power, un-
der this general grant Of power, to
improve its highways. The very fact
that the words "not herein prohib-
ited," were used, makes 1t a general
grant Of power. And since the public
roads are public and not private pro-
perty, it logically follows that the
State has the right to use its own
money in improving what belongs to
IL.
Section "A merely prohibits the Gen.
eral Assembly from contracting debts
on behalf Of the State. The law that
I proposed does not contemplated the
contraction Of any debt on behalf
of the State. Therefore that section
cannot apply to the proposed meas
ure.
Section As provides thatthe General
Assembly shall not have power to
lend or pledge the credit Of the State.
The proposed measure does not con-
template that the State should pledge
or lend its credit. Therefore section
IS does not apply to the bill proposed.
Section 40 provides: "The General
Assembly shall have no power to make
any grant, or to authorize the Imaking
of any grant Of public money or thing
OF value to any Individual, association
OF individuals, municipal or other cor
poration whatsoever. The proposed
measure does not contemplate that
any money shall be granted to any
individual, association of individuals,
or other corporation. There
fore section 46 does not apply to the
measure. II 1t is argued
that some individuals would reap the
benefit of such an appropriation, ! re-
ply that the offer would be open to
public, and that II any set OF citizens
allow any other set Of citizens to get
the benefit, it would be through their
own default.
This is an elementary proposition Of
constitutional law. No money shall
be appropriated except for a public
purpose. The converse of the propos-
ition is true, with a light qualifica.
tion, to-wit; "The State may appro-
pirate public money for any public
purpose, unless prohibited by its Con-
stitution. The ownership of the
public roads being In the public, 1t
..sT. 81 4. r.