Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1909-09-30
The Electric Light Question.

courage the question 1Or Cne DetIer iiShI-
ing of the town, especially with electric
current, for we are of the opinion that
this will be the most satisfactory light
from every standpoint that can be gotten.
We still adhere strongly to our original
position by stating that there is no neces-
sity whatever OF the unseemly haste in
forcing this matter through before the
Legislature meets, especially as prln-
cipal reason given is that materials are
cheaper now than what they will be six
months hence. That is an unwarranted
statement and it matters not from whence
it came, because prices for this kind of
machinery do not fluctuate very widely.
We think we would be derelict in our
duty if we did not give to the general
public the various sides of this question,
and while the CLARION may seem to have
but one side, yet the columns of this pa
per are open to give the ''other side,
and in this way every possible pitfall that
there might be can be avoided, or at least
be minimized to very great degree.
We reiterate the statement that the town
can issue its bonds at much more favor
able rate of interest than per cent.
The CLARION is prepared to substantiate
this when the occasion requires that it be
DONE Nowhere in the Eastern States,
where money rates are low, can there be
found single instance where town
with no indebtedness desires to issue as
small an amount of bonds as SIS, 900 that
they have to pay anything like per
cent rate A number of years ago Mid
dletown issued some water bonds at S
per cent but found within a very few
years afterward that they could obtain
more favorable rate and they called in
the bonds and reissued them at per
TN rate AID it is all foolshness to say
nat the town of Thurmont, with not
. gle bit of indebtedness and owning
outside of the taxable property OF the
! town from " hich it derives it's revenue,
a considerable amount of property, the
| title of which is in the corporation and is
free from any encunbrance whatsoever.
| When Mlddletown issued her per cent
bonds and even those at a 3 per cent rate,
her own people We're rather skeptical
about them and allowed outsiders to buy
the majority of the bonds in the first IN
stance and all of the bonds in the last in
stance when they We're reissued at per
cent. The same is true of Thurmont be-
cause, when the Town Hall bonds were
/ issued, Frederick City people thought
more of them than did our own home
folks, much to the regret of the people
of the town some years afterward. No.
gentlemen, there is not bit of question
of doubt about the proposition, that the
only course to be taken by the town au-
! thorities is one that will mean that the
town shall receive the very last dollar for
every bond that is issued, and that they
| shall be subject to bid for all or any
part of the same after the same has been
advertised, or that they shall be put up
at public auction.
Every municipal corporation derives its
power to act from the Legislature, and
it has very narrow compass within
which it can work. 1t can make no such
contracts as is proposed in this instance
in advance of legislative authority, and
it is well settled law with regards to
municipal contracts that municipal cor
poraton may make such contracts as its
charter expressly authorizes or as are
| tn ayarciSn NOW org p DrpgSIu
conferred or necessarily implied there
from or incidental to the corporate exist
ence. And again, officers of municipal
corporation can not create Obligations
binding on the corporation unless the
power to do so is either expressly grant
| ed in the charter of the corporation or
necessarily or nationally implied from the
lowers that are expressly granted or is
essential to the object for which the cor
poration was created.
Now it is asserted for this electric
lighting plant, that the receipts from
sources other than municipal lighting will
be sufficient to pay the interest on the
bonded indebtedness and provide for a
sinking fund as well, Independent of the
| light furnished free to the town itself.
| Now Just in this there is point in which
it is absolutely necessary to have legis-
lative action with reference to the issu
ance of the bonds by the town, and in
! that bond issue it will be necessary to
provide that the Burgess and Commits
sioners shall be authorized and empower
cred to levy tax annually upon the tax
bic property of said town sufficient to
nav the interest on the bond issue and to
provide for a sinking fund to pay and re-
deem said bonds at maturity.
Under the present charter we are I'M
able to levy more than thirty cents on the
hundred dollars. The town will be COM
PEELED, if it desires to make an advanta-
yeous sale of its bonds, to provide for the
payment of the interest on those bonds
by the levying of taxes and not from any
speculative and uncertain revenue which
Is to be derived from the sale of light,
heat or power. That feature alone Will
make our people skeptical with reference
to what their tax bill might be. 1t will
unquesti )nably be legal point with ref
erence to the sale of bonds because the
bonds will be lien upon all property of
the town and the person buying the bonds
will want the same guarantee with ref
erence to the payment of the coupons or
interest thereon, and, as the interest will