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546
and for unworthy purposes; and in this way much of the
city debt, and also a large proportion of the annual expenses
of the City Government have been brought about. Cases of
individual corruption were indicated to the Committee, but
they did not feel themselves at liberty under the order of the
Convention, to investigate them, because itwould have involved
more time than was deemed necessary to bestow, in establish-
ing by official testimony that which is so currently reported,
and we think, with just foundation, believed.
Economy in government is at all times a commendable vir-
tue; at the present it rises to a point of importance never before
felt by our people. It is an essential necessity to save us
from pecuniary suffering, if not from hopeless bankruptcy.
But in the midst of this startling condition of things, the sad
experience comes home to us that economy in the use of public
money, is a virtue seldom cultivated, and still more rarely
practiced.
The hands of those controlling city- affairs, judging from
past records, know no restraint, and seem lost to the virtue
of economy. Where the public treasury is open to the cupidity
of the unscrupulous, and not guarded by moral integrity
there is little hope for the tax payer.
The Mayor and City Council, "by ordinance approved Sep-
tember 25th, 1865, provided for the appointment of Commis-
sioners, who were authorized to adopt plans, and proceed to
the erection of the new City Hall; and" the same ordinance
directs the Commissioners of Finance to issue five hundred
thousand dollars of city bonds, and dispose of them at mar-
ket rates, and apply the proceeds to this purpose.
The Eleventh Section of this Ordinance required that it
should not go into effect until authority was obtained from
the General Assembly of Maryland to issue these bonds. In
1866 the Legislature gave their sanction to the issue of six
hundred thousand dollars, and therefore and to that extent
the authority of the Mayor and City Council is undoubted,
and had the cost of the building in all its parts and furnish-"
ings, when completely finished, been limited to the amount
realized from the sale of the bonds authorized to be sold, their
legal rights could not have been doubted. But the plan
adopted will far exceed the amount authorized by the Ordi-
nance or by the approving act of the Legislature of 1866,
chapter 1.
The architect's estimated cost is eight hundred thousand
dollars, if his plans are adhered to, and proper economy
practiced. Such a hope, however, is, we think, a vain de-
lusion, and if the work progresses at all in these expensive
times of building, but little less than a million and a half
of dollars may confidently be expected as the final cost.
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