Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/310

 296 FEDBBAL REPORTEE. �stitutioi^, and to give them effective operation under the constitution, accord- ing to the intention with which they are passed. It would be a palpable violation of judicial duty and propriety to seek in a statute a construction in conflict with the constitution, or with the object of its enactment; or to admit sueh a construction when the statute is fairly susceptible of another in accord with the constitution and the legislative intention." �Recurring again to the particular constitutional provision in ques, tion, it is clear that the framers of the Wisoonsin constitution im- posed upon the legislature the duty of restrieting the powers of munic- ipal organizations in the matters of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit. The determina- tion, however, of what were abuses, what restrictions were required in particular cases, and the exact mode in which those restrictions should be imposed, were (and perhaps wisely) left to legislative dis- cretion. That discretion was left untrammelled by the constitution, except that the legislature was enjoined to restrict the powers of municipalities " so as to prevent abuses in assessments and taxation, and in contracting debts." Whether a particular restriction would prevent such abuses to the fullest extent demanded by considerations of public policy, or by the spirit of the constitution, might often be- iome a very embarrassing question, especially to a judicial tribunal, ^.xcept in extraordinary cases like that of Foster v. Kenosha, where, "n the judgment of the state court, the disregard by the legisla- ture of its constitutional duty was so palpable and flagrant as to leave the court no alternative but to say that in the particular statute there involved the constitution had been violated. No such state of case is here presented. If the legislature, upon looking over the whole ground, reached the conclusion that, so far as municipal sub- scriptions in aid of the construction of this particular road were con- cerned, it was a sufficient restriction to permit a popular vote only upon a written proposition by the company, stating the amount, terms, and conditions of the subscription desired by it, and to author- ize the local authorities to make only such subscriptions as were thus previously submitted to and approved by the voters, I do not see upon what sound principle the judioiary could interfere, and declare that the legislative discretion had been abused. We must assume that the constitutional injunction to so restrict municipal powers as to prevent abuses in assessments, taxation, and contracting debts was in the mind of the legislature, and that, in its judgment, fairly exer- cised, the act of 1871 contained all the restrictions necessary in that case to prevent such abuses. The legislature may havo bsen mis- ��� �