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159 DECISION UPON MUNICIPAL BONDS. 1 59 some slight degree of influence upon the mind of even the most scrupulous magistrate that holds the scales of justice. But that the highest court in the land has consciously yielded a hair's breadth to other considerations than such as have been addressed in the usual manner at the bar logically to their understandings, is a proposition on its face too absurd to be refuted. As we look back over the record, we can plainly see that the firm moral fibre displayed in the opinions upon bond cases has been of incalculable value to the whole country. Whatever hardship may have resulted from individual decisions, the sum total of the court's labors in this department stands as an enduring monument, for which our people can never be too profoundly grateful. With these observations premised, let us briefly examine the opinion of the court in a decision rendered at the last term, with a view to ascertain whether there be not just ground for surprise at the line of reasoning there adopted. The case referred to is Merrill v. Monticello, decided March 2, 1891, and reported in 138 U. S. 673. The facts are substantially as follows: — Plaintiff, a citizen of Massachusetts, bought in open market one hundred and forty-three funding bonds of the town of Monti- cello, Indiana, of $100 each, dated May 20, 1878, payable to bearer ten years from date, with seven per cent, interest per annum, principal and interest payable in New York. The bond recited that it was one of a series of $21,000, authorized by the town by an ordinance passed by the Board of Trustees, May 13, 1878, for the purpose of funding the indebtedness of the town. Coupon numbered two not being paid on presentation, plaintiff, availing himself of the terms of the bond, elected to declare the principal sum due, and brought suit. The town, May 1, 1869, had issued $20,000 worth of ten per cent, school-bonds, payable in ten years. This amount repre- sented the only debt of the town, and the bonds in suit were issued to take up the school-bonds. The ordinance, passed after a petition had been presented to the Board of Trustees by the owners of taxable property in the town, was in the following words: — "That said town issue bonds in the sum of twenty-one thousand dol- lars, in denominations of one hundred dollars, bearing interest at the rate of seven per centum per annum, payable in gold, to provide the means with which to pay the indebtedness of said town. And be it further