Show A GRAVE WRONG if the NEWS were opposed to the establishment of the copper works in this city if it were even indifferent it would see no occasion to lament the action of the city council in deciding to give a bonus of for the he purpose and in defiantly overriding the mayors veto ot the measure for we oh should feel that such action constituted as an effective a blow against the enterprise so eg could be dealt but for the reasons res ono that we do most heartily destie the securing of the works that we believe they will bo secured and that we hope every step toward obtaining them shall he be above suspicion and grounded in the sense and good will of the people we utter a note of warning against the course that appears to have been marked out for and to Is being heed head leasly followed by the municipal fath fathers erv it to is rarely that the illegal features of any ny enactment or proposed enactment are re pointed out with greater perspicuity terseness or force than was done by the mayor last night in the matter of the bonus for these works the authorities cited by his honor are exactly in point the logic presented is vigorous and incisive and the argument is unanswerable the unlawful character of the proceeding is made so eo I 1 lain n that anybody might understand 8 L what excuse therefore can there be for intelligent men man like those composing the city council refusing to see ee perhaps it would be wrong to say that they did nt or do not see no one would wish to offer such an insult to them but what shull be saiu to ignore the law as it Is to cast cial defiance lance into the teeth of the executive authority of the city is surely neither careful cegla legislation nor common courtesy would it not have been better tor for a time at least to let the matter rest with his refusal to concur Manifest manifestly Jy this was wa the duty duly of the hour yet not only was the former course taken but it was taken at once and with such indecent haste and impetuosity as it if it were feared the work engaged in might be topped by some other agency if any tame were permitted to elapse this conclusion is supplemented by the further fact that the warrant for the amount li wasas was as hastily drawn and then checks for each as speedily as could be donw done were issued on oa five different banks so that so an in junction would not lie what think yo ye of this impartial reader in this adgy day ot of law and legal observance tools look at af it as ag we may the whole proceeding ro wears a serious aspect ft it is as dishon dishonest vot to take money out of a treasury through h the operation of legal machinery machinery when the law itself to is set aside as it la Is to take it without authority under any other circumstances the he were willing to give the smelter company all that was asked and had substantially ly signified their willingness to do so BO a great many of them were willing that the city government should help out it if such assistance were he in consonance with law jaw and propriety the times are so dull and everything so listless in our midst that they or many of them were even willing to strain a point to secure the addition to our industrial pur purs suKe ulof and if there chere were an ambiguity la in the taw law controlling to give such proposed enterprise sethe the benefit of the doubt but it is questionable if a number outside this the city council corresponding with the membership ern hershl of that hat body would uphold the giving or doing of anything by the municipality when shown ahat such action involved ax an open flagrant and defiant disregard ot of principle and every safeguard by which we are surrounded the action of the he Coux council icil to sum it up in one word I 1 to anarchical to say aay that it la Is unprecedented might be right and it might not alnes the record made by lawmakers law makers as law break era Is a rather voluminous otle one but cosay to say that hat it to la disappointing that it Is ia humiliating that it is all but demoralizing moral izing lip is not overstating the matter in the lout least to force the issue and compass an illegal action by means of which those who were formerly with them are now as decidedly against them to is an action fraught with such grave concern to the perpetrators of it that those who chose them for guardians of the public weal are apprehensive of the consequences whether the objects of such apprehension realize the situation or not their action in any view of the case is la meu table and unjustifiable and to attempt to excuse it with the argument that popular approval sustains it is an insult to the law and a menace to per manent welfare la Is it less jew a violation of law because a certain element clamors for it would it be more illegal if the popular will did not approve of it who knows if the bars are thus to be let daw down ii but that at some future time tb the pr present set councilor council or one of its successors may decide to do and andrealla andreal really lj do an act no more unlawful than this and one that under those circumstances will fail to receive any favor at all how will vill present defenders to be able to act as all critics then expediency is a poor substitute for law and demagogy demagogy to is ever a public danger it is out of sudden enthusiasm either of favor or er hate that riots riota revolutions lynch ings and many of the atrocities grow that in mens cooler cooker moments they would prefer to leave to the jaws operation we repeat a grievous mistake has been made and either in its own consequences or those which will tollow follow a similar error there Js Is certainty that all will see the day sy that chat they will rue it |