93 Wis. 640 | Wis. | 1896
The following opinion was filed June 19, 1896:
True, in Whiting v. S. & F. du L. R. Co. 25 Wis. 167, two of the three members of this court, as then constituted, held that an act authorizing a county to issue its orders in aid of the construction of a railroad therein, and to levy a tax to pay such orders, without becoming a stockholder in the company, was invalid, on the ground that such orders and tax were for a private purpose. But that case was expressly overruled, and the same act of the legislature was held valid, by the supreme court of the United States, on the ground that such railroad was a public highway, and hence the purpose of such county orders and county taxes in aid of
Counsel cite State ex rel. Board of Education v. Haben, 22 Wis. 660, where it was held that “ money raised in a city, by taxation, for the purpose of erecting a high-school building, cannot be diverted by an act of the legislature, without the assent of the city or its inhabitants, to the purchase of a ■site for a normal school in said city.” That decision does not tend to invalidate the act in question, but rather tends to support it. This is apparent from two extracts from the ■opinion of Dixon, C. J., in that case, where he said: “ To say that the legislature can, without the assent of the proper municipal authorities or of the inhabitants, take the money of the city of Oshkosh, and appropriate it to the establishment of a state normal school, is to say that it can take the money of any municipal corporation, and apply it to any general state purpose. . . . The advantages incidentally accruing to the citizens of Oshkosh from the establishment of a state normal school at that place, though sufficient, with the -consent of the legislature, to justify the citizens themselves, or the proper municipal officers, in levying a tax to aid in the purchase of a site or the erection of buildings, do not •change the nature of the question here presented.” See Gordon v. Cornes, 47 N. Y. 608. In Curtis's Adm'r v. Whipple, 24 Wis. 350, the act to empower the town to raise money by taxation for the benefit of “ Jefferson Liberal Institute,”
In County of Livingston v. Darlington, 101 U. S. 407, an act of the legislature of Illinois establishing a state reform-school, and authorizing municipal corporations to donate money to secure the location of the same within their limits, was sustained and held valid,— there being no settled or uniform decision to the contrary by the supreme court of' that state. In Indiana, legislation authorizing counties to-make donations for the purpose of securing the location of' an agricultural college within their jurisdiction was held' valid; and it was there .further held that an obligation by the county for such purpose was “solely a county purpose,, local in its nature, and properly assessed and collected as-are taxes for other county purposes. Marks v. Trustees of Purdue University, 37 Ind. 155; S. C. 56 Ind. 288. So it has been held in Massachusetts that the legislature has power to pass an act authorizing a town to raise money for the establishment of an agricultural college therein. Merrick v. Amherst, 12 Allen, 500. See, also, State v. Nelson Co. 1 N. Dak. 88; Cooley, Const. Lim. 230, 231.
In the case at bar it must be conceded that the establishment and building of the “‘Wisconsin Home for Feeble-Minded” was and is a public purpose. It must also be conceded that there are peculiar and special benefits which will naturally spring from such location. This is manifest from the fact that numerous such municipalities, by a tender of such donations, entered into competition for such location. The right of convenient visitation by friends of the unfortunate inmates is of itself a valuable right. Without fur
By the Oourt.— The order of the circuit court is reversed, and the cause is remanded with direction to sustain the demurrer, and for further proceedings according to law.
A motion for a rehearing was denied September 22,1896.