Section 24. Nothing contained in this Constitution shall be so construed as to deprive the General Assembly of power to authorize the city of Quincy to create any indebtedness for railroad or municipal purposes for which the people of said city shall have voted and to which they shall have given, by such vote, their assent, prior to the thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and sixty-nine: Provided, that no such indebtedness, so created, shall, in any part thereof be paid by the State, or from any State revenue tax or fund, but the same shall be paid, if at all, by the said city of Quincy alone, and by taxes to be levied upon the taxable property thereof; and provided, further¡ that the General Assembly shall have no power in the premises, that it could not exercise under the present constitution of this State.

Under the constitution of 1848, the General Assembly had the power to authorize the corporate authorities of a city to subscribe to the capital stock of a railroad company, without a vote of the people. On August 7, 1869, under a city ordinance, the people of the city of Quincy voted in favor of authorizing the corporate authorities of the city to make a subscription to the capital stock of a railroad company. No statute had been passed by the General Assembly empowering the city to hold stock in a railroad company, or authorizing a vote of the people of the city on such a question. The making of the subscription, therefore, was deferred until enabling legislation of this character could be enacted. On December 13, 1869, the date referred to in the section under discussion, the constitutional convention met. This convention inserted a provision in the new constitution prohibiting municipalities from subscribing to the capital stock of any railroad or private corporation. This provision did not, however, apply to subscriptions authorized, under existing laws, by a vote of the people, prior to the adoption of the constitution. (See discussion, separate section 2). "The effect of this provision of the constitution would clearly have defeated the proposed Quincy subscription, as the vote then had was not under an existing law. The convention, with the view, no doubt, of leaving the proposed Quincy subscription unaffected by this clause of the constitution, adopted section 24 of the schedule." At the first session of the General Assembly after the adoption of the constitution, an act was passed authorizing the city to proceed with the subscription voted for on August 7, 1869. The Supreme Court held that this act was validly enacted, pursuant to the provisions of the section under consideration, saying: "We are, therefore, of opinion, that while section 24 of the schedule did not, in the least, legalize or sanction what had been done by the voters of the city, its obvious intent and effect were to leave the matter and the power of the legislature over it unaffected by the constitution of 1870; in other words, to leave the vote and the power of the legislature to confer the right upon the city to take stock, precisely as they would have been under the constitution of 1848."26

Section 25. In case this Constitution, and the articles and sections submitted separately, be adopted, the existing Constitution

25 Q. M. & P. Ry. Co. v Morris, 84 Ill. 410 (1877).

26 Q. M. & P. Ry. Co. v Morris, 84 Ill. 410 (1877); compare veto message, Senate Journal, 1871, p. 377; Quincy v Cooke, 107 U. S. 549 (1882).

shall cease in all its provisions, and in case this Constitution be adopted, and anyone or more of the articles or sections submitted separately be defeated, the provisions of the existing constitution, if any, on the same subject shall remain in force.

Section 26. The provisions of this constitution required to be executed prior to the adoption or rejection thereof shall take effect and be in force immediately.

1 The Constitution of 1870 contains five separate sections. Four of these separate sections were submitted and adopted at the same time as the complete constitution. The separate section relating to convict labor was adopted as an amendment to the constitution in 1886. Under the terms of section 12 of the schedule the separate section relating to minority representation, if adopted, was to be substituted for sections 7 and 8 of article 4.

While the original separate sections are not designated by numbers it has been deemed necessary for the purposes of this index, to number them. In this index the separate section relating to the Illinois Central railroad is designated as separate section 1; the separate section relating to minority representation is considered separate section 2; that relating to municipal subscriptions to railroads or private corporations is designated separate section 3; that relating to the canal as separate section 4; and that relating to convict labor as separate section 5.

In the text of the Constitution of 1870, as it appears in this volume, the separate section relating to minority representation, having been adopted, appears as sections 7 and 8 of article 4, and in this index all references concerning minority representation are made to sections 7 and 8 of article 4. But, since the section relating to minority representation, in the original document, appears as the second separate section, it was thought best, in dealing with the separate sections, to permit that section to be considered as separate section 2 and to designate the following separate section as separate section 3.

INDEX.