Section 85. The law is settled, that in the absence of special restrictive constitutional provisions, municipal corporations may be authorized to aid in the construction of railways, either by subscription to their capital stock or by donation, and the issue of negotiable bonds in payment of such subscription or donation.38

The donation made by a city to a railroad company is regarded by the highest authorities as a debt created for a corporate purpose. The public at large, the individual shareholder of the company and the citizens of the municipal corporation, all have an interest and are benefited by the construction of a railroad.

By its completion, the public have increased facilities for travel and transportation, the shareholders the prospect of profit in their investment, and the citizens of the corporation have afforded to them increased facilities for trade and commerce, enhanced value to property within their local divisions. Judge Dillon, although recognizing the decided weight of authority in favor of the doctrine as herein set out, makes the following comment: "The power conferred upon municipal and public corporations to issue commercial securities for such purposes is of comparatively recent origin, and it has been undeniably attended with very serious, and it is perhaps not too strong a statement to add, disastrous consequences.

36 III. Const., Art. 9, Sec. 12.

37 Law vs. People, 87 III., 385.

38 Goddin vs. Crump, 8 Leigh (Va.), 120; Norton vs. Dyersburg, 127 U. S., 139; Quincy, etc., Ry. Co. vs. Morris, 84 III., 410.

"One of these is the stimulus which the long credit commonly provided for effectually supplies to over-indebtedness. The bonds usually fix a time, twenty or thirty years distant, for payment of the principal. Those who vote the debt, and the councils or bodies which create it and issue the bonds, do so without much hesitation, as the burden is expected to fall principally on posterity."

Power to Contract. - The general rule is, that a municipal corporation, unless restricted by its charter, has implied power to make such contracts as are reasonably necessary for the purpose of carrying into effect the objects of its creation.39

Power to enact Ordinances. - The power is usually possessed by municipal corporations to enact and establish all needful ordinances, by-laws, rules, regulations, etc. This power is held to be incidental to the creation of a municipal corporation.

39 East St. Louis vs. East St. Louis Gas Light Co., 98 III., 415;

Gainesville vs. Caldwell, 81 Ga., 76.