The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1875-03-25

Cloud into two school districts. A
careful examination of its provisions
shows it to be even more objectiona-
able than was at first supposed. It
not only takes of one-third Of the
area Of the city, leaving the remain
ing two-third to meet a bonded in
debtedness of SIS, 900 incurred by the
entire district in the construction of
the Union School building-a mani
fest injustice-but, from the blunder-
ing and ignorant manner in which it
is drawn, leaves the new independ-
ent district in q state Of inextricable
confusion. In the first place, it is in
definite in describing the boundaries,
which, in section one, are said to be
certain streets and avenues, accord
ing to the map Of said city as record
ed in the Office of Register of Deeds
in and for the county Of Stearns,"
when, in fact, there Is no map of this
city recorded in the Office Of the Reg
lister of Deeds, while there are on
record there nine different plats of
lots included within the incorporate
limits Of the city Of St. Cloud. But
this is of trihing Importance when
compared with the provisions of Sec
ton three, relating to the holding Of
elections. That part of the act to
which this section refers may be found
on page seventy-nine Of the General
Laws of 1873. Section IS, the first
under the title, states the number of
inhabitants which any city, town, vii
lage or township must have in order
to be organized into an independent
school district. Section 96 provides
that I'm order to such organization
written notices shall be posted in
three of the most public places in the
contemplated district, signed by at
least six resident freeholders of the
same" requesting the qualified elect
ors to meet and vote on the organiza-
ton of such a district. Section 81
provides that "the electors assembled
at said time and place shall proceed
to appoint a Chairman, assistant
Chairman and Clerk, who shall be
jud ges of said election" and gives the
form of the ballots to be used. Sec
ton SO, which has the most direct
bearing upon the case in point, reads
as follows
SEC. SO. In case a majority of votes are
cast for said law, the electors of said dis
trict shall assemble at the place aforesaid,
within twenty days thereafter, of which at
least ten days previous notice shall be Civ
en- by said Chairman and Clerk in the man
ner aforesaid, and shall then and there
choose by ballot six directors of the public
schools of said district, two of whom shall
serve for one year, two for two years, and
two for three years; the time that each
shall serve to be designated on the ballot,
and annually thereafter, on the first Satur-
day in October, there shall be chosen in
the same manner two directors, each of
whom shall serve for three years and until
their successors are elected and qualified.
The persons so elected shall within five
days after their election file in the Office of
the Clerk of said district their several oaths
as required by law.
The difficulty will be apparent at a
glance. As no notices were posted,
no meeting held, and therefore no
chairman and Clerk" appointed by
"the electors assembled" it is impos-
sibls to see who is to give the neces-
sary notices of the annual election, as
required by this section of the Gener-
al Law, how any notice can be given,
or how any legal election can be held
or where held. "At least ten days
previous notice" to be given by the
"Chairman and Clerk" of a previous
meeting is absolutely essential to the
holding of an election, and under the
existing circumstances such notices
cannot be given, and as a necessary
consequence no election can be held.
In securing the passage of this act
MIR. Gilman has violated not only the
plain provisions of the general law Of
the State butt spirit as we'll. The law
supposes the people to have been con-
| suited, to have voted upon the matter,
and to have given majority express
sion in favor of the proposed course
Of action. But our Representative
disclaims anything of tho kind. He
arrogated to himself the right to ig-
more the wishes Of those whose votes
he had 50 persistently solicited only
a few months before. No petitions
were presented asking the change, and
| no intimation was given to those af-
fected by it that any change was to be
made. Thepassageo of the bill was a sur
prise to all, save perhaps a few who
were in the secret. Had provision
been made for submitting the matter
to vote of the qualified electors Of
the district the grounds for complaint
void have been very largely removed.
But this was not done. In every
particular, Mr.. Gilman ignored the
wishes and interests of a large major
ity of the people affected as entirely
as if they were bis personal chattels.
For the discord that has been created
he alone is responsible, and this dis.
cord is the only return St. Cloud has
received for the many dazzling
promises made last fall when he was
begging votes. No legislator ever
made more complete or more lam
entable failure in serving his con.
stituents, or. left a record in which
what was commendable occupied SC
small part.