The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1885-01-10
TO The CITIZENS OF ALEX.
ANDRIA.
ALEXANDRIA, La,
Jan. 8. 1885.

IKE eapiidtioh w my PieSe"'
term of Office as Mayor of Alexan-
aria being near at hand, and in
view of the divided opinions enter
tanned by many well meaning citi-
zens in regard to the legal formali-
ties pursued by the city authorities
in. the conduct of the late mnnici-
pal election, I deem it proper to
express my views, both as a public
official and as lawyer, in refer
ence to the late election and to that
ordered to be held on the goth inst.
for Mayor.
The City Charter is the only Or
Sanic law by which onr municipal
authorities can he gnided. That it
is a stupid and ambiguous piece of
Legislative nonsense, those who
have read it will readily admit
The section relating to our local
election was construed by me as set
forth in the election proclamation
in the same sense in which all pre-
eeding Mayors had construed it,
and in which the citizens had &C
quiesced for sixteen years. This
accepted construction has been that
the City Councilmen should be cho-
sen by the voters in the respective
wards to represent said wards, and
the form prescribed for the election
of Mayor, Comptroller and Treasu-
rer was that these latter officials
should be elected by ga majority Of
the votes of the whole city" This
section, however, will undoubtedly
admit of another construction, viz {:
that all the elective officers should
be chosen by the majority vote of
the mltolc city.
I could not have consistently
placed this latter construction upon
the law, fov the reason that the cit
liens and officials of Alexandria in
the past sixteen years had never so
construed it, and for the further
reasons that the Civil Code directs
that the wording of a law should be
understood in its most usual signifi-
cation without so much regard to
the niceties of grammar rules as to
the general and popular use Of
words; and further, that the most
effectual way of discovering the
true meaning Of a law, when its ex-
pressions are dubious, is by consid-
ering tbs reason and spirit of it.
The general and popular form OF
municipal government is where the
Boards of Aldermen are chosen
from different sections or wards
and by the voters of the respec-
tive wards.
These reasons induced me to
place the same construction upon
this section of our charter as had
been given to it in former years.
Concerning that part of the section
relating to the election of Mayor,
no one who reads the Charter will
doubt that the successful candidate
must receive a Dgority Of all the
votes. Under no other conditions
can legal commission Issue. AT
the recent election no candidate 70,
Mayor received a majority of the
votes cast as the law required, hence
no selection was made. AS to the
remedy for this condition, the City
Charter is silent.
} A State statute provides that
where there is tie vote, the cleo
ton must be referred back to the
people. Though there was no tx
vote in the late election for Mayor
the result was the same as if there
had been tie, viz: no choice b,
the voters as required by law. The
result showed that 1873 votes were
given ,for Mr.. Crawley, and l6:
votes against him. Under these
circumstances the City Counci
convened in special session, has di
rected that the election be referred