The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1888-12-12

O0CtlOu U vi aFIlCl6 ~, DolQS SuDSCSQ- |
TALLY the last section of the act, pro-
vices that the various articles and Sec
tlons OF the act commencing with ar
ticle "are hereby made applicable to
all incorporated cities now organized
in this Territory, and shall be construed
to be cumulative and supplemental
to the charters of said cities" But
the sections under consideration are
not mentioned. The legislative habit
IN this act. when going from a sub
ject, foreign to this inquiry, to the
subject of incorporated cities already
existing, of expressing that by refer
ring to them as ''cities now existing
in this Territory" is fairly well estab-
lished. Section Is has not this Ian
guage. Again, when we come to sec
ton 1, of article 6, entitled, "Oficers
their powers and duties" there is a re-
enactment OF the principle contained in
sections 16, II, Is and 10 of article 1, and
this section is one that is made eX-
pressly applicable by the last section of
the act to cities already existing, and at
the close of this section is this important
proviso: Nor shall this act in any
manner interfere with the existing
qualifications of the electors or officers,
or with the manner of selecting the of.
fcers." Ogden City by it's present
charter provides that its oouncilmen
and aldermen shall be
SELECTED BY THE CITY AT LARGE.
Here is an express declaration in the
act itself that it is not intended to
change the manner of selecting officers
in cities already existing, and this was
no doubt added to this section in view
of the fact that the section itself was
made applicable to cities already exist
ing. If this is true, then most GER
tainly it could not have been intended
by the Legislature that section IS
should apply, because they are sub =
stantially the same. Again, article l
down to section l6 is wholly of a general
nature. 1t does not in any manner re-
late to city government. They are
none of them such provisions as would
be proper in a city charter; but, as be-
fore stated, with section 16 begins the
subject of municipal government. The
last section of the act before referred to
goes back over this entire enactment
relating to city government and
especially points out what parts
thereof shall apply to cities already in
corporated and what parts thereof shall
be construed to be cumulative and
supplemental to the charters of said
cities. In all of the provisions of the
act before those entering upon the
subject of city government they pro-
vided by the language of the sections
themselves as to what corporations
they should apply; but they intended
by this last section to point out such
articles and such sections relating to
city government as did apply. Section
Is is one that applies to city govern
ment and regulates city affairs, but is
not mentioned in this section. 1t is a
we'll understood rule OF the construc
ton of statutes that the express men
ton of one thing excludes its opposite.
Again, the
MOST MATERIAL DIFFERENCE
between this act and the charters of
the cities before existing in this
Territory, is the principle contained in
sections Is, II, IS and 10 of article l.
The Legislature was careful to provide
that no incorporated city should be-
come reincorporated under the act
without vote of its inhabitants. 1t
would be strange indeed, if they had
provided that the inhabitants might
vote upon the shadow while they as
sumed to provide the substance for
them. There is still another test
which to my mind is conclusive of
what the Legislature intended. No
casual reader of this act, when he reads
in section of article l, the provision
that when the common council of
CITY cali an election to determine the
question as to whether it shall be re-
incorporated under this act or not,
c,iu V,nfiOo 0f tho nIooc 70
which the city will belong if reincor-
ment that it was supposed by
the Legislature that the class to
which the city belonged was
one of the things that the electors
should know; because it might deter
mine in their minds the question as to
whether they would reincorporate or
not 1t goes up on the theory that if they
reincorporated, their condition and the
government would have to depend
Somewhat upon the question as to
which class they belonged; and yet, If
the construction which is commended for
by the city in this case is correct, then
there is not one provision of this act,
from first to last, which recognizes any
difference in classes but what already
applies to every city in this Territory.
Not one single reference can be found
in tbs act to the subject of the classic
cation of cities or the difference in their
management but what already applies
if the contention of the city is correct.
IT Is PAIN TO Me
and it must be to every casual reader of
this act that the question upon the re-
incorporation, as to which class the city
would belong, was one of substance. L
am clearly of the opinion that it was
never intended by the Legislature that
sections 16, II, Is and 10 should apply to
cities already incorporated until they
took the necessary steps under section
6 to reincorporate.
In the argument some stress was laid
upon the fact that the Common Coun-
Gil of the city had already taken the
steps provided for in section IA to have
the class of the city determined, as
though it were in the province of the
council itself to say whether these sec
tions should apply or not. The Ian
guage of section IA absolutely Classics
the cities. They stand classified by
the Legislature itself for all the pur-
poses to which this act refers to them,
but for no other, and it depends in no
wise upon what the Common Council