San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-11-18
PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS.
BY OUR SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR.

BY OUR SPECIAL
The mayor says in his interview in the
Express that Judge Noonan has constant
ly thwarted and checkmated the city gov
eminent by clogging it with injunctiOns.
He talks as il he believed the city gov
eminent could commit no mistake and
was above all juhicial control.
This idea has been his stumbling block
at every step.
Opposition irritated him because Of his
idea that the city government was above
control and incapable of making mis-
take.
Judge NOonan certainly thought he
was right in granting the injunctions Or
he could not have granted them.
He may sometimes be mistaken as to
what is the law, but there is a supreme
court to correct his errors.
IfJudge Noonan mistakes the law. IL is
an honest mistake, he would not wllfully
twist and pervert the law from vindictive
personal or political feeling.
1t was within the power of the mayor to
have prosecuted an appeal in the inJunc-
ton suits whereof he complains, and thus
have put TO the test the correctness OF
Judge NOonan'S action.
The Mayor must learn the lesson that
all of us. from the governor down to the
of the law and walk in the highway the
law has laid out and marked by plain
landmarks.
Mayors enjoy no exemption from the
duty of respecting the laws of the state
City councils cannot set the laws at dc
fiance.
It is very wrong in Mayor Callaghan to
conceive that the city government Is
clean above the reach of the law, and 10
fall into passion upon its being checked
by the courts.
He would have been in a better plight
every way, had he acted upon Sir Robert
Wa poles motto mon niOvere qutlta,
never disturb things that are quiet.
His wrangle with the grand jury was
unnecessary, and will do him harm.
His efforts to shut HOeflling out of the
council was i'll advised and Unnecessary.
The council should have thrown out the
two illegal ballots, and seated Hoetlling.
His screed in Sundays Express against
Judge Noonan for granting tnjunctionS
against the city. was rash and ill-adviS-
ed.
No man can disregard policy and sound
judgment, with safety, much less with
IMMUNITY.
How on earth could any man make
fcaSancc, unless nc had examined his
books. The English system Of grand jury
is not suited to The United States.
Here the grand jury has to delve for
and unearth crimes that nave escaped de-
lection.
The American grand jury system has
worked quite well. as general thing, and
answered its purpose.
ilyn oil human institutions il NOT
perfect IL iScOm posed of men. and as
Hume said. men will be men forever"
and of course grand jurieS will sometimes
act from improper motives.
Petit iuricS and judges being men, also
sometimes act from improper motives.
There is no account in the reports and
the history OF Texas of any county or city
officer ever before having refused to suffer
a grand jury to examine his books in its
place of meeting.
This shows the system has worked
reasonably well, and with but little fric-
ton. from 1897 to 1891.
The people will never consent to abolish
the grand jury system because the alcalde
of San Antonio has fallen out with it.
II is waste of breath to belabor the
grand jury system. 1t does eXcellently
where the grand jurors are selected
hpltSblNs iuil y Siu'l ohSy
should be in all cases.
Where they are not so selected, the
Judge should dismiss them and cause
fresh one to be selected.
The manner of soliciting them in Texas
might be very materially improved by
change in the law.
Too much power is given to the jury
commissioners and they sometimes abuse
it very much.