Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-12-15
MOLlNE'S NUN ClPAL CODE
a queer Ordinance Pertaining to
Advertising.
us ely Attorney In Common xv,,,
hers Arrested For VIoia,Tg
1t The Cireun,star

iHE ARGUS of yesterday spoke of the
arrest OF four Moline business men. in.
Guiding City Attorney o .kleaf and Super
VISOR Smith, for violating it's CITY ordi-
nances relative to distributing calendars.
oiotters' etc., containing advertisements
Inc Dispatch describes the case which ia
somewhat interesting:
These warrants had been issued on the
complaint OF Officer Kearney, and. as
s'a.eu saturday, the two men appeared
before Magistrate Kerns, snd were
granted continuance ill the 22d, in or.
der TO give both parties an opportunity
TO prepare for trial. Shortly thereafter
10 make the ridiculous aft air more inter
estlng still, warrants We're sworn out nv
L. 3 . Neil, charging City Attorney j.
; Oakleaf and r. A Smith with like
offenses.
On being summoned by an officer Mr..
Oakleaf appeared before the magistrate
and was allowed to make his statement
without a formal trial Mr.. Oaklesf
stated that MIR. ONeiI, the complainant,
had come to his Office and requested his
assistant TO give him q calendar with his
! (Oakleais) business card thereon. at the
same time stating that he wanted to use
II as the basis in making a complaint
| sgainst Mr.. Oskleaf. The request was
refused, but on Mr.. .klesf learning of
| the request he ordered ore given to Mr..
| O'Neili. On hearing the statement of
the defendant, which was admitted by
the complainant to be true, the case was
| promptly dismissed.
On the complainant admitting that the
| charge against R. A. Smith was substan>
| uailY the same, the warrant was ordered
returned by the magistrate without ser
vice.
City Attorney 0 ,klesf regards the ar
rest Of Messrs. Carpenter and O'Neill
altogether unwarrsnted. and based upon
Il representation of the ordinance. He
regards little singular that policeman
should so interpret an ordinance without
consulting the city attorney on its mean
! ing.
There is an apparent defect in the or
| diEance. Its title ind Gates that it Is an
ordinance to regulate bill boards and bill
| posting. But its text totally forb ids the
distribution" of advertising matter with
out license. Ga beng interviewed re
gsrding the matter, City Attorney Oak
leaf stated that the ordinance was fully
as explicit as many state law, and sll
thPt is necessary is % give it an iater-
! probation that is reasonable and not in
col dict with the recognized rights of cit
| liens of the United states. The i=hibi
Ntion against distributing" advertising
matter lin the city" refers, Mr. Oaklesf
continued. TO the city streets and alleys
over which the city has undisputed con
troll. 1t does not refer to private resi~
dences, stores or business houses. Hence
the ordinance does not pretend to
do so ridiculous thing as to forbid
a man to go into another mans store and
! present his business card. Neither does
it forbid anyone. without q license, from
taking an srmful of bills and distributing
them in the business houses along any OF
our streets or avenues The city sttor-
ney thinks the magistrate should liz no
| case issue warrant for anyone without
| iuQuiriug into the evidence complainant
will give, and thus ascertaining if there is
a probable case.
If Mr.. Osklesf's iu Interpretation of the
ordinance is finally made, considerable of
the sting is 10 be taken out of the ordi,
nance; but it will still be unsatisfactory
| if a man who gets out nice cslendsr-ss
in the case OF Mr.. Carpenter or Mr..
| O'Neill-csnnot take Two or three in his
hands and hand them to friends whom he
may meet on the street. Mr.. Csrpen-
ter's offense was in having handed a CAL
endar to policeman in the alley between
Carpenter & Cos. Cffice and the police
station.
The object of the ordinance is to pre-
vent strewing the streets with dodgers
handed to psssersby and dropped by