San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-05-20
PERTINENT PARAGRAPHS.
BY OUR SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR.

BY OUR SPECIAL CONTRIBUTOR
The mayor says in his interview In the
Express that Judge Noonan has constant
ly Ihwarted and checkmated the city gov-
eminent by clogging 1t with inJunctions.
He talks as if he believed the city gov
eminent could commit no mistake and
was above all Judicial 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 q 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.
fudge Noonan mistakes the law, IL is
an honest mistake, he would not wllfully
twist and pervert the law from yindicitive
personal or political feeling.
1t was within the power of the mayor to
have prosecuted an appeal in the inJunc-
tion suits whereof he complains, and thus
have put TO the test the correctness OF
Judge N0onan'S action.
The Mayor must learn the lesson that
ali VI US, hum IN S'NCi hOl N'"h w WI
raGgedeSt tramp, must bow to the majesty
of the law and walk in the highway the
law has laid out and marked by plain
landmarks.
Mayors enjoy nc exemption from the
duty of respecting the laws of the state.
City councils cannot set the laws at dc
fiance.
1t is very wrong in Mayor Callaghan to
conceive that the city government Is
clean above the reach of he law, and TO
fall into a passion upon its being checked
by the courts.
He would have been in a better plight
every way, had he acted upon Sir Robert
WaIpole'S motto mon niOvere Quilta,
never disturb things that are quiet.
His wrangle with the grand jury was
unnecessary. and will do him harm.
His efforts to Shut HOefling out of the
council was ll-advised and Unnecessary
The council should have thrown out the
two Illegal ballots, and seated Hoet1ling.
His screed in Sundays Express against
Judge NoOnan for granting injunctionS
against the city, was rash and ill-adviS-
cd.
No man can disregard policy and sound
judgment. with safety, much less with
immunity.
how on etTbu COuih any MAN mdhB
an oath charging q city official with nal.
fraSanco, unless he 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 a general thing, and
answered its purpose.
Like all human institutions. it is not
perfect. IL iScOmpOsed of men. and as
Hume said. "men will be men forever"
and of course grand iuricS will sometimes
act from improper motives.
Petit iuries 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 over 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 il.
1t is a waste of breath to belabOr the
grand jury system. 1t does eXcellently
where the grand jurors are selected
honestly, fairly and impartially-as they
should be in all cases.
Where they are not so selected, the
Judge should dismiss them and cause a
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.