Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-02
The Curative Legislation Sustained
by the Supreme Court
EFFECTS UF THIS DECISION.
Attorney korelands Views Upon the
Victory for the City.
OPINIONS OF THE OTHER OFFICIALS

lower court was sustained on every
point raised and the city has
now for the first time since 1S6Sa law under
which she can proceed with street improve
ments without fear of unconstitutionality
being claimed. The 100000 bond issue
is rendered useless by the decision on the
curative acts, and the taxpayers are relieved
of that burden.
News OF the decision reached the city at
noon yesterday and spread rapidly. At
City Hall congratulations were in order,
Controller Morrow and Major Moreland
being particularly sought out for this pleas
ant ceremony.
The City Attorney was hugely pleased
and took no pains to conceal his exultation.
He could not be induced to talk at length
on the matter yesterday.
Waiting for the Officiai Documents.
'I prefer to wait until the certified copies
of the courts decision arrives before talk
ing about it, - he said; ''but if the intelli-
gence thus far received is correct the
city wins everything she asked for.
/ really expected the decision earlier.
/ knew that several other cities of the Com
monwealth had previously appealed for
judgment on precisely the same grounds
that we did. for You know all cities in the
State were left in the same position with US
when the old acts were stricken down, and
they ali came in for redress under the cura-
tive act l believed the Supreme Court
Judges had considered the points in the
whole matter before our appeal was made,
and only held back on the other cases so
that when Pittsburgs came all could be
handed down at once. l don't know
whether this was done or not, but presume
il was
LAS to the operation of the decision, it
has been fully discussed and there is little
new that can be said. OF course
no necessity now exists for issuing
any of the s., ,0O0, 900 of bonds, authorized
5y general election in December. We can
proceed now with the collection of the as
essments made for improvements affected
" this decision. We need only collect
100000 of this money this year to pay the
bligations of the contractors. By March
We should and think will have collected
200, 600 and there should be no difficulty in
aying an extension of time of 60 DAYS
lrther on the remainder. Within that 60
ays we can collect nearly $780,
DO more. We can apply this
I'm and gain 60 or 80 days further in
,hich to collect the remainder, so that by
l.
5000, 900, representing all the claims the
contractors can enforce this year. All the
money collected on these Improvements
must be paid into the credit of the contractors
claims. At least one-half the affected
property owners have prepared themselves
for this decision, and having had plenty of
time will pay their money in at once. BY
the end of this year we will have sufficient
money to meet all claims due at the begin
ming of 1898. .
keatinz Wants More Improvements.
Select Councilman Heating wore one of |
the pleased expressions seen at City Hall |
during the afternoon.
"What the city should do now," said he, |
''snd what it would do if it could, would be |
to issue about SO, 100000 worth of bonds |
and make some improvements for the pres |
ent generation. This city has an insignif- |
cant debt compared with other cities Her |
assets would pay her liabilities tour to one |
Few cities can say half as much. Wecould |
float, say SO, 900, 900 in bonds, easily at from
to 80 per cent for a long term of years. |
There are few good investments of this sort |
for capital nowadays. Even this State will |
be at loss for the investment of her money |
in a few wears when her debt is paid off,
''My idea is to improve our streets, our |
parks, our water works and other things we |
need, so that we can en- Joy them. Don't |
spend all our money for future generations |
to enjoy. Take parks, for instance At the |
rate we are going, it will take nearly 100 |
years to make our parks the beautiful pleas
ure grounds that other cities have. If we /
would put all our improvements into |
them at once, we could have some enjoy
ment of the money spent while We live, and |
future generations who will have the same
enjoyment would help to pay for it. The
same argument could be applied TO streets
and other improvements We could have
everything we need and still not require
heavy tax on our people. The way we are
going now heavy taxes can't be avoided"
''What do you think the tax rate will be
this year, Mr.. Keating?"
That can't be told until the taxable
valuation is known. Unless. however, the
valuation reaches S240, ,000, 900 or more 1
don't see how the rate can be made less than
last year. Even with the money asked by
the departments many needed improve
ments will have to be put off until another
year.
Assistant City Attorney House and Mayor
Gourley were both in happy frame of
mind over the Court decision. The former
has been firm believer in the acts of 1887
and 1889, Notwithstanding the Knockout by
the high court, and he maintains that while
the new street act is perfect, it is but little
better n general than the old ones.
Il believe" he said, ''that if the Sd
preme Court had it to do over again, they
would not knock out the act of 1882"
Features of the Decision.
The points in the decision are covered in
the appeal of Mark Donley and Mary, his
wife, in right of said wife, and Joseph
Nicholas Miller, from the decree of the
Court of Common Pleas No. 3. of ALLIE
gheny county. The Supreme Court saws:
The hearing of this cause was advanced.
with three others involving similar Ques-
tions, for public reasons. and was
argued at the present term in the
Eastern district. The plaintiffs owned
a lot on South Twenty-eighth street
in the city of Pittsburg, which had
been assessed for street improvements nm |
der what is known as the remedial act of
MAY l6, 1891, z. L. H. 1t is claimed that this |
act is unconstitutional, and this is the only |
question in the case The street imnrove
ments in question were made under the an
thotity of the acts OF June a. 1887 1, 7 Seg |
and May l6. 1889, 2. L. 22S. Wv
The decision of this court in re W,o,,i,, |
street, 137, Pa. 494, and IN Pittsburpis nett, |
tion, l3S, Pa. 40l, held that the said actS or
1887 and 1883 were unconstitutional This |
lett the city OF Pittsburg without the power
to collect from the owners of abuttin% ,1ro,1 |
ertv the cost OF the street improyements
and in course of consttnctio,, |
1t was TO remedy this difficulty that the said
was argued that this act did NOT
apply because the Improvements in |
question were made under void acts of A. | .
sembiy, and without any authority what |
ever. If this had been made under CONNIE
tent authority or valid act OF Assemhly
tive legislation. The work having been done
under the void authority, and the pronertv ! ,