St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-03-10

of appointment with the mayor and
county auditor, President Parker, of
the common council, is the official
who will act. At least this is the
decision of Attorney General Childs,
before whom the question was ar
gued at great length Friday after
noon.
The claim of President Brady, Of
the board of aldermen, was also
pressed, but the attorney general de-
cided that he was in the same posi-
tion as the president of the assembly,
and that neither of these two officials
was authorized by the Bell charter
to perform certain duties which the
Special Laws of 1875 impose upon
the president of the common council.
These duties, the attorney general
holds, are not affected by the Bell
charter, and, of course, still remain
where they were originally placed.
1t is conceded by all that this is
another signal victory for Assembly,
man Parker. Mr.. Parker himself,
as well as the mayor, hardly
EXPECTED THE DECISION,
and the city attorney, as well as the
Republican members of the assembly,
made light of the contention of Mr..
Parker.
If there were few candidates in the
field expecting that the Republicans
were to bestow the office, a perfect
legion of aspirants for the fat office
will now descend upon the mayor and
Mr. Parker, and descend rapidly, too,
for the law says the appointment must
be made the second Monday in March,
which Is tomorrow.
What makes this unexpected change
in affairs peculiarly interesting is the
fact that President Copeland, of the
assembly, was himself q candidate for
county assessor, and had he acted on
the board of appointment would have
voted for himself, and with the aid OF
County Auditor Sullivan's vote, would
have been elected.
But it's different now; as all the
other Republican candidates will doubt
less realize. 1t is scarcely worth while
to name over some OF these candidates
mentioned in an evening paper, as
they are all out of it, except to say that
the name of Anthony Yoerg, who 1t
was stated would be Mr.. Parker's
choice in case he acted instead of Mr..
Copeland, has not been considered by
Mr. Parker, nor has any other name.
Following is the full text of
GEN. CHILDS OPINION:
Hon. Robert A Smith, Mayor of the D..
City of st. Paul-Dear Sir: In your
communication of the 5th inst. you
call attention to certain provisions or
-fa into Of Cfn 10 la to
the question submitted to you, and re-
quest to be advised as to the proper
person to cooperate with the chair
man of the board of county commits
sioners and the county auditor in the
appointment of an assessor of Ram
Sey county.
The office of assessor of the said
county is created by Special Laws of
1875, chapter 80, section l. which fur
thermore creates a board for the ap-
pointment of an incumbent of said
office, composed of the chairman of
the board of county commissioners,
the county auditor and the president
of the common council. Notwith>
standing the manner Of appointment
as so provided, the Office is
CLEARLY A COUNTY
rather than a city office No other
construction is admissible i'm view of
both the title and the body of the said
act. The question submitted calls for
the provisions of the Bell charter
Especial Laws 1891, chapter g upon
the constitution of the said appointing
board.
careful examination of the sew
eral provisions of the Bell charter
discloses an intent on the part of the
Legislature to radically change the
composition of the common council OF
the said city. In place of a single
legislative body, provision is made for
two separate independent bodies, vest
ed with definite and distinctive power,
each possessed of a presiding officer
and authorized to act apart from the
other in the performance of legisla-
tive functions. Together, the two
bodies, named respectively the as
sembly and the board of aldermen,
constitute
THE COMMON COUNCIL.
They are authorized to meet con-
jointly for certain purposes and TO
prescribe rules for their government.
1t Is very clear to my mind that the
president of neither branch of the
common council is in any sense the
president of the common council with
in the meaning of the term as em-
ployed in chapter 80, Special Laws
1875 / am unable to find any pro-
vision in the Bell charter which iusti-
ties any other conclusion. On tbs