El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-12-10
.rticles constituted a complete an

| Ul:tu anu Lib ia NiDdui z VI IuuCPCuOCu
school districts Upto the time th'
act of A pril 3, 1897, was passe no sucl
thing "a an in iep enden5 school dis
trict with a board Of trustees, had eve
heen mentioned in Il e law. Art. 37S
of the revised statutes of 1879 reads ii
follows: ''All cities aod towns which
have heretofore uLder the act Ct MAY
2, 1875, Or any subsequent law. assum
ed control of the pub ic free schools
within the r limits and have continued
to exerci-e the same unit
the present time. or may hereafter
determine so to do by a msjority
vote of the property tax payers il
said city or town, voting at an election
held for tt at purpose. may have ex-
elusive control of the pub ic free
schools within their limits"
| L. is here proper to emphas re The
fact that this ticie (37SD is now in
existence ard is mum bered 1904 in the
Revised Statutes of 1S95-Art. 1905 ct
seq being identicsi.ly with Art. 37S2a-
and the other articles above mention
ed, com prising the act OF April B, 1879
This court, in It's opinion, de :Iares that
the two methods of procedure for the
org anizabion of an independent school
dis trict, for which we cOnte I'd, are
wholly in conflict with each other and
irrecOncilable, and one cannot te OBJ
oc' W. ''ioAiOoo NOA"9 'AOA> nv w VI -
other. If this is true, We ask this hon.
Orable court how, giving the legi3 la
ture of 1895 credit for the Intelligence
enough to have any purp at all, it
could in the revision of 1895, have put
the two sta tutes side by side and dire Ct
ly re-enacted them?
In Chap. Is. Tit. SO, Of the Revised
Statutes of 1895, it is directly declared
in Art. 1904, that a city o. town may
hnrnnnn jnft0nop6nnt cohnel r cf
upon a maj r'rity vote of the tax payers
in said city or town voting at an elect
iO1 held f r. tnat purpose, a ID in Art.
1901 of the same chap e" it is decla ed
that an election may be held to decide
by a majority the votes cast by the
qualified electors of such city or town
s7a l acquire the exclusive control of
any OF all of the public fres schools or
Institutions Of learning. within it's limits
and whe Their the same shall be under
control of board of trustees, as here
irafter men toned, CT of the council
or board of aldermen of such city or
town.
Now, we claim that these two
statu les are in 20 way inconsistent, but
that they are perfectly harmoo ious.
Suppose the Cit= If Ell Paso had nev-r
yet become an independentschool dis
irict, aud suppose the question of
had never be- presented to
the people, and suppose that the city of
El Paso des rsd to ave simply the
question passed upon a TO whether or
uot it should become an Independent
school district. This single ques-
ton as to whethsr or not the city
should become an Independent school
district, could OILY be submitted to the
property tax payers under the pro
vi.innS of A,.t ll01 IF ho v.SiN Of
1895, which. as we have shown, is the
same as the old art Gle 1881 of the re-
vision of 1879: This single question
could not be voted upon under the act
of April 3, 1879, which now exists as
Art. 4006. ct seq, of the revision of
1895. Art. 1905 absolutely demands
t. e presenta ion of double quest on
Under it the qualified voters OF a city
could rot pass upon tie SINCE question
as to whe her or not Ell Paso should be-
come an inde pendent school district,
but they would be required to pass
upon the double question as to wheth-
err or not the city should become al in
depe dent school district and whe' her
or rot the public schools should be
under the control Of a board of trustees.
In this connecticn let Us aaaiyzs the
act of April 3, 1879, shich has caused
so much trouble il this case. What is
its subject matter? Its subject matter
Ought. under our cOnsti tut on, to be
stated in its caption. The act appears
as chapter 81 of the session acs of
1879, page 76. It's caption reads as fol-
lows;
Gan act to further regulate and rem
der more efficient the main enance and
managem eot of the public free schools
and institutions of learning in cities
and towns of this state.'
The caption says nothing whatever
about the creation of Independent
school DISTRICTS: and refers in no way
whatever to any matter excepting that
of the further regulation and rendering
mere effic:ent the maintenance and
management Of the pub ic free schools,
and by an inspection of the act it will
be seen that nothing is really said in it
about the maintenance of the pu bile
free schools. Public free schools can
only b maintained by taxation, ard
in the whole chapter under
consideration, (Which this court
DECLARES c, sss, rsPeas by Implication
1879, and the other articles of the re-
vision of 1879, which are directly de-
pendent upon it, not ore word is said
about the matter of taxation. It ap-
pears to us tina, this act (Chap. 81, of
the ssssi IN acts of 1879 was pissed
solely TO hr;ag about condition of
things which rever existed before, that
is, to provi Re for tn" creator of boards
of trustees, in whom the management
and control of public free schools in in
dependent school districts organized
under it might be vested. All of the
confusion in this case grows out of
the fact that in Sec. ofCnap. 81 of the
ses ion acts of 1879, authority Is given
to organize an Independent school
d strict, " it'll board of trustees the
double question to which we have al
lu6 ed being submitted upon vote of
qualified electors. We doubt very
much the authority of the legislature
to pass such law. The CIR, at on of
an in 1epen 'ent hool district neces-
sarly implies and carries with it the
exercise of dangerous taxing power,
to which we have heretofore referre1.
aud we doubt seriously the power of
the legislature under the provisions Of
Sec. 3, OF Art. 6, of the sitution
Of 1876. to AUTHORIZE suoh an election.
The constitution declares that In all
cleo ions to determine, in incorporated