The San Francisco call., 1898-03-25
WOULD BE
 4 BLOW TO
 OUR RIGHTS The Primary Election Law Has Been Knocked Out. Supreme Justices Say It Is Not Constitu-
 uOnal. Provisions That Set at Nauuht Most Sacred Laws of
 the Land.
DEFECTIVE IN ITS TITLE
Able Opinion Written bv Garoutte 'N Concurred in by His Fellow Jurors.

The primary election law, passed by the last Legislature, has been declared un- constitutional by the Justices of the Su- preme Court. According to the decision a grave mistake was made by the fram- CTS of the law by allowing the words and for other purposes to be inserted ln the title of the act, when, according to a long established law an act must contain but one subject in its title. The case Tn question comes originally from Iulare County, but the decision affects every citizen of the entire State. The Iulare County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution authorizing the ex- pendIture of sum of money for the erec- ton of election booths and the purchase or ballot boxes, etc, as pro ided for under the new election act.
 Charles 4. Spiers, a taxpayer of that county, filed a petition for an injunction to restrain the board from so doing, claiming that the law was unconstitu- uonal and the expenditure was unneces- sary. A demurrer was made, alleging the lnsuHclency of the petition, which was sustained by the Superior Court of IuIare From this finding of the court opIeIS appealed and he was successful, the Judgment of the lower court being reversed. The decision is as follows:
 This is an action to determine the constitu- the last session of the Legislature, and ap proved March 13, 1887. It is contended upon the
 
 that it's enforcement will be an expensive bur den upon the people; that under the guise of devised which by its eFpenslve and compli- cated procedure greatly Increases the tendency to place the political life Of the State in the hands of those who make politics a profes- sion; that the whole theory Of the law is wrong in regulating the political action of par ties, associations and individuals. and thereby @eest'oEins @ i that IreedoIn. or pohtlcaI ass9cla- 50 great; that the act as a whole is incapable If ed t-adtctorv provisions. Tbat if 6ss no anpIica- bIlity to small counties and sparsely settled districts, and that no demand Tor such law Is found aside from few of the larger cities of the State It is shown by the brief of MT F. J. Sullivan, representing the Non-Partisan party that the inevitable tendency of the operation Of the act will be to overwhelm and destroy all small political parties, and pre- vent the organization of new parties; that, iaasmuch as no party may be organized after a convention, and secure representation upon had been in force at the last Presidential cleo ton there could have been neither a Gold Dem Ccrauc party nor silver Repuphcah party in this State; that il has the greatest ten dency to discourage Independent parties and independent Notlns' ana thereby hulILes some Of the vital and most meritorlous provisions O.. The Australian ballot law All the claims objectionable character of the law may be true. We are satisfied that many Of them are true. But this court has no power to correct the evils in this law. IL is not our province to approve good legislation and condemn bad leg islation. The act stands upon the statute book the lawful expression of the will of the
 
 policy exercised in enacting it we cannot deal; By its passage the Legislature has attempted tO meet existing political conditions, and rem edy great evils found therein. It is not for the court to say whether failure or success will follow a result of its practical opera ton. Within it's domain the legislative power Is absolute. and the remedy for unwise legisla- ton is with the courts. but with the peo- pie In the present proceedings 1t Is our duty alone to pass upon the validity or this act, tested by the various provisions of the Constt- tuition of the State
 The act is entitled: tAn act providing for general primary elections within the State of California and to promote the purity thereof by regulating the conduct thereof. and to sup port the privileges of free suffrage thereat. by prohibiting certain ao<s and practices in ment thereof and for other purposes" pro- vision of the State constitution provides: Every act shall embrace but subject which shall be expressed in It's title; but, if any subject shall be embraced in act which shall not be expressed in its title, such shall be void only to much thereof shall not be expressed in its tite." (Par. 24 Art IF.)
 Let us test the title of this act in the cruci- ble furnished by the foregoing provision of the constitution. The Legislature. in framing this title were above all things candid. Upon it's very face the law-making power challenged the sound policy of this provision of the constitu- tion, and, avowedly desregarding it, declared that the purpose of the act the creation of a primary election law and "other pur- noses Under the cloak of ''other purposes could hide and thrive in the body of the act and thus the constitutional provision be set at naught In this State, when these words s'for other purposes,'' found in the title of