The San Francisco call., 1901-10-16
ATTACKS COUNTY
GOVERNMENT ACT
Direct Fight Shortly to
Reach the Supreme
Court.
Oakland Office San Francisco Call.

Ills Broadway, Oct. 10.
The politicians Of the State have their
eyes upon the move which is being made
in Alameda County to secure a Supreme
Court decision upon the validity of the
present county government act. The
question is shortly to be brought into that
court upon an appeal from the Superior
Court of this county from the decision in
wha1 is known as the court reporters
salary case" If District Attorney Aliens
contentious be upheld by the Supreme
Court the entire county government act
will be nullified, for he has attacked it
as defective in title, using what is said to
be analogous argument to that by which
the codes decision was given, declaring
the new codes unconstitutional.
Should the Supreme Court decide
against the county government act as it
has against the codes. thirty-two counties
classification of the act Of 1898, unless a
special session of the Legislature shall
be called before the elections of 1902 are
held.
Alameda County, under this condition of
affairs, will be thrown into the same class
with Los Angeles County Without a new
classification the incoming officers Of 1903
will find themselves able to appoint
host of deputies and increase the patron
age to the high mark of the Southern
California county. The Sheriff would be
assisted by nineteen deputies under pay.
The County Clerks roster would run to
seventeen assistants, and SO on along the
line. 1t was to avoid this very condition
that the last legislature reclaSsitied Ala
media County by changing the population
limits to classes and threw this county
into the third class.
But the old county government act
which would be operative provides that
counties of 100000 population should be in
the second class, and this puts Los An
geles and Alameda counties, under the
new census, on an equal footing.
The Legislature also made many other
changes in classification, leaving the del
egations from each of the large counties
demands of the interested county.
The court reporters case at issue in
wolves the question of the legality Of the
act wherein it provides a salary for court
District Attorney Allen County Auditor
Ewing refused to draw the salary war
rants, the District Attorney declaring
that not only was this provision Illegal,
but that the whole act itself was void.
The reporters mandamused Ewing, but
Judge Hall, sitting with the other Judges,
decided that the act, so far as it related
to the salary provision, was illegal in that
it was a special act of legislation.
The reporters found that in Los An
geles County the court had sustained the
act and had declared that so far as the
title was concerned, the salary provision
did not have to be embraced in it. This
decision was exactly contrary to the Ala
media County ruling, so to settle the law
the reporters here decided to appeal.
Briefs on appeal have been prepared and
will shortly be submitted to District At
torney Allen for his reply. Then they Will
be filed with the Supreme Court.
"If we lose our case in the Supreme
Court it will mean that the county gov
ernrnent act is unconstitutional" said j.
H w Riley, one OF the official court
porters. District Attorney Allen has at
tackled the act not only as regards our
salary provision, but by the title as we'll.
This Is along the lines OF the code de-
ciSion as I understand it."