The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-04-18

Ine Ddte VI "hlCh thc SchSuS 10
Taken Must, for All Purposes, Be
the Only Fixed Date for Determin-
ing the Population, Although the
Enumeration May Not Be Made on
That Date-Announcemen of the
Fact Is Subject to Many Contin-
gencies.
Following is the opinion of the STU
perior court handed down by Judge
James Beaver Tuesday, at Pittsburg,
in the case of District Attorney w. r.
Lewis against the county of LaCka-
wanna:
The facts Of this case are agreed upon There
Is no dispute as to the law. The only question
is as to the application of the law to the facts
or, to bc more exact, as to whether the exist.
ercc of fact or the announcement Of its exist
cncc shall govern in the application OF the law
to the plaintiffs rights.
Briefly summarized, the facts are that plaintiff
was elected district attorney for the county Of
lnckawanna. Nov. q. 1000, entered upon the
discharge os his duties Jan. :, 1901. and became
entitled TO certain cmolnincnlS oi his Office be.
tween the aHcr date and the twelfth day OF
January, 1901 when this suit was brought. II
| the acts OF assembly of April . 1868, =. l.. 24o,
| and April 1s 1866. r. b. loI. regulating the
fees o, the district attorney in fackawanna
county. shall prevail. there was due him at
the date of the suit $40
Under the census of isH0 The population o,
Iackawinna county was iia.0Ss. and under the
| census Of 1900. its population was loS.sal. II
the plaintiffs remuneration is the salary fixed
by the fourteenth section OF the act Of March 81,
u IA ,ri. S,,tr md lnlt nor
| ann,nn. there would be diminution in said re.
| muneration as compared with the fees which
| lie would otherwise receive.
WHAT TtGE ACT SAYS
Ii is provided in section 10 OF the act Of con.
srcss approved March 3. 1899, "tlat the en,,rner.
alton OF the population required by this act
| shall commence the first day OF June, 1900,
| and the first day oi .,Iinc Of the year in which
| each succeeding enumeration shall be made and
| be taken as of that date" The twenty. fifth
| tion Of the same act provides: "That the direc-
| tor OF the census is hereby authorized :"
| to print. publish and distribute from time to
| time bulletins and reports OF the preliminary
| and other results of the various Investigations
required by this act" By section 80 of the
| same act the director OF the census is authorized,
upon the request Of the governor OF any state
| or territory the CHIEF officer of any munici.
pal government. to furnish certain information
| therein prescribed. and, by the thirty.frst Sec
tion, he is authorized to provide the census
office with a seal which shall be affixed to all
| certificates and attcstations that may be required
| from the census office.
| The announcement of the population Of Lacka.
| wanna county as being in excess of 100000
| first made on the nineteenth day Of November,
! 1900. in press bulletin from the census bureau
| in the city OF Washington.
| Article $, section 13 of the constitution Of
| Pennsylvania, provides that no law shall cX-
| tend the term Of any public officer or increase
| or diminish his salary or cmo!unentS after his
election appointment The question pre-
| scnted is whether the plaintiff is entitled to the
| crnolumcnts of his office under the laws Of 1865
| and 1866 SUPRA whether he is confined to the
| salary OF $1,000 prescribed for the district at
| torney under the act OF 1876 supra, in counties
which shall have less than o50.0O0 and
| 100000 inhabitants.
In Llizcrne county vs.. Glcnnon. 100 Pa. JGi,
| it is said: I'm I.,zcrnc county VS.. Griffith, ]
| Kulp 201, this court said: in the absence OF
| express legislative declaration of the TACT or of
any other method provided by the legislature for
| a'ccrtaining it, the last preceding decennial
CELSIUS is to he rcsorcd to the best evidence
| Of the population ol a county in case OF classi.
! fcaiicn OF counties by population
| THE OFFICIAL GUIDE.
| Sin the light Of existing lcgislation. have
| II" doubt hut for the purposes OF classification
| under the various salary acts each county must
| remain in the class in which the last census
| found il, until ii IL transferred 10 another class
by n sutgccucnt census. The United States de.
| Cennial ccpsus IS The only official determination
| OF population tia. have and the incon-
yenience and injustice that would necessarily
arise from accepting any unofficial guide to the
| classification Of counties for salary purposes
! cannot well be ovcr.estimated."
| In view OF the law classifying counties the
| purposes O! fixing salaries Of their officials and
of the Interpretation put thereon by the Supreme
| court in the above quoted, when does a
| county pass from one class to another, and
| what determines its transfer? Is IL the fact OF
| the existence of its population, as asccrtained
| by the dccennal census, or Of the public an.
| nouncemenr OF such fact? The act Of congress
| providing for the census enacts that the enumcr.
| alton shall not only he made, but shall be taken,
| by which we understand, is to be determined
| or held that is, that the county remains in the
| class in which the last census found il until it
| is transferred 10 another class by n subsequent
| census. The is the enumeration OF the
| population, not the announcement Of the result.
This must necessarily be so from variety OF
| considerations
The date as Of which the census is taken, must,
for all purposes, be the only fixed date for de-
| termning the population, although the cnunera.
| tion may not be made on that date. So I'M.
portant is the question that congress has said
| that the ,latc shall be fixed az OF June Of the
wear in which the ccIsus is taken, although the
enumeration may not he completed for days
, thereafter, and although readily he
| imagined in which recount might be desirable
and necessary ami the announcement of the re.
| suit delayed tor months; but whenever taken
! or however asCertanod the fact shall be deter.
mined as of June /, And why? Because. il it
were not so, there would be endless confusion
and uncertainty and no uniformity.
SHOULD BE UNIFORM.
There arc pcrhaps,siy or more counties in Penn.
sylyinia having population less than 100000 and
| exceeding 10000, although all OF them do not
pass from the one class to the other under the
present census. IL is important, from every con.
sidcration, that there should be uniformity in
| regard to the salaries OF the officers Of these
| counties. II, however, the contention of the
plaintiff prevails, the salaries OF the officials OF q
portions OF these counties might be regulated
by the provisions Of the act Of 1876 and the
remainder OF The acts governing the emolu-
mcnts OF their officers passed prior thereto,
| The announcement OF the fact Is subject IA
many contingencies, recount might be nee.
essary The person charged with the computl-
ton o! the enumeration from the various dis
trcts OF any given county might be temporarily
incapacitated in the discharge OF that duty. The
county in question might be accidentally omit
ted from the announcement. either In making
mp the list in the census Office or in the trans.
mission TO the public press. Any number Of
contingencies will readily suggest themselves
which might necessarily delay the announce
ment
| The contention Of the plaintiff is that, al
though the population Of Lackawannl county