The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1902-02-01

sembly OF the State OF Colorado, in
!, Special Session Assembled:
n It was with feeling Of great regret
md reluctance that was compelled to
call the Legislature together at this
dime for the purpose Of enacting spe-
ciai legislation. 1t was not through any
sense Of fear but what the subject mat
tes for legislation would be capably
Gklsemciently administered at your
hands, but because Of the fact that
know many, II not all Of you, have
been compelled to make great sacrifices
In order to be present at this session,
and for the further reason that extra
ordinary sessions of the Legislature
Y are never popular with the people, no
matter 81 what cnusea called. For
Rthese d9Sns deplore the situation in
n2Ve are now placed, all Of which
IN brought about by combina-
circumstances against which
.,,..1J lzhinistrati0n has persistently en-
pied to enforce the provisions Of
Wthe' revenue law without the necessity
Of an extra session. IT
have not called this assembly to-
gether until after having exhausted all
practical and reasonable resources at
my command, and not before having
ascertained that 1t would be impossible
for the Supreme Court to act in the
knatter until 1t would be 30 late In the
4 eason that 1t would be an added hard
hip upon the members Of the Legisla-
lure to attend, therefore had no ex-
.pedient left save in the calling of the
Legislature together to enact such
Flaws as will best conserve the rights
and interests Of the people, untrammel-
ed by the crushing heel Of the great
corporations, and feel that would in
deed have been derelict in my duty to
the people had 1 wantonly abandoned
the revenue law enacted by this as
sembly and have allowed the general
arrangement of the affairs Of state to
stand In the manner In which they
have been placed by the actions of the
railroad and other corporations.
Knowing that you have kept in close
touch with the situation, and that you
are perfectly qualified to cope with 1t
In all of Its different phases, whatever
remarks ! have to make will be brief
and whatever recommendations have
to make will be made with the sincere
hope that they will aid you in arriving
at q satisfactory solution Of the diffi-
Guilty in which we now find ourselves.
You have shown in times past that you
were thoroughly familiar with the sub
5ect with which you have to deal. You
are the representatives Of the will Of
the people. you express their desires
and to You they have delegated the
proper application Of their supreme
powers. ga
To refresh your memory, and In or
der that you may be fully cognlzant Of
the matter Of the litigation growing out
OF the revenue law, and the consequent
perplexlty arising therefrom, will
give you a resume Of the cases, and
will endeavor to place the matter be-
fore you MS succinctly As possible.
During the latter part Of June the
=. railroad and other esFposAtions inter
ested brought proceeding in manda-
mus In the District Court of Pueblo
county to compel the State Board Of
Equalization to perform certain duties
: devolving upon 1t by statutes pre-
viously In force and effect, which stat
utes were explicitly repealed by the
\ revenue law of 1901, setting up that
the law Of 1901 was Unconstitutional
and void To this application for a
writ Of mandamus the state asked
for change Of venue, which the court
denied. Upon the trial of the cause
the court declared the law to be un-
judgment the state appealed to the
Supreme Court of this state, and su-
persedeas was granted the state by
said court. This cause Ia now pend
Ing in the court for determination.
When the writ Of error was sued
out of the District Court Of Pueblo
county and lodged in the Supreme
Court the state had q direct under
standing with the attorneys represent
ing the litigating corporations that ev-
cry effort would be made on their
part to have this case determined
with as little delay as possible. With
this understanding the state prepared
its case for presentation and adjudica-
ton, and 1t then TRANSFERRED that the
corporation attorneys had no intention
Of keeping their part Of the agree
ment, and. instead Of doing a. they
had agreed to do, were placing every
obstacle In their power in the way
of q speedy determination.
An the meantime the corporations
..Gain went before the District Court
Of Pueblo county and prayed for an
injunction restraining the State
Board of Assessors from proceeding
with the performance of its duty as
prescribed by the law Of 1901. Again
. the atate moved for q change Of venue
tNe ground that the court did not
jurisdiction, and for the other
POI. but the state, finding that
Se3e was liable to be considerable de
iay il having this motion passed up
on, spilled to the Supreme Court for
writ Of prohibition restraining Judge
Dixon from proceeding further in the
xnatter. which application was grant
ID by the Supreme Court. However,
the State Board of Assessors, beliey-
ing that the District Court did not
have Jurisdiction to restrain 1t from
performing Its executive duties, went
ahead and certified out the ASSESS
ment. Then the corporations imme-
diately asked that contempt proceed
ings be instituted against said board,
its secretary and the attorney general,