Gunnison news-champion., 1906-03-02

he used N the construction q! It's
ssser works ~8thsef rescrcace ~
any compensation ts the eaSssssr
aaa the ssPerIBieuaeai at IT. csa-
-trsctsen then there voala b. no.hsp.
leff - pay hiSa fsE bis serSIce- what
ever. ! sm snel1nes ~ thsnk thai
thai u not such vialatian II the
powers Of the cfsv coancd a. /
sas.ss that scs Eltra wires. % - yss-
tsfv the coari ~ saying thai there
had been ssch an srresularsty ss
~euid Justify the eaart "a euJ9sasne
the coutract on thai accoaIt. II is
true other irregularities are alleged
such a. some confusion abssi the
metIves ii the change 81 the plans
aud 80 forth. bat II dos ma appear
from the evidence that the eitv has
been injured IN any wav by those
changes. nor II does nei appear thai
the plaintiff in this action has been
at all injured by those changes in
the plans, whatever they might be
PROM the evidence # the plaintiff
himself We hnd that he did Bat bad
upon the latter plans far the reason
he considered them impractIcable.
not that he did nut have time. -
tar a the question Is concerned af
the proper location Of the dam. or
I the construction Of n and matters ct
that kind, this court has no power
whatever 20 interfere with the dis
creti0n OF the eity c0ancil in deter-
mining that msftes This - the
tribunal which has been selected by
the people OF this city for the psr-
l pose OF determining that matter
entirely. II courts could go into
those matters there never would be
an end TO the litigation IN cases If
that kind
Now, as 10 the question If the il
legality of those If the bonds for
the electric hght the court has no
question about the illegalty Of those
bonds. The evidence, 1T strikes me.
Is certainly sufficient, and while 1t is
contended by the counsel for the
defense IN this action that there has
been no proof that the Indebtedness
which had accrued against the town
was valid, subsisting and legal in
deUtedness, 1T does appear that on
the first day of April, prior 10 the
e!ect'on which took place for deter
mining the question Of whether or
not the people Of this city would in
cur that liability, the financial con
dItion Of this town, as shown by the
city treasurer, was that there was a
bonded Indebtedness of this city of
$50 10000. That being the case,
then the people were powerless to
vote upon this and increase that
bonded Indebtedness beyond the
statutory limit.
Courts will not attempt to enioin
legislation ON the part of municipal
bodies. They can legislate as much
as they like and as long as they do
not attempt to enforce Illegal legis-
lation courts will not interfere. But
certaInl y when they have exceeded
their constitutional powers and at
tempt 10 enforce those ordinances
or those Illegal laws that have been
placed on the statute books, then
the people step into the courts
and ask the court to interfere for
their protection. If they could
not do this there would be no pro-
lection for them
Upon the question of the emer-
gency, ! must say it is "a very close
proposition, and think that attor.
neys should be very careful should
they employ the arm of the law un-
der that legislative enactment or
they may get their clients into trou-
bic. 1t Is stringent law; it was
passed for wise purpose and If il
were not tor the fact that the court
feels 1t is necessary TO hold the bonds
that were attempted to be negotiated
for the erection of this electric light
plant illegal the court would then
be bound to say there did not an
emergency exist, and there was not
but very little justification for the
issuance OF the restraining order in
this case. | think the injunctive
powers of the court we're applied to
in tins case and that | will sustain
the injunction, that is to the extent
of enIoining the city from negotiat-
my or delivering to the defendants
or to any other person the nine thou
sand dollars worth of bonds that
were voted for the purpose of erect
ing the electric light plant. That
the injunction should be modified 80
far as 1t relates to the issuance and
delivery of the One Hundred Thou
sand dollars Of bonds that were voted
bv the people for the erecrinn of