Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-12-31
the world will find in its application
the best, IL not the only. solution of its
most intricate problems. is3
THE BOND ISSUE.

The supreme court has declared the
last bond election IN this City legal
A writ of prohibition restraining the
City from issuing the bonds was asked
for on the ground that no legal notice
of the time and place Of election WAS
given. and that the ordinance author,z-
ing the election contained misleading
statement as to the establishment of a
sinking fund for the redemption of the
bonds
The court considered both objections
and came to the conclusion. as to the
legality OF the notice, that In this case
there has been a substantial, if not q
literal, compliance with the statute:
and, as to the second objection, that
"the contention that the voters We're
|amisled by the statement in the pub
lished notices that the interest and
principal of the contemplated water
bonds should be paid out of the reye-
nues obtained from the water system
of Salt Lake City, is not tenable.'
Concerning the first objection the
court observes that it devolves upon
the professionals to show that a detective
notice actually has affected the result
OF the election, since the courts are
strongly inclined to uphold rather than
to defeat the popular will. AS to the
the statement in the ordinance relating
to sinking fund was not a mtsrep-
resentation of an existing fact. The
statement was simply proposition
made by the city council upon aiaub-
ject which it had no right to speak,
because the statute determined what
should be done. II it, was a misrepre-
sentation at all, 1t was in the nature
of a misrepresentation with regard to
the law, and not to fact
but" .ha.opinion continues, III we
should assume that the statement was
in the nature OF an inducement to the
voters, of which they may complain
then it constitutes what is termed an
irregularity. 1t certainly cannot be
said to be more than this. 1t was u
matter which, IL 1t had any effect at
all, must be considered in the nature
of All inducement of the voters to vote
for the bonds, but there is no allega-
ton, or intimation. even, that voters
were In fact induced to vote for the
bonds that otherwise would not have:
voted for them =
And SO, tlleFelccuon was perfectly lc-f
gal. If we read the opinion right. it
holds that the notice may have been
defective, and that there may have
been some i1regularity in the ordln-
.ance; the city council may even have
made a. proposition upon a subject on
which it had no right to speak, be-
cause the statute determined what
should be done. hut there was no de-
feet, no irregularity SO serious as to
invalidate the bond issue.
1t will be remembered that the charge
was openly made in the streets, at the
time of the election, that "a great NUM-
Der of illegal votes had been cast.
Some insisted that Irregularities of this
kind were numerous enough to affect
the result. 1t was also pointed out
that the bond advocates promised to
apply certain amount OF the bond
money for a purpose not authorized
by the law. Neither OF these objec-
itions were brought into court. 1t is
not impossible that a thorough con-.
sideration of the facts upon which they
were based, might have resulted in u
different conclusion.
The memory Of the reckless way in
which so-called American officials.
under the lash of Irresponsible, self.
elected party manlpulators. spent the
million dollars borrowed a. few years
ago, without particular regard for the
promises made when the bonds We're
asked for, and without proper account.
ing as required by law, does not in
spire a very strong hope that the $500
900 will be applied for the greatest
benefit OF the public. But the situation
has changed somewhat for the bet
ter. There has been a detection from
party tyranny by some who have be-
come convinced. by late election re-
Il r. + j u J
suits. that tho party bosses are not
popular among the citizens. This has
made Independence Of party tyranny
possible, ana IL those whose duty 1t Is
to disburse the money, will assert their
Independence as men and trusted pub
lie servants, and give the City the
benefit Of q. business management, there
will be no reason for complaint.
4 It may be just as we'll. however, to
see what can be done, by proper legis-
laton, to secure for the City such a
business management, under the SUI
pervision of a large representative body
of citizens, and not take any further
chances With selfish party bosses and
un-American party machines.
LABOR COLONIES.