The San Francisco call., 1910-06-26
COURT UPHOLDS
GEARY Street
RAILWAY PLANS
objections Raised by Horace q.
PIatt Are Swept Aside in
Final Decision
Supervisors May Proceed With
Sale of Bonds and Open
Bids Tomorrow


no doubt that the city and county has
te.power to construct and operate
the. same. and the power TO incur a
bended Indebtedness for such purpose:
and also that the proceedings in that
behalf presented for review on this
appeal are free from substantial ir-
regularity. 1t necessarily follows that
lls conclusion of the trial court was
ctafect The judgment is affirmed as
Is slso the order denying plaintiffs
motion for an Injunction
Decision Of the supreme court allowing the
Geary street road.
tweeping aside the mass Of technical
objections raised by Horace @. Platt
president Of the Geary street railroad.
Wh0 as tax payer, enjoined the city
IRON. proceeding with the sale OF the
t2eary street bonds, the supreme court
ma. decision handed down yesterday
morning upheld the decision of Judge
Joaln T. Ellison, declaring that the city
had. legal right to construct and
opArate municipality owned railroad.
EVERY OBSTACLE REMOVED
This clears away every legal OBJ
stacle TO the city acquiring the Geary
street road. The formal proceedings
Icr. Its acquisition, hsmpered by the
temporary Injunction. are now allowed
ey law 10 continue to their ultimate
conclusion.
= The decision is recognized as one of
tae- most notable of the times dealing
with municipal affairs in that it gives
10 the people Of community rights
and powers against the granting of
which there was a determined and Bit
Ter opposition of the part of public
uttity corporations
or all the objections, the twists and
turns Of legal reasonings the mass of
technical protests. raised by Attorney
William l. Brobeck, representing PIatt.
not one was sustained by the supreme
court
OBJECTIONS WITHOUT MERIT
The decision, even tempered and eau.
t@ous, took up every one of the OBJ
5eetions only TO discard each as not
worthy OF consideration, as vaueless
IN the eyes OF the law and as without
substantial merit In clear and un-
eQUiVocal language it tore down the
colossal structure erected in the path
OF municipal ownership Of public util-
tttes. the tone Of il throughout being
that whatever the doubts as to the
wisdom Of z certain policy the provi-
Sions Of freehOlders' charter regulat-
tEg the goK ernment Of a community of
ICeeholders could not be set aside un-
der' the governmental system of this
country on the mere objections of a
contentious minority
The decision comes at an opportune
u.ne, as tomorrow night was the date
:sset for the opening OF bids and prob
.-s;ole sale of the first batch of the Geary
sstLeet bonds. l3 in number and amount
Ing TO S260.000. The board of super
ISors. after offering the bonds for
& sale. and calling for sealed bids, post
nDned the formal opening of the bids
= untj} tomorrow, hoping that by this
ttUle q decision would have been
handed down by the supreme court
Bids VIII be received until o'clock
rhrS afternoon. In the face of the de-
clsiOn there will be nothing to inter
a lupt the sale Of the bonds.
*STCTORY AFTER SEVEN YEARS
g.: By the action Of the supreme court
: there is brought TO the people of the
city victorious conclusion of a fight
Of seven years for the control of the
. ceary street railroad. Four times was
the issue Of a municipal railroad put
10 the election Of the citizens and on
three occasions the necessary two
thirds majority was lacking The
Fourth and last attempt took place last
January, when by an overwhelming
vote san Francisco demanded a munich
pal railroad.
:. Immediately there broke forth
stern opposition to the city acquiring
tions were met at every step but City
Attorney Percy V. Long, assisted by
Attorneys Haven and Nourse. his as
.sistants. opposed and eliminated each
AS II came.
ATTACK on CTTY'S RIGHTS
p Ultimately Horace G. Plat. president
3 Of the Geary street road. through At
torney William I. Brobeck. filed suit
in the superior court to enioin the sI-
49,
- Of selling the bonds which were
.-.Voted in January. This suit was made
the basis Of a general attack on the
right and power Of city to bond it
self for the construction of a street
railroad on the ground that the charter
provisions did not allow such privi-
lege.
The case was assigned originally 10
Judge Sturtevant, but was transferred
10 the court Of Judge Ellison of Te-
?. hama county on the ground Of preju-
dice Of the former jurist The CITY de-
INJURED to the complaint of Horace G.
Plat and Judge Ellison i'm a volumin-
Gus decision upheld the demurrer of the
. city, denied the plea for perpetual in
junction asked by Plat and laid it
down as law that the city had ample
and perfect right TO construct and
operate street railroad and vote
bonds for the same. An appeal was
taken 20 the supreme court on his find
ings and the latter court yesterday up
held him in every particular, settling
conclusively the question OF the rights
Of a municipality in this regard.
MANY ISSUES RAISED
The issues raised by Attorney Bro
beck were multitudinous. His first was
that the charter did not grant the city
D the power to acquire a street railroad.
To this objection the supreme court
said:
Unless the effect OF The section of
the charter is limited by other provi-
sions Of the article, il constitutes a
clear authorization. in express terms,
10 the city and county to acquire, con-
struct or complete whatever is en-
braced by the term public utility used
therein. We do not desire to be under
stood as intimating that the article as
il existed prior TO the addition of this
section was not sufficient to show such
an authorization, but the section GER
tainiv conferred the power as clearly
am definitely as any language that
colsld be used
PUBLIC UTILITY DEFINED
Having settled this point, the court