The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1913-10-23
Injunction Issued by
Judge F. B. Smith
Yesterday
CREATES NO STIR
Action Expected by City Or
ficials.-To be Tried at
November Term.

On the ground that the city of Nit
chelI had already exceeded It's limit
of Indebtedness. and that a majority
of the 1.G45 voters of the city did
not participate IN the special election
of June 10, 1913. Judge Frank b.
Smith late yesterday afternoon issn-
ed a temporary Injunction restraining
the sale Of the $50, 900 bonds for the
erection of a municipal telephone
system.
AS the result of the enjoining or
der. the city council at its session last
evening. called for the purpose of
opening bids on both the sale of the
bonds and the construction of the
plant, did not act upon the six prppos-
ais which had been received. The bids
were opened, the proposals noted and
the city auditor instructed to return
the certified checks which accomp-
mined each.
The action was instituted by r.. j..
Spangler, who az II private citizen
and taxpayer declared that the pro-
posed sale of the telephone bonds was
Illegal and asked that the city Off
cials be e~nioined from acting In The
matter until the legality of their
proceedings could be determined in
the courts. MIR. Spangler flied n bond
of $1,000 rs Il guaranty of his liahil-
ity In bringing the suit.
Not Enough Voted.
In the petition of suit, II was stated
that the city of Mitchell has l,G45
legal voters and that in the special
election in which the bonds were APP
proved, IT'S votes were cast in favor
9sof them and 260 against. 1t was al
legged that a majority OF all the votes
sffi the city was necessary to make the
Issue illegal. 1t was further declared
Thuta with an assessed valuation of
itSg.5S4s,726 fthe eity's legal limit of
fhdebtedn ess was 81 80, 2S8s and that
Z ALREADY bonds were outstanding to
the amountinflSg01,5O sl
Commenting upon the Injunction
IN opcntcouneiI' meeting, Mayor A. r.
Hitchcock declared that while ii
7 %otlda prevent any action from being
taken at the present time.g"I presume
nothing can be done" said the mayor,
until the next term of court, 49,
salldEDur bids were received for, 1.-The
3 purchase oftdhe bonds which were
s,specified to srungSfor twenty years
lpayahlei semi-annually and bearg5M
dnerf cent interest. The highastsbid was
aofferedVbys Farson Son, &: Company, OF
New York who proposed premium
ssoG s$1.20As onpthei bonds IL sold, at par.
90. H. Coffin isof. Chicago. offered
$69y061 tor the bonds az the city al
lowed $l.b00i to reimburse him for
attorneys fee in examining them. Sid
ney Splitter, of Toledo, o., bid a prem
ium Of $3.50 and Robert A. Kean &.
Company, Of Chicago, offered a pre-
MUM Of $3.50. The four bids were
referred to the finance committee.
Two Construction Bids.
For the construction work; two
bids were opened. The Bell Lumber
Company of Minneapolis, made a bid
of $4.15 to $13.75 each for the poles
to be used in the system. The. Western
Electric & Supply Company of Chi
cago.s submitted a proposal of $780,
192.O3 for the material to be used in
the system, exclusive of the switch
board oil labor. A letter also was read
from the Telephone Improvement
Company in which 1t was stated that
an "auto-manual" switchboard could
be installed for SIS, 025.
A. J. Carter, representing the KEEL
1ogg Switchboard & Supply Company.
!. which did not submit a bid, discussed
the various telephone systems at
length before the council. He asserted
that the automatic system was not a
financial success in the smaller cities
and that a system manufactured by
his concern. embracing many of the
features of the old BELL" type and
many modern features, could be in
stalled at about $4,000 less cost. He
asserted that less than s per cent of
the telephone systems in this country
are automatic and that less than i
per cent are q financial success.
At the opening of the meeting, l..
p. Stair presented n petition from
farmers living south and west Of
Mitchell. asking for better telephone
connections with their rural lines.
He asserted that Mitchell was prefer
red as trading center by these farm
ers,Ebut inadequate telephone connec-
tions. and Its high cost was sending
considerable business to Mt. Vernon.
Ethan and Alexandria.
Fire Risk Considered.
w. s. Hill, representing the Dakota
Improved Seed Company, spoke upon
q petition presented by IL property
owners OF North Main street. asking
that the proposed plant of the Nat
ional Oil company be moved further
from the depot on account of the risk
from fire. Conncilmen j. O. Walrath,
John Michels and F. II. Winsor were
appointed asscommittee to ascertain
the dangeg0f the warehouse being
ereited which will be used for the
storage of steel oil barrels.
Neis Jensen was awarded the con-
tract for sewers on West Fifth ave
nue., between Wisconsin and Minneso-
to- streets. and on East Third, between
Langdon and Dawson streets. The
bids wee submitted by Mr.. Jensen
on reqr - nf the mayor and city en-
Eineer and nre said to be at actual
fostasNo objections were filed on the