The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1915-10-28
Keeping pigs in Kenosha.


A resident out in the territory recent
ly annexed to the city wants to know
Can / keep pigs in Kenosha9' We
are frank to say that we do not know.
Chief Justice Slater of the Supreme
Court of Kenosha-and be it known
that he is the court of final resort-says
he questions the right but he is not
able to give a legal opinion. The best
advice to the man out west is to start
to fattening the porkers and put it up
to his neighbors to show him that he
can not keep them. He may lose a
few cents in sausage for the next win
ter and may have his plans interferred
with but at the same time he may be
able to bring out rather forcibly the
need of Kenosha for some kind of a
code which will show just what can and
what can not be done In the city. Any
advice that he may get just at present
is good deal of guess. Way back
in 1884 Kenosha published a code of
the laws which are supposed to be eff
fective in the city and since that time
every common council elected has been
enacting ordinances and resolutions just
as fast as two-third or three-fourth
vote could be secured. As a result
there is no one who is able to say just
what the laws of Kenosha are. Since
the last time that the ordinances were
published the city charter has been
I,14
are probably less than two lawyers in
Kenosha who today know just what
shape the city charter is in. Luckily
Kenosha has had one city attorney for
a good many years and he has good
memory and he has managed to keep
fair track of what the council has done.
He can make a fairly good guess in
telling people what the law is but it
is according to his own admissions
only fair guess. A lot of people
would like to know the laws under
which the street railway company OPP
crates in Kenosha. IF he really wants
to know it would be necessary to spend
day at the clerk s. Office studying
records of the council to see just what
franchise ordinances are Ill force and
what are not. About the only ordin-
ances that are really known are those
relating to the fning of common DRINKS
and of people who make disturbance
on the street. To rearrange the ordin-
ances, weed out those which have been
repealed and shape up the ones that
are in force would probably cost the
people Of the city a considerable sum
of money but what is the use of hav-
ing laws if they are not in such shape
that people will know what the law is?
The officials can hardly expect the peo-
pie to respect the ordinances or the
officials to enforce them unless they let
them in ON the big secret of what the
law is. It's long way back to 1884
and since that time there has been so
many laws made and so many other
laws repealed that the legal department
Of the city can be nothing but chaos.
Should John G. Slater be suddenly call
ed to his fathers it would take a less
experienced man several years to dig
out of the musty records of the city
facts in regard to just what is the law
of Kenosha.
The man who wants to keep pigs
has only minor question to be decid-
ed There are lot bigger questions
which are just as impossible of decision
11ndap +ha oracant condition nf tho
city's charter and the ordinances gov
erning the city. It would be just as
well to lop off the service of some city
official for couple of years, if heroic
courses are necessary to get money to
publish the ordinance. They should be
put in shape and published now. The
fact that Kenosha has gone for more
than thirty years without a code of its
laws is q DISGRACE to the city,