Evening star., 1936-04-19

Presiding District Judge Sam Hooker
and District Judges George Giddings,
jr.; Ben Arnold and Clarence Mills.
who were called to sit on the case Of
Ed Butterfield. plaintiff. VS.. City OF
Oklahoma City, municipal corpora
ton, ct al, defendants:
I'VE are not unmindful of the fact
that the principles of law involved
in this case are novel and to some
extent without precedent; nor are We
unmindful of the fact that this case
will unquestionably be appealed to the
Supreme Court for final adjudica-
tion of the questions involved here, SO
that 1t may be finally settled by the
decision of that court which Of the
parties should prevail here. We have
not made an Independent investisa-
ton, but have confined, ourselves to
the decisions and authorities cited and
have reached the conclusion that the
wisdom Of the installation Of the meter
system here involved Is within the
discretion of the governing body OF
the city which this court cannot con-
rol if it be reasonably exercised. In
other words, this court cannot SUBJ
Stitute its opinion for that OF the
City Council. nor can We review or
interfere Herewith, provided the dis
cretion Of the City Council is rea-
sonably exercised and does not con-
travene the law applicable thereto.
I'VE are of the opinion that the
pivotal question In this case Is the
construction that should be placed
upon sec. l029G OF the 1881 statutes
of this State. In our opinion. the
inhibition contended for by the
plaintiff in this case applies only to
the right Of the parties to travel the
streets and that the term free use
as designated in that statute relates
solely to the right to use the streets
for the purpose OF travel and that
the right to park is privilege granted
by the city and Is subject to such reg
ulations as the governing body OF the
city sees proper to adopt. In other
words. parking Is not q right. but
privilege and, inasmuch as the city
has unquestionably the right to pro-
hibit parking at all, that, for the
purpose of regulating and controlling
the traffic and preventing congestion
it has the right to install mechanical
devices to aid and assist the police
department therein, and also has the
right to make a nominal charge
against those sought to be regulated
for that purpose.
However, we may add, If our con-
struction OF this section Of the statute
be wrong and the free use Of the
streets includes the right to park.
the imposition of this tax is prohibited
by statute.
"The evidence here disclosed that
these meters were only in operation
q part of a day and We are unable
to say what the revenue will be for
a week or a month, and We may add
that If it should be disclosed by actual
demonstration that these meters will
produce as much revenue each day as
they did the first day, then the tax
imposed would be exorbitant and I'M
reasonable and far exceed the cost OF
supervision, but We do not feel dis.
posed at the present time to interfere
with the further trial of the plan, as
it Ia presumed that the officers Of the
city will follow the law and collect
no more from the people who seek to
use the parking places than the law
contemplates and allows. Since this
Is an ordinance under the police power,
no more can be collected under it
than is necessary to defray the cost
of operation and supervision.
"As suggested in the trial Of this
case, the evidence Of the plaintiff does
not show that he Ia entitled to an
injunction; however, We have waived
that and sought to decide the ques-
tions here involved the best We could
according to the authorities pre-
sented. We may add that this is a
unanimous opinion Of the judges who
heard this question argued. The ap-
plication for q temporary injunction
will be denied"
Production of passenger cars and
trucks climbed to new weekly high
for the year this week with the total
estimated by Automotive Daily News
at 117,644 units. This figure COM
pares with 110,s46 in the previous
week and 106,23O for the first week
in April. A. D. N. estimates that the
total production for the current
month will run we'll above the 500,-
900 mark and is likely to be the best
month in q production way since
June, 1929, when 567,424 cars and
trucks were built.
Sales during April are reported to
be running about 25 per cent better
than March. This estimate, accord
ing to A. D. N, Is conservative since
some reports from the field place the
gain over March at as much as 80
per cent. Estimates Of April sales
in relation to March sales in various
localities are given as follows: Seattle,
Wash, up 10 per cent; Denver, Colo.
up 80 per cent; East Orange, N. j.,
and area, up SO per cent; Birming-
ham. Ala, up 20 per cent; Springfield,
Mass, up 25 per. cent; Santa Monica,
Calf, up 25 per cent; Boston, Mass,
up SO per cent. These reports, says
A. D. N. are made by the State
directors Of the National Automobile
Dealers Association and cover the
entire area in which the cities named
are located.
Factory reports indicate that back
orders now on hand are in sufficient
volume to absorb the entire output
for the remainder of this month.
which leads to the belief that May
production will make o good show
ing, although April may prove to be
the best month this Spring in q pro-
duction way. Dealers generally feel,
says the A. .. N. summary, that the
peak month In sales will fall in May
or June.
March registration, based on re-
ports from Is States, should show
total of 305,000 new passenger and
5000 commercial cars. If this esti-
mate proves correct, says A. D. NJ. it
will be the best month in passenger
car registrations since May, 1880, and
the third largest truck month in the