Year: 1875

-" Thereupon the Common Council
shall leuy and collect q tdr (in cornec-
tion with the other taxes sufficient to
raise the amount" fixed by the Board
of Education. The Board of Educa-
tion prepared and furnished to the
Common Council the statement re-
quired, which amounted to tax of
eighteen cents on each 100 dollars.
The committee of the Common Coun-
ell, Messrs. ROBINSON and TEED, re-


ported the amount of the tax and
stated that the Council had no discre-
tion in the matter, but were compelled
to levy the tax. But majority of
the Common Council deliberately
voted to cut the tax down to ten cents,
several members publicly expressing
their hostility to the public schools.
Last year the Common Council did
the same thing, and this put the city
to the extra expense of some $1,000 to
call an election for the purpose of
voting special school tax to carry on
the public schools and provide for the
accommodation of the children. The
Board of Education, seeing that the
city must again be put to this unnec-
sary expense for special election, or
that the schools must be closed for y
part Of the year, applied to the Dis
trict Court for mandamus to compel
the Common Council to discharge its
duty and levy and collect the tax de-
manded. On the hearing of the man.
damus the only defence of the Council
was that the time for fixing the rate
of tax had passed, and the books were
in the hands of the Tax Collector, and
that the Board of Education were
without remedy. 1t was admitted
also that the Common Council had no
right or discretion to refuse to levy


the tax, and that they had delayed
levying the tax until the last day, so
that the Board of Education could not
in time get out mandamus. In
other words, having taken an oath of
office "to discharge their duty to the
best of their ability they refuse to
discharge their duty and use the best
Of their ability to prevent the courts
from compelling them to discharge
that duty. The court granted the
mandamus, and Thursday night the
Council held its usual meeting Did
it levy the tax? No. But members
of the Council actually asked if there
was any way to avoid it without
becoming personally responsible.
Other members of the Council under
took to censure the management of
the Board of Education, and q COM
mittee was appointed to see what had
been done with the money already ap-


propriated for the use of the Board of
Education. The members of the
Council should know that the Board
of Education and its management is
not under the inspection of the Coun-
cil It is an independent body created
by law and it's duties prescribed by


law. The Council might just as well
criticise the management of the Dis
trict Court and appoint committee
to examine into its proceedings. The
Council having adjourned without
obeying the mandamus, age now in
contempt of Court. The law provides
as penalty in such cases that "the
corporation or board, or such persons
upon whom the writ has been person
ally served, has, without just excuse,
refused or neglected to obey the same,
the Court may, upon motion, impose
a fine not exceeding $1,000, or impris-
onment not exceeding three months,
and may make the order necessary TO
enforce the writ" We hope that our
public schools will sufficiently educate
the rising generation that when they
become members of the Common
Council they will know enough to obey
the law, especially after being ordered
to do so by mandamus, without wait
ing to be punished for contempt of
Court.