Court Opinion

ID: 3420342
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-07-05 19:47:30.424384+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:53:05.445096
License: Public Domain

In our opinion the ordinance set forth in the foregoing opinion is unreasonable and should be held void. It shows on its face that it is cleverly designed for the purpose of conferring a monopoly in the coal business upon dealers residing within the city of Chicago, to the exclusion of *Page 135 
other citizens residing outside of that city who have an entirely lawful right to sell to persons who live within the corporate limits. This is apparent from the requirement that the empty wagon or truck must be weighed before the load is delivered to the purchaser. We cannot perceive any reason why the purchaser could not as well be protected by weighing the empty wagon or truck after delivery. This would permit hauling the load across public scales to obtain the gross weight, the unloading of the commodity, followed by weighing the empty wagon or truck to obtain the tare weight, and the subtraction of the tare from the gross to obtain the net. This procedure would give an accurate net weight, which is the only point as to which the public may require protection, and if that is the true purpose of the ordinance, which it obviously is not, it would serve all legitimate purposes. Under such an ordinance, producers of coal or other commodities who live outside of Chicago could deliver their produce within that city and the residents of that city could have the benefit of whatever savings might be involved. It is clearly unreasonable to require that a load of coal coming into Chicago be unloaded, the truck weighed, then the coal re-loaded and weighed again. This extra and useless handling charge can inure only to the benefit of local dealers and it can only result in penalizing the consumer and the outside producer.
The holding in this case is in our opinion contrary to what we said in City of Chicago v. Kautz, 313 Ill. 196: "If, under the guise of protecting the public interests, the ordinance arbitrarily interferes with private business and imposes unusual and unnecessarily restrictive regulations upon lawful occupations it is void. — City of Chicago v. Hebard ExpressCo. 301 Ill. 570; McCray v. City of Chicago, 292 id. 60;Haskell v. Howard, 269 id. 550; Frost v. City ofChicago, 178 id. 250; Toledo, Wabash and Western Railway Co. v.City of Jacksonville, 67 id. 37." In the same case we pointed out that in order to come within *Page 136 
the police power an ordinance of a regulatory nature must be of such a character as to tend in some degree toward the prevention of an offense or the preservation of public health, morals, safety or welfare.
The argument that the case of Wisconsin Lime and Cement Co.
v. City of Chicago, 312 Ill. 520, is controlling here, is not impressive. This ordinance was there held to be reasonable as applied to coal dealers operating within the city of Chicago, on the ground that it was "liberal in permitting the dealers themselves to be appointed deputies for their own convenience." Here the record shows that the complaining mining companies cannot obtain weigh-masters' certificates, thus effectually shutting out of the markets of the city of Chicago a commodity that the people have a right to buy. To put the unreasonable and unnecessary burden of unloading, weighing the truck and reloading the coal, upon those who would offer coal to residents of the city of Chicago, from the outside of that city, is not in the interest of the public welfare and is not necessary to secure honest weights.
It is quite as much in the interest of the public welfare that the people of the city of Chicago be afforded access to cheap markets for the necessities of life as it is that weights be watched. To so restrict access to such market by putting such unnecessary expense on the purchaser is clearly unreasonable.
It is likewise an unjust discrimination against large communities that happen to be so situated as to enable them to take coal from the ground cheaply and thus give a livelihood to thousands working in that business.
It is well known that there are many sources of cheap coal within trucking distance of Chicago, and that by loading directly onto a truck at the mine and unloading directly into the consumer's bin, many handling charges are avoided. While such competition is clearly disadvantageous to Chicago coal dealers, it is certainly advantageous *Page 137 
to the mine owners and those citizens of Chicago who wish to purchase this kind of coal. No one can doubt the legal right of these mine owners and consumers to deal directly with each other if they choose so to do, and, in our opinion, an ordinance which throws an artificial and unreasonable barrier across the path of this commerce, without any corresponding benefit to the health, morals, safety or welfare of the people, is void.