Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, August 1, 1908, Page 1

VOLUME 6. NUMBER 89. THE BIBLE CONFE FULL TEXT OF THE ORDER DENYING AN INJUNCTION Decision Rendered in Application of M. G. Slocum, Testing Validity of the Action of Council in Establishing a Local Municipal Court. STATE OF MINNESOTA, COUNTY OF BELTRAMIL DISTRICT COURT. FIFTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT. M. G. Slocum, Plaintiff. vs. City of Bemidji, et. al., Defendants, and H. W. Bailey, Intervenor ORDER An order to show cause herein having been issued by this court wherein and whereby the defendants were ordered to show cause, if any they had, why an order to enjoin them, and each of them, from expending certain monies should not issue, Frank A. Jackson Esq., appearing for the plaintiff, John F. Gibbons, Esq., appearing for the defendants and P. J. Russell, Esq., appearing for the intervenor, in opposition thereto. It is Ordered that said order to show cause be and the same hereby is discharged and the injunction therein prayed for denied. Dated July 30th, 1908. MEMORANDUM. This is an order to show cause why the city of Bemidji and its officers should not be restrained and enjoined from purchasing supplies for the Municipal Court of the city of Bemidji. The com- plaint, in substance, states that the plaintiff 1s a tax payer of said city; that said city attempted, by resolution, to organize a Municipal Court pursuant to the provisions of Chapte: V. of the Revised Laws of 19o5; that the Mayor of said city vetoed the same and that the city council passed said resolution over said veto by a unanimous vote of its entire body; and that said council 1s about to expend money for supplies for said court, To this complaint the City and its officers demurred on the ground that the complaint did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. . Y. Bailey, the per- son appointed by the Goverror to fill the office of Judge of the Mu- nicipal Court created by the reso- lution thus passed by the council, intervened in this action, and upon the argument raised the question that this is not a proper proceed- ing in which to try title to office. That position is conceded by the plaintiff and is the undoubted law, But the case goes far beyond this in that the plaintiff seeks to call in question the legality and valid- ity of the proceedings by which the court was created, and upon this latter ground I prefer to base my opinion. The real question then is, was the Municipal Court of the city of Bemidji legally cre- ated? In answering this question regard must be given, not alone to the general law under which the council purported to act, but to charter of the city of Bemidji as well. Prior to the enactment of the Revised Laws of 1905, which laws became opzrative March 1st, 1906, there was no general statutory provision by which municipal courts could be created, Such Revised Laws, however, estab- lished certain Municipal Courts and provided for the organization of the same 2s follows: Section 125. NEW COURTS, HOW ESTABLISHED—A court of record to be known as ¢The Municipal Court of..... samsep is hereby established in and for every city, and in and for every incorporated village which has or shall have two thousand inhabit- ants or more, in which city or vil- lage no municipal court shall exist when the Revised Laws take ef- fect; but no court thus established shall be organized until the city or village council so determine by a resolution, adopted by a four-fifths majority of its members, anD ap PROVED BY ITS MAYOR OR PRESIDENT, providing a suitable place for hold- ing its sessions, prescribing the number of judges and other offic- jals thereof, and fixing their com- pensation,” It was under the authority of this legislative enactment that the council of the City of Bemidji passed the resolution involved herein and it is upon the construc- tion of this statue—and especially of the meaning of the words ¢‘AND APPROVED BY ITS MAYOR’—that a conclusion in the case at bar must C. W. Stanton, District Judge. "| be reached. What does the word ““‘APPROVED” mean as here used? What is its legal significance? In this construction and definition lies the gist of this controversy, and it is to this particular propo- sition that I purpose directing my attention. It is a well settled rule of statutory construction that a legislative act is always to be con. sidered with reference to the pre- existing body of law to which it 1s added and of which it is thence- forth to form a part. The inten- tion of the legislature in enacting a particular-statute is not to be ascertained by interpreting the statute by itself alone, and accord- ing to the mere literal meaning of its word. Every statute, must be construed in connection with the whole system of which it forms a part and in the light of previous statutes on the same subject, and the legislature is not to be lightly presumed to have intended to in- troduce a fundamental change in long established principles of law. Robinson’s Case, 131 Mass. 367, Every new statuts should be considered in connection with those already existing in relation to the same subject matter, and all should be made to harmonize and stand together, if that can be done by any fair and reasonable inter- pretation. Crouch v. Hayes, 98 N. Y. 183. In the light of this well known and fully recognized principle ot interpretation it bscomes neces- sary to inquire what prior legisla- tion there is, if any, bearing upon the question at issue. This at once brings us to the considera- tion of the Charter under which the city of Bemidji exists and un- der which the mayor derives his powers, for a municipal charter is a statute of the state and the or- ganic law of the corporation, In furtherance of local self govern- ment and the right of the people of particular communities to de- termine for themselyes their local needs and necessities and the con- duct of their own affairs, the leg- islature in 1903 passed a statute by which each local community could, under certain limitations and restrictions, frame their own charters. By virtue of this legis- lative grant, namely, Chapter 238, General laws of 1903, the inhabit- ants of the then village of Bemidji adopted a home rule charter which became effective at midnight cf October 25th, 1905. That Charter, in so far as it pertains to the powers and duties of the office of Mayor, is to be found in Chapter 111, sections one and two, and so far as here pertinent reads as follows: “Section 1. The mayor shall be the chief magistrate of the city, and shall be vested with and au- thorized to exercise all powers which may be conferred upon him by the laws of the state, or by this charter...,...."” “Section 2, Every ordinance or resolution of the city council shall, before it takes effect, be presented to the mayor for ap- proval. If he approve it, he shall sign the same, but if he disapprove it, he shall return it to the city T DEFECTIVE PAGFE council with his objections thereto, [Continued on Second Pagel This Evening. Concert at City Hall under leadership of Prof. M. C. Mar- tin who will sing several solos and will be assisted by a large chorus and some of the best local talent in the city. Tick- ets of admission, 25¢. Sunday Morning. 11 o’clock Rev. W.S. Ward will preach at the Presbyterian church, the subject being “The Bible Considered as a Great Temple.” Dr. Soltau will preach at the Baptist church at the same hour. At 3 o’clock in the afternoon Dr. Soltau will meet the chil- dren of Bemidji on the lake front and will spend an hour with them in telling stories of his experiences in India, Africa and other places. Adults are invited to this service as well. At 4 o’clock he will conduct a gervice for adults. Sunday evening at T7:45 in the opera house there will be Conference. conference. Friday Evening. Rev. Grant Stroh presided. Song service led by Prof. M. C. Martin, Address by Mr. A. M. Locker, secretary of the Minnesota State Sunday School Association. Subject: “The Teachers.” The Sunday school is the church study of the word of God, and is in a large measure the teaching agency of the church. If it is ministered to the church in this way, who are to be the teachers of the church? The Sunday school officers and teachers? If so, they must be thoroughly pre- pared for this great undertaking. The two great purposes of the Sunday school are as follows: First purpose in Sunday school work is to lead every child to Christ. This is the highest ideal, and requires the best thoughts and preparation and devotion on the part of the teacher, for the teachers have to stand before their classes, representing Christ to those who are placed in their charge. They have better opportunities to influence the members of their classes than ‘any evangelist, for they know their pupils and can help them towards the kingdom, and are Training of Sunday School | Instructive Addresses. 1 the Services to be = av) H‘ Z =] = SOCIETY. FORTY CENTS PER MONTH Fourth Annual Season Has Beien Productive of Many Very Large Crowds Should Attend Eeld Tomorrow. REV. W. $. WARD, of Crookston, Who Will Preach at the Presbyter a song service led by Prof. Martin and Dr. Soltau will preach The Pioneer is authorized to state the high “apprecitior the conference for the kindly manner in which the conference its members entertained, and the courtesy of the press in the s rian Church Tomorrow Morning. CARD OF THANKS. It is with great pleasure that the officers of the Bemidji Bible Conference express our high appreciation of the splendid ser- vice rendered and the extensive reporis made of the proceedings of the confercnce by the Bemidji Pioneer. WILLARD S. WARD, In Behalf of the Conference. great instruments in keeping them in | love of the truth. The second purpose of the Sun- day school is to train men and women and boys and girls for every| department of church work. Here the leaders of the future are to be found and developed. Every Sun- day school teacher is an artist, Jesusis the model, The bible is| the tool. Human nature, the plastic material, to mould and fashion like | the model, and in all this world there is no more important work than this. There are five principal qualifica- tions for this work. ) First, the teacher as well as the! father or mother of the child must know the great model, Jesus Christ. It is absolutely impossible to direct | anyone in the way of life unless we know it ourselves. The second qualification of the he closing sermon of the Bible 1 of the-officers and visitors to! has been received and many of pace given to the reports of the teacher is to know the bible, because it is the tool with which he is to i fashion the child in the image of the | model. | nothing can be done. Without this knowledge The teachers must know the book and the great characters whose lives are shown in the book. The third qualification of a teacher lis to know human nature, that he may work effectually. This is the most difficult part of the art of teaching. In every line of business in which men are engaged books are studied and every effort made to acquire at least a good working knowledge of the business. There are many books published dealing with child study and the develop- ment of character and the tendency of boys and girls at different ages, and the Sunday school teacher should | have a working library of books, in order to know how God would have us deal with the children. In order to fit the teachers for the great work to which they are called, bible study classes or normal jclasses should be organized in each school, one of which, consisting of the officers and teachers of the Sunday school with the older pupils, should meet during the week, and the other, consisting of those (Continued on last page.) R EXCURSION to Red Lake SUNDAY, AVUG. 2,1908 TRAIN LEAVES BEMIDJI 9:30 A. M. Fare $1.00 for the Round Trip BALL GAME IS PUZZLE—IS HE GOING TO HIS GRANDMOTHER’S FUNERAL? The aunual baseball game of the city officials vs. the county officials will be played on the diamond in | the down-town baseball park Tues- day afternoon at 4:30 o’clock, and there is going to be a whole lot | “doing” between now and then in the nature of preparation for the contest. Last year the city officials and the county officials played ball and the city officials simply walked all over the representatives of the county—in fact they beat them to a frappee. The city officials have not forgotten the enjoyable sen- sation experienced by the winning of the game last year and they are anticipating another winning this year. “Old Hoss” Conger is trying out his county candidates in the back yard of the court house and it’s safe to say that no one will get on the team who doesn’t know an inshoot from a “hollygoster” ball. John Bailey has been running as candidate for county treasurer for three days and has already reduced his weight fifteen pounds, so it is safe to presume that he will be in good condition Saturday evening. | Wes Wright, Arne Solberg and the rest of the candidates for nomi- nation at the primaries have also been ‘‘going some” and as far as OSES TOMORROW POSTPONED TIL TUDSDAY AFTERNOON EHEAN - | "|On Account of Wet Grounds, the Annual Battle Between the City and County Officials is Called Off Until Next Week. physical conditions the whole county team ought to be in fine fettle. It is somewhat different with the is concerned members of the city team. How- ever, Mayor Pogue has had a strenu- ous year of it and it is safe to presume that his physical condition is about right. However, City Attor- ney Gibbons and Chief of Police Knox are in a condition that would rival the prize porker at a county fair, and they must needs take off some of their averdupois if they wish to play in Saturday’s game. President Gould, being the head of the new lumber company, is always in good condltion. City Clerk Maloy will probably not play, but he will undoubtedly be present to lend his usual moral sup- port to Mayor Pogue. Judge A. Gilmour of Blackduck has been engaged to have charge of the Kangaroo court and the spec- tators are warned to be decorous or there will be trouble with the punish- ment of prison staring them in the face. The net proceeds of the game will be devoted toward paying the balance due on the Chief Bemidji monument. Everyone should attend the game asitis for “blud” and no quarter will be given at any stage of the proceedings. —— Shaw & Clyfton Here Again. Manager Brinkman announces that he will have with him tonight the “old favorites” Shaw & Clyfton. These people need no introduction as they have successfully filled two former engagements here. Inez LaBlanche, of Sherwood & La. Blanche, who have been here for a week, was taken ill last evening and Manager Brinkman telegraphed for the new team and they will arrive from Valley City, N. D., this even- ing. The same pictures will be shown as last night and are very worthy fllms. Don’t fail to come and see Shaw & Clyfton. Mr. Brinkman expresses bimself with much sympathy for Miss LaBlanche who is too ill to go upon the stage. Be sure and see the “Spanish Dance.” First-class comedy artists. Municipal Court Opened. Bemidji’s new municipal court was opened at 9 o’clock this morn- ing, Judge H. W. Bailey presiding. Mr. Bailey declared the court opened and read his appointment as judge by Governoir Johnson and 4 | stated that he had appointed Charles D. Fisk as his clerk. Mr. Bailey also stated that here- after, until further notice, court would convene at 9 o’clock each morning except Sundays and all legal holidays. The clerk’s office, for the present, will be in room 9 of the Mayo Block, and the judges chambers will be at Mr. Bailey’s residence, 605 Minnesota avenue. At 11 o’clock the court took a recess until this afternoon. ENJOYABLE EXCURSIONS T0 RED LAKE TOMORROW Red Lake Railroad Will Run Train to Redby.—Ride on Red Lake, on the New Boat. ] The Minneapolis, Red Lake & Manitoba railway company (better known as the “Red Lake Road”) will give its second excursion to Red Lake tomorrow, when every- thing possible will be done by General Manager Molander to make the trip to the largest lake in the state one of enjoyment to people of Bemidji and others along the line. The train will leave the depot in this city at 9:30 a. m. and will stop at all stations along the line. The excursionists will be given a ride on Red Lake in the fine boat, “Redby,” which will make a trip around lower Red Lake to the Indian agency. Meals can be had at the hotels in Redby or at the Red Lake agency. The train will leave Redby at 6:30 p. m. making a fine day’s outing; and all who can should go. Special Term at Bagley. A special term of district court will be held at PBagley beginning ditch matters will be considered. It is not expected that the term is called in order to dispose of the ditch matters before the regular fall Lmrms of court commence. MINNESOTA HISTORICAL next Monday, when a number of-