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About Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1903-1919 | View Entire Issue (June 13, 1911)
rHK SIX. DAILY CAPITAL JOURNAL. SALEM. ORKOON. TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1011. OREGON SUPREME COURT DECISIONS Full Text Published bj Courtesy of F. A. Tnrner, Exporter of the Supreme Court Woodward t. Rnrltur, Multnomah Counly. Tyler Woodward, respondent, v. A. L. Harbour, auditor of the City of Portland, appellant. Appeal from the clrc-iit court for Multnomah coun ty. Hon. C. U. Gantebeln, judge. Ar gued and submitted May 13, 1911. L. A. McNary and W. D. Fenton, for re spondent Frank S. Grant and L. E. Latonrette, for appellant Martin Watrous, Amicus Curiae. Moore, J. Reversed. This Is a suit to enjoin placing on official ballots, to be used at an elec tion to be held in Portland, the title of a proposed amendment to its char ter, recommended by Initiative peti tions. It is alleged in the complaint that plaintiff, Tyler Woodward, Is a resident and taxpayer of Portland, which city is a municipal corpora tion, and the defendant, A. L. Barbur, Is ts auditor; that a city ordinance makes It Incumbent upon that officer to receive for filing initiative peti tions, subject to verification as to the genuineness of the signatures of the pe'.itoners, and as to their respective qualifications as electors, to be de termined rrom an inspection or the registration books of Multnomah county, and unless such petition is signed by legal voters equal to 15 per cent of the votes cast at the last preceding city election, the applica tion is ineffectual; that on April 6, 1911, a pretended petition was pre sented to defendant, containing sig natures purporting to be names of legal voters who demanded that a proposed charter amendment be sub mitted to the qualified electors of the city for their approval or rejection at an ensuing election, setting forth a copy of the measure; that defen dant complying with requirements of such ordinance, found that the feigned petition did not contain the required percentage of names of vot ers of the city who were registered, nor more than 1876 thereof, or about 800 less han were necessary to ena ble the proposed alteration of the charter to be referred to the elec tors; that notwithstanding such de ficiency defendant threatens to place on the official ballots the proposed amendment which, if ' adopted, will authorize an ssue of bonds In the sum of $1,000,000, to secure a muni cipal paving plant, thereby imposing excessive taxation on plaintiff's prop erty and causing a multiplicity of suits. i A demurrer was interposed to the complaint on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute! a cause of suit. The Issue was tried upon the question as to whether or not from a verification of the signa tures of the petitioners, it was in cumbent upon the defendant to re ject such names as were not upon the registration books of Multnomah county. The court concluding that such duty was enjoined, overruled the demurrer and the defendant de clining further to plead or answer the relief prayed for in the complaint was granted and he appeals. Moore, J. This court, upon consid eration of the cause after it was ar gued and submitted, reversed the de cree without giving a written opin ion, in order that the mandate might go down in time to be obeyed prior to the election, and the reasons which Induced the conclusions will now be stated. The question to be examined is, who are qualified to sign petitions initiating measures to be voted upon at municipal elections? The parts of the organic act deemed to be involved herein and which re late to an employment of the lnltia tve and leferendum powers reserved to the people are as follows: "The legal voters of every city and town are herehv crrnntprt nnirai land amend their, municipal charter" Const Or. Art 11, Sec. 2. I "The manner of exercising said powers Bhall be prescribed by gen jeral laws, except that cities and j towns may provide for the manner of .exercslng the initiative and referen dum powers as to their municipal l legislation. Not TTlnrft than 1A nA (cent of the legal voters may be re- ii"ieu io orner the referendum nor more than 15 per cent to propose any measure, by the initiative, in any city or town." Id. Art 4, Sec. la. Pursuant to the authority thus granted ordinance number 1611 was duly enacted by the city of Portland, prescribing the forms of initiative and referendum petitions, wherein each petitioner Is required to sub scribe to the following statement "I have personally signed this peti tion; I am a legal voter of the cltv of Portland; my residence and street number are correctly written after my name." The municipal enactment referred to demands that a petition must con sist of sheets to which not more than 20 names can be signed and the per son who circulated the petlton is re quired to make and subscribe to an oatn on the back of each sheet to the effect that every one of the petition ers slcned his name In the of the affiant who believes that the several clauses of the statement last No Man is Stronger 1 han His Stomach A strong man is strong all over. No mon con be strong who is suffering from weak stomach with its consequent indigestion, or from some other disease of the stomach and its associated organs, which im pairs digestion and nutrition. For wncn the stomach is weak or diseased there is a loss of the nutrition contained in food, which is the source cf all physical strength. When a man " doesn't feci just right," when he doesn't si eon w!l I, feeling in the stomach after eating, is languid, nervous, irritable and despond ent, he is losing the nutrition needed to make strength. Such a man should use Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery. It cures tShcases of the stomach and other organs ot digestion and nutrition. It enriches the blood, invigorates the liver, strengthens the kidneys, nourishes the nerves, and so CIVES HEALTH 71XD STRENGTH TO THE WHOLE BODY. You can't afford to aecept a secret nostrum as a substitute for this non alcoholic medicine op snown composition, not even though the urgent dealer may thereby make a little bigger profit. Ingredients printed on wrapper. ? Cook witti Gsis The present cheapness of gas makes it more popu lar than ever as a fuel. Cooking on hot summer days has always been the dread of every housewife. With a gas range summer cooking becomes a pleas ure instead of a dreaded task, You will never know the great convenience of gas until you have tried it, Let us install gas in your home free, We have the New Process and New Idea gas ranges, Also hot plates to fit on anv make of wood range, so as to makea con venient gas and wood stove combined, Buy now and have the gas put in ready for the hot weather EVERY STOVE GUARANTEED quoted apply, and are true with re spect to each petitioner. "The auditor of the city of Port land shall accept for filing any peti tion for the initlatve or for the ref ! erendum, subject to the verification ! of the number and genuineness of the signatures and voting qualifica tions of the persons slgnng the same by reference to the registration books in the office of the county clerk of Multnomah county, and If a sufficient number of qualified voters be found to have signed said petition, he shall file the same wthln 10 days after presentation thereof to him." Id. Sec. 5. "Legal voters of the city of Port land are qualified to sign a petition for the referendum or for the Initia tive for any measure which he Is en titled to vote upon. Any person signing any name other than his'own to a petition or knowingly signing his name more than once for the same measure at one election, or who is not at the tme of signing the same a legal voter of the city, or any officer or other person (un) lawfully violating any of the provisions of this ordinance, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by fine not ex ceeding five hundred dollars, or by Imprisonment In the city Jail not ex ceeding six months, or by both such fine and Imprisonment, In the discre tion of the municipal court." Id. Sec. 11. In order to vote at an election held under the Port'and charter, a person must have been a resident of that city for six months and of the ward or , precinct, in which he offers to vote, for 30 days next preceding such election and must also possess the qualifications of a legal voter of this state. Special Laws, Or. 1903 p. 13, bee. 2 1. The qualifications thus add ed are that he must be a male citi zen 21 or more years old and native born, or if of foreign birth that he has declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, con formable to the naturalizaton laws thereof, one year preceding such election; Is not idiotic or insane; has not been convicted of a felony; and Is not a soldier in the army or a sea man in the navy of the Unted States. Const Or. Art. 2 Sees 2, 3 and 5. It will be remembered that the or ganic act declares that not more than 15 per cent of the "legal voters" shnll be required to propose an ini tiative measure, while the ordinance of Portland directs the auditor of that city, upon receiving an initiative petition, to verify the number and genuineness of the signatures there on, and to ascertain the qualifica tions or the petitioners by referring to the registration books, and if a sufficient number of qualified voters" have signed the pe tition it shall be filed. Registered electors are thus recognized as qual- leu voters and only such as are com petent petitioners to Initiate munici pal measures. The comparison of the handwriting of a petitoner with his sgnature on the registration books, which the ordinance demands of the auditor, was evidently designed to prevent forgery of names by persons who pretended to circulate initiative and referendum petitions for inter ested parties. Such regulation nec essarily tends to prevent fraud in se curing petitioners, but, in our opin ion, the qualification of registration is an unwarranted restriction of the right to exercise the initiative pow er, guaranteed by the constitution to legal voters. Participation in the initiative of measures to be submitted to voters for ther approval or repudiation is not an election wherein any choice is required to be made, but an initiative petition affords evidence of a desire on the part of a few persons that the expediency of a proposed law maybe determined at the polls pursuant to notice thereof. No great prerogative of the people Is violated by the or ganic act In prescribing a small per centage of legal voters as sufficient to Inaugurate a proposed law. The in ception of enactments having been delegated by the fundamental law to legal voters, the authority thus con ferred is so closely allied to an elec tion however, that the privilege of signing an initiative petition cannot be abridged by any legislation that would amount to a deprivation of the right. White v. Commissioners, 13 Or. 317. In Roesch v. Henry 54 Or. 230, it was held that the phrases "legal vot ers and registered voters" were synonymous and that no qualified elector was a competent petitioner for a local option electon unless his signature appeared .on the registra tion books of the county of which he was a resident. In that case the lo cal option law had been enacted in the entire state pursuant to Initiative petitions of "legal voters" (Const. Or. Art. 4. Sec. 1) but the statute could be enforced In a county or a subdi vision thereof or a precinct therein by petitions signed by "registered voters." L. O. L. Sec. 4920. The lo cal option law thus put Into opera tion was an entire statute previously adopted. No measure was proposed by the petitioners as an act formulat ed by them. They undertook to se cure the application of the law to a particular territory. They were powerless to propose any change of the provisions of the statute which as an entire enactment could have been adopted or rejected in a desig nated district and such being the case, It was ruled, In effect, that lim itation of the petitioners to "regis tered voters" was not violative of Sec. 1 of Article 4 of the constitu tion. In the case at bar, however, the measure proposed was not the application of an existing law to a particular district in which no change could be made in the enact ment, but it was the presenting ofnn amendment to the charter as inde pendent legislaton in which the "le gal voters" were granted the right to offer the proposed change In the municipal law. It will he kept In mind that the or dinance prescribes maximum punish ments for any violation of Its provk sions. and also demands that the per son who circulates the petition shall make, and subscribe his name to. an oath, as to the genuineness of the signatures of the petitioners. The law presumes that a person Is Inno cent of a crime I,. O. I.. Sec. 799. sub. 1. Based on such deduction It fol lows that when an initiative petition is presented having thereon the req uisite number of names, subscribed to the statement that each has per sonally signed the petitione; that he is r legal voter of the city of Port land; and that his residence and street number are correctly written after his name, and verified as re- defect IfctMe! AT FOUNTAINS. HOTCLS.OR LSCWHCRC Get the Original and Genuine HORLICK'S &1ALTED MILK "Cifiellau JmitoliCnS The Food Drink for All Ages :.Z MILK. HALT CHAIN EXTRACT, IN P0W0E1 ffot in any Milk Trust Insist on "HORLICK'S" Take a package home quired by the ordinance, a prima facie case is made, entitling the ini tiative measure proposed to be en tered by a proper title upon the pf- nciai Dauots and imposing upon the anditor the burden of showing any rraud attempted to be perpetuated. A vigorous prosecution of any via lation of the provisions of the ordl nance will inculcate a decent respect lor its observance, and though the punishment inflicted may not pre vent, in the first instance, the Initia tion or reference of measures which should not be submitted to a popular vote, thereby entailing expenses and causing delays that are unnecessary, the remedy must be found in an amendment of the organic law chang ing the phrase "legal voters" to "reg istered voters' or some term of equivalent Import. Believing that the 800 or more pe titioners who had not registered were prima facie, legal voters and as such could have exercised the right on the day of the election by producing the requisite proof, which is tantamount to registration (L. O. L. Sec. 3463) they are "legal voters" as defined by the constitution, and hence the con clusion was reached that an error had been committed in overruling the demurrer. Srlirofrter, v. Brown & McCubo, Mull nomnli Count)'. R. P. Schroeder, respondent, v. Brown & McCahe, a corporation, ap pellant. Appeal from the circuit court for Multnomah county. Hon. W. N. Gntens. Judge. Argued and submitted May 24, 1911. R. R. Gilt ner, (Giltner & Sewell, on brief) for respondent. E. Farrell (Wilbur & Snencpr A M IUhl.lo ).iti as electors, i for appellant. McRrlde, X Affirmed. This is an action to recover dam ages for injuries sustained by plain tiff on March 23, 1909, while In de fendant's employ. Plaintiff, a longshoreman, was en gaged with other co-employees of de fendant in loading the steamship Corydon with lumber from the dock, alongside of which it was moored. A boom was attached to the mast of the steamer, and a wire cable, run ning parallel with the boom, passed through a block or pulley at the end of the boom. A detachable sling was used to place around a certain amount of- lumber and, when the lumber was in shape to be moved, the engineer operating a winch, hoisted it from the deck. The boom was steadied or held, while the load was being lifted, by guy ropes, known as the inshore and off-shore euv opes. Plaintiff's duties consisted in working on the dock, placing lumber in the sling to be hoisted. He and a co-laborer, after arranging a load preparatory to being hoisted, were steadying it to the edge of the dock and the strain caused the offshore guy rope to break. This allowed the boom to swing toward plaintiff and the load of lumber which was being moved along the dock fell against him. The guy ropes may be reeved singly or doubly. A part of the hatchman's duty Is to swing the boom around to the man on the dock. It is more difficult and consumes more time when the guy ropes are reeved doubly. There is some dis pute as to whether the line was reeved from double to single durlne the progress of the work or immedi ately before the men commenced work, at the time of plaintiff's acci dent. The offshore guy rope was old and rotten and when reeved singly was incapable of standing the ordi nary strain put upon it in the course of the work. The evidence tends to show that Anderson was in immediate charge of the work with authority to hire and discharge workmen and that he hired plaintiff and his co-employee on the dock the day before the accident. Plaintiff had Judgment in the court below and defendant anneals. McBrlde, J.: The evidence shows that, plaintiff was at work on the dock and that the offshore guy rope nroKe ai a place which must have been at least 30 feet distant from where he was at work. When the boom was swung over the dock, for the purpose of having attached to it the load which it was plaintiff's duty to make up and prepare for hoisting aboard the vessel, that portion of the offshore guy rope, which was at tached to the boom, would necessar ily be within a few feet of plaintiff, but not in a position to attract his atetntion. It was no part of his duty to inspect this rone as it was not a thing which he was required to hari- aie or nave anything to do with in the course of his work. It was one of the appliances which it was the business and duty of the master to furnish to enable the boom to be properly handled in the course of swinging the .lumber from the dock to the hatch, and it was the duty of defendant to furnish one that was reasonably safe for that purpose, and plaintiff, a laborer on the dock, was not obliged to make an inspection of the rigging of the boom to determine Its soundness. He had a right to re ly on the assumption that the guy rope was reasonably safe and ade quate for the purpose for which it was used. There is no evidence that plaintiff observed or had occasion to observe the defective condition of the rope and, therefore, no evidence upon which an instruction as to contribu tory negligence on his part could be predicated. In this view of the case the instruction of the court as to contributory negligence becomes purely academic, but so far as it went It seems to be the law. Defendant also assigns as error the refusal of the court to give' the following Instructions: "In instruct you that If the guy line in question was made single by Anderson, or any of the employes of the defendant, and that by reason of being made single, instead of double, It could not stand the strain and broke, and plaintiff was thereby In jured, that your verdict must be for the defendant, as the act of Anderson or any other of defendant's em ployees in lengthening the rope was a detail of the work that defendant, as a matter ot law, could leave to the servants to carry out." "I instruct you that so far as this case is concerned, Anderson was a fellow servant of plaintiff and de fendant cannot be held responsible for any negligence on the part of Anderson." Both of these requested instruc tions assume as a matter of law that Anderson was a fellow servant with plaintiff, whereas there is testimony tending to show that he had charge of the work to hire and discharge the hands and was a vice principal, and for that reason they were prop erly refused. The Judgment Is affirmed. o Your Neighbor's Experience How you may profit by It. Take Foley Kidney Pills. Mrs. E. G. Whiting, 360 Willow street, Akron, Ohio, says: "For sometime I had a very serious case of kidney trouble and I suffered with backaches and dizzy headaches. I had specks floating before my eyes and I felt all tired outand miserable. I saw Foley Kidney Pills advertised and got a bottle and took them accord ing to directions and results showed almost at once. The pain and dizzy headaches left me, my eye-sight be came clear and today I can say I am a well woman, thanks to Foley Kidney Pills.'' Red Cross Pharmacy. 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