Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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I \ \ THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1925 THE CLINTON CHRONICL N, S. C. PAGE SEVEN (Advertisement) l Mayor's Ruling On Latest Restrictive Ordinance and Resolutions To the Town Council of the Town of Clinton: Gentlemen: On the 20th clay of January, 1925, the Town Council of Clinton passed: “An ordinance to prescribe rules and regula tions of the meeting of Council of the Town of Clinton; to prescribe the rules of purchasing material and supplies, and payment of the same for and by the Town of Clinton; to prescribe Kules and regu lations for the employment of policemen and other town employees and to pre scribe the manner of paying salaries, wages and other expenditures of said town,” in which ordinance authority for calling the meetings of the Town Council was in effect placed in the hands of two or more couucilmen, a quorum of Council made to consist of four members of Coun cil, wheather or not the Mayor or Mayor pro tern be present, and an absolute pro hibition latu upon all officials of the Town of Clinton against all purchases, employment, payment of obligations, and other activities necessary to the ef ficient management of the affairs of the Town of Clinton, except as such trans actions might be authorized by the Town Council in Council assembled. -^o!l<wi»fp!the passage of- tbia-Ordinancii' 'the "Town Council passed resolutions au thorizing various and sundry employ ments, and payments and contractual powers by the Mayor and other officials, these'powers having limitations. On the passage of the above mentioned ordinance and the above 'mentioned em powering resolutions the Mayor was asked whether he would sign same. He declined to give an answer immediately on the ground that it would take time to consider the validity of the ordinance and resolutions under the law of the state, whereupon a resolution was passed as serting that the Mayor of the Town re fused to sign said ordinance and that therefore the Town Council in Council as sembled appointed S. G. Dillard, Secretary of Council, to affix the seal of the town to. said ordinance and any and all mem bers of Council were invited to sign said ordinance which was ordered to be in corporated as one of the ordinances of the town aud'to'be published in the Clin ton Chronicle, which action was taken early the following morning and the or dinance signed by Aldermen C. C. Bailey, T. J. Blalock, L. K. Stone, S. G. Dillard and the seal attached by S. G. Dillard as secretary of Council and the same pub lished in the Clinton Chronicle January 22nd, without any further inquiry being made as to to the Mayor’s opinion, and as to whether he would act in the signing and the publishing of the ordinance and resolutions. I therefore, after careful considera tion, beg to submit to Council my opin ion : First, that Council erred in passing a resolution stating that the Mayor of the Town had refused to sign said ordi nance, seeing that he had not refused but only declined to sign until he could have time to consider the matter and give careful attention to the various provis ions contained in-the ordinance and reso lutions as to their legality under the state law. Council further erred in passing a res- cil is elected and organized under the municipal code^of the state. In effect the ordinance, considered in itself alone, constitutes municipal suicide. If un amended by any resolutions, rules or fur ther ordinances, it would bring to utter destruction the town government. » I realize that its purpose is merely to concentrate in Council all authority in regard to the conduct of municipal af- but in concentrating power in relative to the conduct of such necessarily responsibility is also conceutratial in Council and Council has not proven itself competent to so handle municipal affairs under this absolute control as to avoid injury to public in terest. disorder, and possible calamity to the corporation. It is my opinion therefore, in addition to the opinion stated in my previous rul ing relative to the earlier but similar or dinance, that this ordinance by being an absolute prohibition of all activities, in volving credit or money, or labor, is so destructive of public interest as to be essentially illegal in spirit and in its practical effect upon public affairs. It appears to be the view of Council, in the passage of this restrictive ordi nance apiLits accompany ing empowering resoluttmis.-nhat Council is” competent, despite its infrequent sittings, to admin ister the affairs of the town and to act as chief executive. In my opinion this is not contemplated under the law and is not practicable in fact. If it is Council’s view, as stated by Att. A. C. Todd at last meeting of Coun cil, that the Mayor has no more author ity than any other member of Council, it would seem to be inexplicable that the law requires that the Mayor be elected by the people throughout the town, while each individual councilman is elected from his own ward, and by universal practice, as well as by election of the the people, the Mayor is chief executive, and is held responsible by public opinion for the proper conduct of the affairs of the toiyn. It would therefore not be in harmony with public opinion, nor with the facts of the election, nor with the principles of efficiency and economy, for all authority to be taken away from the Mayor and for the-chief executive of the town to be reduced to a position of mere ly one of the couucilmen. The inability of Council to function as the chief executive of the towm is dis- played in the empowering resolutions which were passed immediately after the passage of the ordinance prohibiting ex penditures, payments and employment by all officials of the town. The empower ing resolutions authorized certain con tracts to be entered into and certain payi ments to be made and certain employ ments, but overlooked entirely others which are equally essential and neces sary. There are outstanding obligations of the town at all times, obligations aris ing out of legal contracts, which obliga tions the law requires to be met at their maturity. These are entirely overlooked by the empowering resolutions of Council. There are salaries also, authorized in pre vious meetings of Council for persons employed in the town’s business, for whom no provision is made in the em- MANY LOAN BILLS ARE INTRODUCED Few Measures of Statewide Interest in House. New Office Build ing Considered. Columbia, Jan. 25.—More than 70 bills have been introduced in the South Carolina house of representa tives since that body has been in ses sion. The greater part of this num ber have been local bills of minor in terest to other counties, but in the opinion of their authors, of great im portance in the locality which they affect. Of all these but few are of statewide interest. Due to the fact that the senate has decided against a lengthy adjourn ment the matter will probably not be taken up in the house according to opinions expressed at the Saturday session. Such a recess was provided for in a resolution at the first ses sion of the house. During the past .week the ways and means committee, of which Carroll D. Nance, of Laurens, is chairman, has held several meetings. Only one ap propriation request has been heard by the committee. That was preaeated. 4>y rj fehe- StafirHbspftal for the“ Insane . x ^ powering resolution h. Hence, if the nation intended to put into effect the , Mayor were to put into effect the pro- above ordinance without the Mayor’s ap- hibitive ordinanep nrnhihitin<r nil nr. Mayor’s ap proval and signature, and regardless of what his opinion of the legalitv.- ordinance might be. Council further erred hibitive ordinance, prohibiting all ex penditures except by order _pf Council m- tb»: n nd were then' fo put into effect onlv those expenditures thereafter authorized V h In assuming the ministerial function of by Council, these employees of the town the Mayor in signing the said ordinance, would be left without salary and legal and further erred in authorizing the sec- obligations of the town would fail to be retary of the Council to assume the min- met with detriment to the public credit istenal office of the Town Clerk in at- and in conflict with law. This is suffi- taching the seal of the town to said or- oient evidence to the Mayor of the iin- diuance, for Council in thus assuming practicability of the idea of sole execu te ministerial offices of the Mayor and tive control being exercised by Council of the Clerk, has usurped the authority . Hence in public interest so as to protect the corporation credit to meet corpora tion obligations of a legal character and secure to the town economical and effi cient administration, and to avoid con flict with the code of law of South Car olina, I am under the necessity of ruling said ordinance passed January 20th and its accompanying empowering resolutions passed on the same date, as illegal, con trary to public interest, and null and void. In taking this action I am acting under my oath to uphold the law, and neces sarily must regard the constitution of the corporation as superior to the ordi nances passed by Council, the constitu tion consisting of the law of the State of South Carolina as referred to in the charter of the town. That law prohibits the making of ordinances which are out of accord with the law of the state. I cannot assent to the idea that the Mayor is merely a rubber stamp to do what Council orders done, but conceive of the (Misition of the Mayor as the head of Council, endowed with magisterial powers and therefore under the neces sity of forming bis own judgment as to the legality of all ordinances, and of act through Dr. C. F. Williams, superin tendent of the institution. At a joint meeting of the ways and means committee of the house and the finance committee of the senate, held last week the matter of the proposed new office building for the state was discussed. Governor Thomas G. Mc Leod and Claude N. Sapp, former chairman of the ways and means com mittee, were the principal speakers. They presented the needs for such a building and called attention to the action of the last legislature regard ing such an undertaking. Action was taken during the past week on several matters of State-wide interest. A number of bills have been ordered passed to the third reading, among which is a bill by Representa tive J. 0. Williams of Pickens, re quiring a license tax on all dogs in the State. The bill, as ordinarily in troduced, placed the fee at seventy- five cents, but it was amended so as to make the amount one dollar on all dogs in the State past six months of age. A bill by Representative McAd ams, of Abbeville, to reduce the legal rate of interest 1 per cent in South Carolina was also passed to the third reading. Only one bill has been killed in the House so far. This was a bill intro duced by Representative Finklea of Florence, fixing the marriage license fee at two dollars instead of the pres ent fee of one dollar. Many new bills, most of them of a local nature, however, have been intro- committee. The judiciary committee also reported unfavorably on a bill by Mr. McAdams that would require the state tax commission to reduce assess ments 20 per cent on all farm lands in the state. This matter has been plac ed on the calendar. During the past week, by a votej cf 110 to 1, the house rejected the pro posed twentieth amendment to the federal constitution that would give the federal government control over child labor. Representative Sensency' of Charleston was the only member casting a dissenting vote. The house will get down to busi ness agaih at noon tomorrow. Many members of the house have announc ed that they will offer bills of a con structive nature during the wdek. The ways and means committee is due to meet this afternoon for the purpose of resuming work on the gen eral appropriations bill. Officials of the state health department are ex pected to appear before the commit tee at its first session this week and present their appropriation request. ay, Feb. 10, 1925. Hunter Townshii jhip—Clinton Cotton Mill—Wednesday, Feb. 11, 1925. Hunter Township—Lydia Cotton Mill—Thursday, Feb. 12, 1925. Hunter Township—Goldvillc Cotton Mill—Friday, Feb. 12, 1925. All personal property, poll and road Taxes must be returned on or by the 20th day of February, 1925. So please get liusy and make your re turns in January and avoid the rush as it will be impossible to take all the returns during „he week. Do not w’ait to the last day but make return early in January. J. WADDY THOMPSON, 12-12-tf County Auditor. Start a Fund for Your FUTUREHOME Series Two Clinton B. & L. Assn. (See Adv in last week’s issue j Will help you build at lowest monthly cost. ASSESSOR’S NOTICE , i •„ .» xt , i . Waterloo Township—W a t e r 1 r. o duced since the House has been ^ -Town-Tuesday, Feb 3; 1325.’ of the Mayor and the Clerk in the matter of performing these functions, and has assumed that the Mayor and the Clerk must act in such matters regardless of the law of the State of South Carolina, which delimits the authority of the cor poration of the Town of Clinton, and which must be obeyed by Council as well as by all officials of the town. It is my opinion that Council is not competent to order any employee to do an illegal act, nor to approve an illegal act of Council, and Council is not compe tent to remove from the Mayor, the City Clerk’ dr any employee the obligation to discharge individual duty with respect to the law of the State of South Carolina. In other words, I hold that neither the Mayor nor the Clerk are mere rubber stumps for Council, but that they must act intelligently and scrupulously in the discharge of their duty under the oaths which they have taken to uphold the law, and that if they err in putting into effect an illegal ordinance they could not rightfully be excused fr»m such error on the ground that they are obligated to sign and seal any ordinance which Coun- . cil may pass, for Council is under limita- session. There have been few of statewide interest. Chief among those affecting the entire State is a bill by j Representatives'Brantley and Smith 1 of Orangeburg, to reduce the license fees on certain types of automobiles and to return half of the amount col lected from such a source to the coun ty in which the collection was made. A resolution requesting the institu tions of higher learning in South Car olina and adjoining States to accept The County Auditor’s office at Lau rens will be open from the 1st day of January to the 20th day of Febru ary, 1925, for the purpose of taking Tax returns for the ensuing year. For the convenience of Tax payers re turns can be made at the following places throughout the County on the day specified. Please take advantage of this and make your returns and save a trip to Laurens through the cold and rain. Youngs Township—Miss Nan A. Jones—Monday, Feb. 2, 1925. Youngs Township—Lanfords—Mon day, Feb. 2, 1925. Waterloo Township—Jerry C. Mar tin store—Monday, Feb. 2, 1925. Waterloo Township—Dr. W. C. Thompson’s store—Monday, Feb. 2, 1925. Jacks Township—S. W. Dean’s— Monday, Feb. 2, 1925. Jacks Township—Renno—Monday—- Feb. 2, 1925. Youngs Township—Jno. B. Cook’s —Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1925. Youngs Township—Youngs Store— Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1925. Dials Township—W. H. Bolt’s Store —Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1925. Sullivan Township—T. T. Wood- Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1925. , Permanent roads are a good investment —not an expense and \ No Place to Go! Youngs Township—Pleasant Mound —Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1925. Dials Township—Gray Court—Wed nesday, Feb. 4, 1925. Sullivan Township — Princeton — Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1925. Dials Township — Owings—Thurs day, Feb. 5, 1925. Sullivan Township—Hickory Tav ern—Thursday, Feb. 5, 1925. Dials Township—Thompson’s Store —Friday, Feb. 6, 1925. Cross Hill Township—Cross Hill [ tions of the code of law of South Caro- jug by signing those ordinances where he lina, recfMves its authority from that - - - code, and may not legislate contrary to the spirit or beyond the letter of that code. I have given very careful study to the ordinance and resolutions and after care fully considering same have reached the conclusion that it is my duty to decline to sign the said ordinance and decline to put the same into effect, for the reasons given in my opinion and ruling of Janu ary 14, 1925, in which ruling I declined to sign and put into effect n similar or dinance passed by Council January 5th, which ruliugs were so amply stated in that opinion that it is not necessary to restate them here since the ordinance passed January 20th is practically iden tical! with the ordinance passed Janury 5th. except that it removes all authority for all contractings, purchasings, payment of purchases, employment of lalmr from the Mayor and all officers and employees of the town, whereas the ordinance parsed January 5th removes all such au thority abewe the limit of purchases of #100.00, payment of obligations of $100.00 and employment of labor above $25.00 per montDt It j^ems to me that the new ordinance is noronly open to all of the legal objections stated in my rul ing of January 24th, but is open to the still further objection that there is an absolute prohibition in the ordinance of January 20th against all activities of the town’s authorities, involving expendi tures, payments of obligations and em ployment of labor without special consent of Council. Hence this last mentioned ordinance is prohibitive of all activities of the various departments of the town’s government and if not amended by any resolutions of Council, would immediate ly stop, if put into effect, the supplying of water and lights and electric heat and power to the people of the town, and also would immediately stop all street main tenance and improvements, policing, and every other function of the town govern ment. I question whether Council has the moral right under common law to bring to a stop even for one-moment the neces sary operations of the various depart ments of the town government. Hence the passage of an ordinance which is pro hibitory of all activities of town govern ment, by reason of. making all business transactions impossible, would seem to vacate the very purpose for whicji Coun finds them legal and declining to sign where he finds them illegal. The proper legal recourse of any member of Council or any citizen of the town, who may dif fer with the Mayor in this ruling, is to enter mandamus proceedings in the cir cuit court to require the Mayor’s signa ture to said ordinance ami his putting into effect said ordinance and its accom panying empowering resolutions. Appeal might be taken from the decision of the circuit court by either party, whereupon the Supreme Court would finally decide the issue and mandamus issue upon the Mayor, requiring his signature and put ting into effect the said ordinance and resolutions in the event that the court finds the Mayor in error. On the other bund, in the event that the court finds that the Mayor is correct in his ruling it will establish the ordinance and its empowering resolutions as null and void. This is the only legal-procedure which members of Council, differing from the Mayor, can properly take. They put themselves without the law when they take possession of the seal of the corpo ration and assume to act iu the stead of the Mayor and of the Town Clerk in the ministerial office of signature aud attest and sealing of said ordinance. 7 his act would appear to be an abuse of power and malpractice within the meaning of section 4556. paragraph 19 of the civil code of South Carolina fbr towns exceeding 1.090 population and less than 5,000. which reads as follows; “Negligence of Officer—For any willful violation or neglect of duty, malpractice, abuse or oppression, the Mayor or alder men so offending shall he liable to pun ishment by a fine not exceeding $100.00. or punishment not exceeding thirty days, besides being liable for damages to am person injured by such neglect, mal practice, abuse or oppression. However, it is not, the desire- of the Mayor to appear to attack any member of Council by bringing charges of this nature, and by seeking a decision iu court thereon. I am as Mayor merely discharg ing my duty as I understand it in the interest of public good, iu compliance withJjiw*. and with my oath of office. I prefer therefore that a final decision be reached in a case where the action is brought against the Mayor through man damus proceedings in the circuit court to require the Mayor’s signature and the performance of the ministerial act of put- those students who were expelled from i Town, Saturday, beb. 7, 19..,> ^ Hunter Township*— Mountville — i Clemson College during the student Mondayi Fe £ 9 1( J 25 i strike” at that institution not so long Hunter Township—Clinton—Tues- ago, was unanimously adopted by the House. The resolutions, which also Ixpressed hope, on the part of the House, for a successful administration i for Dr. Sikes, new head of Clemson, j was introduced by Representative Lee of Darlington. By a vote of ten members of the House several bills that have been re ported upon favorably have been or dered placed on the calendar. Among these is a bill by Representative Sen- seney of Charleston, that would ex empt all railroad men in the State fgom jury duty, and several other bills. Another is that by sixteen members of the House providing that the matter of calling a constitutional convention be placed before the peo ple of the State at the next election and one by Representatives McKis- sick of Greenville and Williams of Pickens, calling for a check on all au tomotive vehicles in the State for the purpose of determining what per cent age has escaped taxation. There have been many others. Many bills have been introduced. The majority of them concern local matters. There have been a few, however, of Statewide interest. Chief among these is one by Representative Sloan of Greenville that would pro hibit the operation of swimming pools in South Carolina .on the Sabbath. There has been another by Represen tative Jenkins of Richland thgt would put all county officers on a salary basis. Representative McAdams of Abbeville has introduced a bill that would authorize the state warehouse commissioner to sell nitrate of soda and potash to the farmers of the state. This bill, though reported un favorably by the judiciary commit tee, was referred to the agrieultuial We find ourselves, almost without realizing it, a nation on wheels. We drive or ride in 16,000,000 motor vehicles. We pack the paved highways coming in and out of town. We over-run even so-called remote regions. And we are pounding to pieces all but permanent roads. Next year 4,000,000 new cars will be on the road. Compared to this in crease, the mileage of new^ permanent roads will be insignificant. We don’t want to be a nation on wheels, with no place to go. The answer is, build more, and where necessary, wider concrete roads—and start building them now. Not in a long time have general con ditions been so«favorable for carrying on such public works as permanent highway building. Your highway authorities are ready to carry on their share of this great public work. But they must have your support. Tell them you are ready to invest :a more Concrete Highways, now. PORTLAND CEMENT ASSOCIATION Hurt Building ATLANTA, GA. A National Organization to Improve and Extend the Uses of Concrete OFFICES IN 29 CITIES tinj? said ordinance into effect, or else if those members ofX’ouncil, who support the said ordinance* prefer, they might take action in the Recorder’s Court un der said ordinance. Section, 8. and have the Mayor fined or imprisoned for dis obedience to the ordinance. There are instances almost daily iu the business of the town where it is necessary to disre gard the requirements of this ordinance and its accompanying empowering reso lutions. To obey (he ordinance aud stay within the limits of the empowering resolutions would shortly bring havoc and chaos into the city administration. The Mayor pre fers to be punished under this ordinance', if the court so decides, rather than have the administration of the public affairs brought into disorder. Signed: J. F. JACOBS, Mayor. The biggest value in a winter car for the family The Fordor Sedan provides room for the whole family. Yet it is a light, easily handled car—the kind you want for the months of changeable weather and difficult driving conditions. It is fitted with carpet and curtains that harmonize with the color tones of the two wide, deeply upholstered seats. It enables you to keep comfortably warm, yet have plenty cf fresh air since the Fordor Sedan is equipped with Cowl V entilator and windows that lower by revolving regulatore. 1 The Fordor Sedan Coupe • SS20 Tudor Sedan 580 Runabout • 260 Touring Car 290 On open cart Demountable Rimaand Starter are S85 extra AUprieen f. o. b. Detroit VISITORS ARE You cannot own a car that offers you better value or more widely useful service. And the greater economy of operating a Ford lends emphasis to the practical worth of this car to you. V Detroit •U THE AUTHORIZED FOOD DEALER ORS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AT ALL FORD PLANTS \