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H '
M PAOH TWO, - TIIK KABTKKN UTAH ADVOCATE, THUnBDAY, JAN. b, 1P1. - ... , ,
1 WORTHLESS PAPER BY THE
I THOUSANDS IN CIRCULATION
Most Deplorable Condition In the Financial Af-
H fairs of Carbon CountyMay Run
IK Up to Fifty Thousand.
m Tho Advocate reproduces below
H Uio opinion of County Attorney Mc-
D Whlnnoy In tlio tunttor of Invalid
H) warrants of Carbon county, togother
Hi', with Its own nrtlelu of lost week,
9B UiAt nil of Its rend cm and others
P may have opportunity to poruse tie
H ! tuuno. Tin oxtrn edition of more,
m than flto hundrtd copies of last KrI-
Hfj ' dny woro noon oxhnimtixl nnd as j
KM ' niAny morn worn railed for penwii
ml ally, by mall And by twtephonw.
HM On tho third psse of thin Mtipres- j
9H "ton nppoani n communication from ,
BLl Ifolper. hinting at official rolliw '
Kl ! nons In that town, tjint will certain I
HSl ly appeal to taxpayers there, nnd '
Hb may nko wnrnmt an lnvtrilgllon. '
.HtW Tho opinion of C. O. MeWhlnnuy,
Hu county attorney, published In this
BfY Imuo of Tho Advoeato, show a
Hl't most dcplorablo eondllton existing
f at tho present time, nnd nlny shows
Bf that for a Ions tlmn past tho nffnlrs '
fjk. of Carbon county lmvo boon liandlod
Hnf In a looso and Incompetnnt mnnnor, '
Rl ""J thin statement, wo fancy, will
Nl bo accoptcd by tho citizens nnd lax
mill payor of tho rounty na a moat char-1
MBV liable charnctorliatlon In view of
.BkH tho fact revealed by County Clerk
Hll Plorson nnd County Treasurer Cody,
HhB dorvlt with In tho opinion of tho
Bf county Attoraoy, j
Hl It U difficult la understand how i
Hl Carbon county during a rolgn of i
J porfect poaco nnd tranquility, when .
Kff bo public nocoMilty has called for n
HjU largo expenditure audi n countloa1
Hn sometime Incur In dealing with '
HU mobs, catastrophe or plaguo ihouldi
Hf gradually sink Into bankruptcy uni
Rl Ut tho ghastly dlscovory 1 mndoi
MlT that practically over) bank nndl
HHr business house, nnd Innumerable!
HV oitltons, arn loaded down with coun
HBl 1 wnrranta and othor ovldoncea of
l oounty obligation, wholly void and
B& forever unredeemable, whtlo tlo,
Kt- largo tax exaction boroo by tho
Hft people during recent years hare
H boon dissipated or diverted Into lm
Hf proper or perhaps unlawful chnn
sH i BoU' i
II It appoani that numuroui fund
H ' hnvo boon creatod without any legal
H I authorliAllon therefor, no that tho
H 1 prvferoncM which tho law content
H' J platoi should bo given to tho firat
H j roglaterod warrntiU havo boon dU
H regarded, and tho funds which
M . should luvo bein paid In tho ro
M U doniptlon of such wnrrnnU havo
B V boon applied to ull sort of purjvoiu-i
H j ; not contemplated by law A thor-
M i ough Invwtlgatlon ahould bo made,
Bf tnd tho partlea rwpouslblo for this
Kn condition, nnd thulr bondamun,
HHU should bo promptly called upon to
UH mako good tho Iomoii sustulnod by
H( Innocent purchaneni of thoaa float
HAl tng obligations, if such remedy eun
ESf bo lawfully aanerted.
HB! U was tho Intention of tho fram
ll ont of tho constitution primarily to
BH protect tho taxpayers of tho couil-
,1 tlen agninst tho Incurring of nn un
IK limited dobt, bonded or otherwise,
IB, and the constitution accordingly,
has fixed a limitation boyond which
HI' all expndltuni of money, and In
i' curmonU of obligations, of whaUo
over nature, are. absolutely void so
far as any rocourso against tho
oounty Is comvrnod. Ilouovor, tho
tmponltlon of this vicious wrong tip
on tho people who Jiuvo coutrnctel
H f with the county officials, tuid who
n have assumed that tho law was be
HW - Ins rospectod, should bo romiHlltvl
mMi to the oxtiuit that the bonds of the
H I rrsponslblo parllen may bo sufficient
IH i for tho purKMt.
Hi p It Is probable that no end of lltl-
IMP , gallon will follow thmto dlscoverlm),
HD us It Is not to bo expected that the
IB ' Innocent holders of county warrants
JMM ' onlorwl tasuel by the commMon-
BY er, and ocrtlflel by the clerk, will
BH waUe nil effort to recoup thulr
BR lowiw), whlnh uro manifestly duo to
BJl an ontlre dlsivgard of tho eonsittu-
Bjy tlon of tho h!hI on tho irt of the
UR otriMrs who have made the flots-
Bjl tlon of such wortliltxw jwtifr itm-
Bjf .McKlnnoa WiunmlM Void.
BT1 It nppetirti tlwt the great hullii-
Bm bulloo oxeltiHl by the fraMlc aaal of
By1 the eutgolNg oounty oomwUdoitern
WMJt1 nt the time of their esuployuHMit uf
Bji Kxpert Hdmunds, and which rnli-
BJK od In tho I ml ! t mail t of CottMy
Bj7T Qlork Jontw, did iwt effoctlvely jc-
Hg ' ICy 0i Uxpylng public, who were.
Hi'-N porlmpa, xpclMl to Uellere that
BrnVr with n suWbiUUI shortage mi)dlel
BV onto Jojim and Snyder that It would
BV rest oonteot, and not look behind
Bl : the scenes for other aetont than
BV ,, Jonea and Snyder. Jones was nuc-
BB ; coodod by Clork McKlnuon of Whlt-
BB t moro'e pawnshop, ami JIoKJnnon
Bl qualified as such olerk with "Tobo"
Bb Whltinore, Joo Darbogllo and A. W.
Bb Horaloy as surotlc on iU twelve
BB thousand dollar bond, conditioned
BVu BBl fr bia -"uJtbful porfonuan-eo of the
BBu '!!fBBBBBJ
dutlM of clork. It appears that
practically ovory warrant Issued by
McKlnnon Is void under tho opin
ion of County Attornoy McWhlnney.
Bo, tho surotlc of McKlnnon will
doubtless bo called upon by tho
Irnto holdors of warrants cortlflcd
by him to bo In tho dobt limit
but which In fact were not to
j mako good tholr losses.
Attorney AlcWlrinney
Gives Opinion.
1'ltlCK, Utah, Jan. 33, 1913.- C.
A. I'lenton, Hq., County Clerk, C.
II. Cody, Itsq., County Treasurer,
CarlHMi County, Utah, Price, Utnh.
Oewtlemett' I have before me
iHtMtioradum of your discovery that
the oiitfttnmllng obligations of Car
bon eotiuty consist of seventy t lions- '
and dollars In bonds, and 110,118.1
In nolM nnd rcglstorcd warrants,
without giving consideration to war
rant iinrvglatorod, tho nmoutil of
which you linva iui far been unablo
to determine, and In compliance
with your request for nn opinion as
to whether oil have it legal right
to Imuu and certify warning cov
ering appropriations recently mndo
by Commissioners Bhnrp, Hamilton
nnd llandolph, I beg to call your nt
lentlon to Uio following provisions
of tho Constitution of tho Stnto of
Utah: I
Article XIV., Hcc. 3. --(Debts of
Countloa, Cittern, Ktc, Not to Kxcood
Itovonuo. Kxceptlon.) No dobt In
oxctM of tho tnxi-rf for tho currant
year shall bo creatod by any oounty
i or subdivision thereof, or by any
school district therein, or by any
city, town or vlllngo, or any sub
division Uioreof in this stnUi, unletm
tho proposition to create such dobt
shall havo bounvsubmlttcjd to a vote,
ofv such qnVllfkHl oloctoVa aa shall
have paid v property tax thoruln. In
the yvir preceding such election,
and a majority of thoee voting
I thereon shall havo voted In favor of
Incurring such dobt.
Sec. 4, Whon authorized to cre
ate Indebtedness as provided In Bee.
3 of Oils article, no county shall
bocomo Indobtod to an amount, In
cluding existing Indebtedness ex
ceeding 2 per centum. No city,
town, tmhool district or othor munic
ipal corporation, shall becomu In
SOI FIGURES FOR LOCAL TAXPAYERS
The bonded debt of Carbon County totals $70,000 00
Note obligation (N. S. Neilson) . 20,000.00
Outstanding warrants about . 40,000.00
Debt limit fixed by constitution exceeded by about 40,000.00
Innocent holders of county paper defrauded, perhaps 50,000.00
Taxpayers and warrant holders, court officers and citizens
will find food for thought in the above figuers.
dobted to nn amount, Including ox
Istlng Indebtedness, exceeding 4 per
C4intum of the value of the titxnble
property therein, the nluo to be
ttbcnrtnlned by tho last aiHutwniont
for state and county purposes, pre
vious to the Incurring of such In
debtedness, except that In incorpor
ated eltleti the assessment shall be
takttu from the last iiwHtrnmont for
olty punosts, provided, that no
part of the Indebtedness nlloMed In
this Motion slHill be IncurrtHt for
other than strictly county, city, town
or school district puriKwes, provided
further, that any city of the first
land seooml-ehuM when authorised hn
provldml In 8ec. 3 of this urtlcle,
may be allowed to Incur a larger
ldelitediitM, not to exceed 4 per
lewitum and any city of the thlrd
IcItMM, or town, not to exceed 3 per
lettntum additional, for supplying
such elly or town with water, rtl
jfloial lights or , wImni the
works for supidylug hiioli water,
light ami settem, hll be owned
and eoutrolled by the municipality.
I If, as ytxi atate, the oash In
the sinking fuml fur the iMyment
of Interest nnd redemption of bowls
pproxlut4e but lx.l0, the net
tHMtdetl oUHHatlou of the ootMty is
approximately $6T,600. Directing
your attention to the two eoiMKitu
tlonal provisions above cltetl, it
wiH be obrve thM any unbonded
i indebted of Carbon oounty In excess
of the taxes for the currwnt yenr Is
, absolutely void, and it follows tlwt
,any warranto Issued evldetioing any
obllgatloits In exuees of the tuxes
of the county for the current year
will .UkowUe be void.
Tho limit of Utxatlon provided by
law for county purposes U five
mills, Tho total oaaensod valuation
of tho property of tho county Is
ellghlly lorn than 15,000,000, tho
actual figures for tho year 1912 be
ing 4,977,1C4, nn Toturnod from
tho official records compiled under
tho export direction of Auditor Ed
munds. Amumlng that all of tho
taxes lovled upon this valuation aro
collected, tho revenues from taxa
tion, undor tho application oftho
maximum rate, would amount to
leas than twonty-flvo thousand dot
lnrs, nnd any Indebtedness not
bonded which might bo in oxco of
of such approximate sum would bo
nbsolutoly void.
From tho figures you havo fur
nished mo It Is npparont that there
are now outstanding obligations of
at least thirty-two thousand dollars
In excels) of tho amount tho consU
tullon of tho stnto permits tho coun
ty to lawfully assume. Thono obli
gations aro apparently evidenced by
warranto nogotlnblo In character, in
the hands of tho general public.
ALL SUCH YVAUHANTH SO ISSUKt)
IN KXCH88 OV T11K UKiT LIMIT
A8 FIXKI) I1Y 8KCTION 3 OK All
Tlt'l.K XIV. OF TIIK CON8TTI'
TION AIIOVK QUOTMI) AIUAII
KOl.UTKhY VOID.
I am, therefore, compelled to ad
vise that any warrants certified by
the county clorx which nro In oxcee
of the dobt limit will bo void, and
In all probabtltt) make liable the
county clork nnd hU bondsmen to
the oxtont that any Innocent pur
chaser of such wnrmuts may be de
frauded. And, 1 havo alio to ad
vlso tho county treasurer that any
void warranto so oashud by him
would not constltuto n legal credit,
nnd that the treasurer and hi
bondamen would bo legally compell
ed to reimburse tho treasury for nil
such moneys o oxpondod In the re
demption of void paper.
j Tho law governing this quesUon
1 1 so plain, and tho decisions of the
courts In construing tho constltu
(tlonnl provisions nbovo rcforrcd to
aro so clear, thnt I am nppnllcd at
tho discovery made by tho county
I clerk nnd county treasurer, evidenc
ed In the compilation you have sub
ml t tod. And I am astonished thnt
tho county commlsslonora who aro
chargod with full cognizance of Uio
condition of tho county, whoso
funds they havo to manage, should,
without making Inquiry or noyilrlng
an intelligent undsmtamUnrQf the
situation, contlnuo to pans appro
priations whon tho most curnory
examination should nnd would havo
rovoalod to them Uio actual condi
tion of tho county credit. In tho
cose of KTltoch vs. County Commis
sioners (47 I'nc. 1020), Chlot Jus
tice .ane, writing the opinion of
tho court construing tho provlalonn
of tho constitution above cited,
states:
"Tho language of 8ec. 3, Art. 14,
Const., that 'no dobt, In excess of
the taxes of the current year, shall
be oreatod,' ounnol be held to mean
that the county may expend the en
tire revenue of the year, and In ad
dition thereto create Indebtedness
equal to tho tax levy of Ihu joar.
A debt cannot bu Incurred In one
)eur, and floated over to the next,
and paid out or its revenue, with-
out a vote. Tho lndebtodiu of
I the year must be paid nut of Its
revenues.
' "If official or other services are
not paid for as they are renderod,
or goods aud ohuttols are not paid
for on delivery, a 'debt' Is ortsttod,
In the sense In which the term is
used In the section mentioned,
hough there may be money In the
rsury to pay K.
"The language of the coiwtltu
iIoahI provision, 'no debt In excess
of the toxes for the current year
shall be created (Article 14, Sec.
3), means all debts which cannot be
paid out of tho revenues of tho
year. In determining when the lim
it is reached, liabilities Imputed by
the law should bo taken into con
sideration, as well its those created
by contract.
"The oounty will not be estopped
to deny that any oounty warrant Is
beyond the debt limit, though the
elalui for which It was Issued was
duly amUted, muI the warrant was
duly issued by the auditor, and cer
tified to be within the debt limit.
All persons receive warmnto which
may be above the debt Urn It ut
their peril.
"County warrants or oounty
bonds Usuod without authority of
law are not vnlld In tho hnnda of
j persons receiving thorn, or to whom
I thoy may lmvo beon nsalgnod. Such
( (Continued on puge three,)
WE ARE NOT IN THE FIRE
j; j: INSURANCE TRUST j;
I R. W. CROCKETT & CO., Inc. !j
; ESTABLISHED I898i FIFTEENTH YEAR. ;
I GENERAL INSURANCE AGENTS
I AND BROKERS
i J For nearly Fifteen Yoara thto Agoncy has oought, by Boloctinj-
i' '. doslrnblo connections, approved methods In handling business on '
trusted to it, and closo poraon.il attention to details, to rondcr
, ,' full measuro of sorvlco to thoio who favor It with their business. ,
NEW BUSINESS DESIRED ON A
I COMPENSATING BASIS .
C !' Wo wrlto Fire, Fldollty, Sloam Holler, Plato OIom, Automqbllo i
i (Accident, Thofl and Flro), Uurglnry, Liquor Uonds nnd nil man- i
,' ', nor of Insurnnco. Wo'lt o your bonds. All policies wrttton at
ij S our I'rlco offlco no Bonding away to Salt Kako City or clsowhore. ,
j I ABSTRACTERS OF TITLES FOR jl
CARBON COUNTY
' ' I'rlco Klvor Valley farm lands and orchards on lone timo nnd
, ( easy payments that promise great Incrcaso In valuo with Uio com-
i Ing years. Wo havo many bargains in City nnd Ranch property, ,
i J i'y both Improved nnd unimproved. Taxes, Honto and property of non- ',
', ', resldonto looked after. Ji
! WE ARE NOT IN THE FIRE i;
; INSURANCE TRUST
! It, W. CIIOCIU-TT, 1-rcsldctiU U V. KLDIIKIMU:. Hecrctary.
1 1 l'HICi:, UTAH J
t
The Stamp of
Quality
We want to sell you Butter
and Eggs and have your
patronage. We urge our
reasonable prices, but more
than that, we believe that
you will appreciate the sup
eriority of our goods.
Everything the best in
Meats and Groceries.
The No-Trust Market
I Phono No, 21. Price, Utah.
PRICE
! Club Bar
HARRY A. GRAIN
Proprietor.
FIRST-CLASS RESORT FOR
GENTLEMEN. j
South Ninth Street, Price, I
J Utah. 5
Ask us for rates on fire Insurance
before placing your policies. Hate,
are ohnnging. It. W. Crockett &
Co. Advt.
Ileforo buying a farm or u piece
of olty proporty consult our lists,
it. W. Crockott & Co. Advt.
Licensed abstractors of titles un
der 110,000.00 bonds. It. W. Crock,
ott & Co. Advt.
ji Prompt Service Dray D1
K. A. TIIOMI'HO.V, Pmprictor.
i Here to Servo Kvoryonn nt lleasonablo Charges for Ut
Ji Sorvlco.
!; Dealer in Aberdeen Cq
i HAY AND GIUIN.
Itosldonco Phono OOx; Offlco Phono 60, PIUCK,?
UTAH FUEL COMPAf
MI.NKUS AND HHIPPIMIH OF
CARBON COUNTY COA
MANUFACTURERS OP C?
UAHIION COUNTY COAI.H Allll TIIK 1UJHT
In the market fiTr Ilorsen ami Mules for Mines, Hay nni
Mine Props, Ties mid Hpnigs nnd various other local P
IIOMK INDU8T1UHH I'ATIIONI.KD.
(leueral Offices 8ovenlh Floor Judge Iluildlug, Snlt U
Mines at Clear Creok, Winter Quarters, Castlo Oitte
Sunuysldo, Carbon County, Utah.
--
1 1 Culbcrt li. Olson, Kiiimott K. OlHsl
C President. 'lco Pros, sml
N. K. Heiiuioiini, Kec'y and Treas. I
Eastern Utah Realty ComS
? i'ltiri:, utaii. I
HKilal Opportiuiltlei' Offertnl In I mtorn Utah- sj
!
S VU IIUY AND SKMi UANCII1 AND I'AItM IjANDS A
V MND HEOUItlTIUH, CITY LOTH AND nESIDKX-fi
,i S Money Loaned, Titles Abstractod, Examined and rerm
. Notary Work Done. Insurance Written. Wrlto for lfi
, ( to Olson & Seamount, Price, S
