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Show I COMMUNICATION I , Editor, Ogden Standard-Examiner: Mv attention has been c;illed to a communication, signed "Farmer," which appeared in the issue of your paper of .Sunday, December 5, 1920, In wlin h article doubt is expressed as to my eligibility to hold the office of director of the Weber county irrigation irriga-tion district. For the Information of the land Owners of the district. 1 have thought It sjroper to answer the communlcsv tion. The section of the stile constitution consti-tution (Section 7 of Article 6) evidently evi-dently referred to. reads as follows: No member of the legislature, during dur-ing the term for which he was elected snail h appointed or elected to an Civil office of profit under this State Which shall Have been created or the Obolumenta of Which shall have been inci eased during the term for which he was elected." You will notice that the section referred re-ferred to provides that b member of the legislature "during the term for which he was elected 1 shall not be appointed or elected to any civil office of-fice of profit under this gtate whenever when-ever "that office shall have been created cre-ated or the emoluments Increased during dur-ing such term." The term of office of a member of the legislature, as prescribed by Section 3 of Article 6 of the co.'iKiitullon, is tWo years from the first ilav of .1 11 1 1 1 1-. nivr rir their election 1 was elected to the I legislature In Xovemoer, 1'J16, and my term of office began January 1. 1 B 1 . . ; 1 was again elected In November. I 1.018, and my term of office began January l, 191U. My first term, there-J 1 fore, expired December 31, liflS. anui .my second or present term will ox- I pire December 31. 1920. I The irrigation district law was en-1 I acted and the office of director there-1 too- treated at the 19 0 9 session of I the legislature (Hesslon Liws Of 1909. Section S, Page 146). The office of j director has been In existence continuously con-tinuously since that time. Tho compensation com-pensation w;us fixed by the legisla- ture of 1909 at $2 50 per day while l attending meetings, together with ac-j ac-j tual and necessary expenses while engaged In official business (Session laws of 1909. Page lt0. Tho com-pensation com-pensation .as tin leased by tho legls-I legls-I lature of 19 17 to IIO per day, tofretnet with th actual and necessary ex-p ex-p uses. It will be reen. therefore, I tout the office was created In and has bet 11 In existence since 1909, and the present compensation was fixed in I 1917. so that if we should assume that 1 the office of director of an irrigation1 i district is a "civil office of profit under! this st,i',- " ;,s contemplated by thisj I section of the constitution, still I ami I not disqualified by reason of being; ; a member of the legislature for the ! , years 1919 and 1920 from holding this j office which was created as abov, .stated in 1909 and the enoluments j fixed in 1917. Those are the only two 1 restrlctlbns fixed by the constitution, (and neither the creation of the office' nor tho inereiLsing of the emoluments thereof has taken place during the' 1 term for which 1 was elected, namely! 1919 ;ind 1920. 1 would not have been eligible to have held a "civil office oil , profit under this state" during 1919 j and 1920" which had mecn created! or th-. enoluments of which had been I Increased during thoe two yearB. The act of 1919 re-enacted prac-l ; lically all ot the provisions of the former acts. The supreme court oil I the Fnlted States has held, and which' Is Indeed the uniform rule of con-i , structlon by the courts, that in such a case as this the re-enactment oper-i , atee as a continuation of the former i . law. I have received the opinion of sov-' era! prominent attorneys upon the matter and they have all replied that I there is not room, for even the possl- blllty of a doubt as to my elitiblllt to hold the office. ' I The regularity of the proceedings' ! for the organization of the district I havi recently been examined on behalf be-half of the 'Kden Clearing House association as-sociation by one of the most prominent promi-nent and aide members ot the 1 Kilcii : bar, and by him fully approved. 1 should not have paid any attention to thr communication were I not con- vlnced that the whole matter has' been raised in the eleventh hour attempt at-tempt to accomplish my defeat at the Tuesday elsi tion. Very truly ours. D. D M'KAT. |