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Show MANDATE IS ISSUED Ott CITY WARRANTS Court Orders Treasurer to Pay Paper Held by Commercial Com-mercial Bank. Special to The Tribune. OGDEX, Dec. 5. The controversy resulting re-sulting from the refusal of the city commissioners com-missioners to pay $32,400 worth of 1015 warrants held by the Commercial National Na-tional bank took a legal turn today when Judge J. A. Howell, on a petition of the bank's cashier, R. A. Moyes, issued an alternative writ of mandate against Carl Allison, city treasurer. That official is instructed to pay the warrants held by the bank or appear in the district court jJBoember 12 to show cause why he has failed to do so. The petition for the bank was filed In the district court today by Attorney H. H. Henderson. It sets lorth that the bank holds 480 warrants, amounting to ?o2,400, for wliich payment has been refused re-fused for the want of funds. It Is also contended that the city treasurer has funds, or will have funds within a few daj's, with which to pay the claims. U hen a demand was made upon the city commissioners a week ago lor payment pay-ment of the warrants .Mayor A. R. Hey-wood, Hey-wood, while declaring that he did not repudiate re-pudiate the claims against the citv. said he did not deem it obligatory upon the -present board to pay tne warrants because be-cause of the fact that they were issued in mo under a former administration. A. j. Fell, the mayor under whose administration adminis-tration the warrants were Issued, is vice president of the bank now making demand de-mand for payment. The present commission holds that under un-der the state law it is illegal for anv board lo contract expenditures beyond the revenues for any one year. Mavor Hewood points out that the amount represented rep-resented in Hie demand of the Commercial ivational bank is only a part of approximately approxi-mately 512o,U00 worth of warrants outstanding out-standing Horn the 1015 administration. Ihe balance of the warrants are held by local banks and individuals. In refusing payment of the last year's claims the mayor contends that the present administration adminis-tration is pursuing a policy of "pay as you go " He asserts that the present board has kept within the revenues for t ie year and that the former administration administra-tion should have done the same. Attorney Henderson, in discussing the legal proceedings started today, asserted that if the debt is a valid one the present pres-ent commissioners should pay it. "If It Is not a valid debt the commissioners should say so and refuse to make payment pay-ment under any circumstances," said the attorney. "The commissioners should not act in such a way as to throw doubt upon the legality of one of its warrants unless they are of the opinion that the warrant! or warrants are illegal. Without saying so .n this case, their evasion of payment is equivalent to an admission that such Is the case." The piactice of using the revenues of a given year to defray the warrantB Issued Is-sued in a previous year is said to have Been going on in this city for the past twenty years. The present board having ra sed the issue, some attorneys have taken the view that the onlv way out of the difficulty is to hold a special election for the purpose of determining whether the present revenues shall be used for wiping out the old debt. City Attorney E. T. Hulaniskl said the present administration would like very inucli to pay the 1915 warrants If Mr FeU or anybody else would indicate how such action can he taken legally. He even offered of-fered co-operation In the matter of legal payment of the old claims. The attorney contends that the supreme courts of both I tan and California have held against any city contracting debts In excess of Its revenue and paying up out of the next year's income. He asserts that Mayor Heywood lias taken the proper stand in refusing to honor the claims. |