| Show THAT OPINION OF CITY ATTORNEY BAGLEY 1 l aa ft takes issue with halvarson as to their eligibility to hold office 4 A from saturday s standard there basteen much comment on district Halver sons opinion made tew days ago that the railroad employed emp loyes in ogden arc not eligible to ibold the office of councilman and a number of ineys have taken with sir halvarson and among hoe who held views in conflict Is city attorney Att oraey bagley when seen yesterday and to give his interpretation of the section of the constitution quoted by mr Il alverson he said 1 I have fead the interview by district attorney halverson concerning the meaning of section 17 article 12 of the constitution of and its application to the holding of office by employed emp loyes of tho railroads the section reads as follows no officer employed emp loye attorney or agent of any corporation company or association doing business under or by virtue of any municipal charter or franchise shall be eligible to or permitted to hold any municipal office in the municipality granting such charter or franchise this section only applies to such corporations or companies as are holding their charters or franchises from ogden city and by authority of they do business of course aay corporation that owes its business existence to a franchise or charter granted by he city such as the rapid transit hallway the electric ligpit franchise and others comes within the class mentioned in the constitution if it were true that every employed or agent of any corporation po doing business within the city limits were precluded from holding office probably over one third of the qualified voters of this municipality would be disqualified on that ground there are probably two thousand railroad employed emp loyes within this city that aro employed cither by alio southern pacific union pacific rio grandc or short lino ralli oad companies it these employed come within the per view of the district attorneys opinion of course it would lender each and all of them to hold any office either by election or appointment in the city i this Is a most startling propose 1 alon and the gr eat wonder is that it true it has not been acted upon and thought of for lo 10 thee miny years but the fact ia ithac neither of these railroads are operating or doing business by virtue of any municipal charter or franchise from ogden city they are incorporated either under the laws of states or of he different states in the union and their franchises operate and do business were and based upon these charters ana they never have obtained or asked for a charter or franchise from this city tor that purpose to be sure the short line company has obtained certain privileges to run their trains upon certain streets of ogden city but in my judgment this Is not such a franchise or charter as is meant by the constitution and such privileges are only incidental to the main business and operations of the company the oregon short line company is not doing its business by virtue of such a privilege to further illustrate the position I 1 take will gay hat in april or may of this year the city council granted to the short line the privilege of using a portion ot thirtieth street for their right o kow suppose that at the time thia was granted a number of city officials happened to be employed emp loyes of the short line would this action work a vacation of their offices and render them subject to a proceedings for removal it so under buch circumstances no legal grant or privilege could have been made by the city council indeed an assent to such a view would leid le id to very serious and unheard of complications 1 I notice that the district attorney as apprehensive that if railroad men should bo entitled to hold office that they might block any legislation not agreeable to the railroads I 1 do not believe thero la any grounds for such apprehension the great majority of the host of railroad employed emp loyes in this or any other city have a greater regard for fealty for their city and its good government and their homes and prosperity than they have for the corporation po ration tor which they happen to bo for the time employed it look to me that unless it can be shown that a corporation awes its business existence to a privilege granted by the city to do business therein that its employed emp loyes are perfect ly to not only vote but to hold within the city and indeed it seems to me that it would be a most remarkable state of affairs in this city if owing to railroad conditions such a largo proportion of its inhabitants would be dis franchised and disqualified from holding office |
