People ex rel. Cook Cnty. v. Nelson

• Decision Date: 24 June 1932
• Docket Number: No. 21415.,21415.
• Citation: 181 N.E. 635,349 Ill. 193
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. COOK COUNTY et al. v. NELSON, Auditor of Public Accounts, et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

349 Ill. 193

181 N.E. 635

PEOPLE ex rel. COOK COUNTY et al.

v.NELSON, Auditor of Public Accounts, et al.

No. 21415.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 24, 1932.

Petition by the People of the State of Illinois, on the relation of the County of Cook and another, for a writ of mandamus against Oscar Nelson, Auditor of Public Accounts, and another.

Writ denied.

Urban A. Lavery, of Chicago, for petitioners.

Oscar E. Carlstrom, Atty. Gen., and Montgomery S. Winning, of Springfield, for respondents.

HEARD, C. J.

A distressing public emergency demanding the aid and relief of the state for its residents who were destitute and in necessitous circumstances arose and was apparent in the fall of 1931, and on November 2 the Governor issued a proclamation calling attention to the necessity of authorizing and providing for furnishing employment during the appproaching winter and of obtaining funds to provide emergency relief, and called a special session of the Legislature for November 5, 1931, for the purpose, among others, of ‘supplying funds * * * to provide emergency relief.’ A call for another special session, issued January 14, 1932, recited that ‘during the last two years this country has been experiencing an economic change-a process of deflation following a period of inflation.’ A third call followed on January 28, which recognized the magnitude of the problem of caring for the increasing number of unemployed in the state. In addressing the third special session of the Fifty-Seventh General Assembly upon its convening the Governor very forcefully stated: ‘A civilized people cares for its members in distress. In a few days the resources of voluntary subscription and the ordinary local governmental aid in Cook county and Chicago will fail entirely. * * * The problem must be met. We must care for the many of our citizens who through no fault of their own need food and shelter and clothing. As Governor of the State of Illinois it is my duty to call to your attention this deplorable situation. The constitution vests in you, the legislative body of the State, the power to enact appropriate legislation to meet this condition.’ The Legislature, fully realizing its responsibility, enacted emergency measures which resulted in the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission, with an appropriation of $20,000,000 for the relief of the unemployed and destitute of the state.

During the pendency of the proposed relief legislation in the Legislature and prior to the enactment of the law creating the commission and making the appropriation for moneys to be used by it, the county board of Cook county requested and induced a large number of firms and concerns, including the relator, the Wisconsin Lime & Cement Company, to furnish and provide food, fuel, and wearing apparel from December, 1931, to February 6, 1932, for the public relief of residents of Cook county who were in destitute and necessitous circumstances; the claims and liabilities therefor amounting to about $1,500,000. After its organization the Illinois Emergency Relief Commission took over and assumed the burden of giving relief in Cook county, as well as throughout the state, to persons who in its opinion were destitute and in necessitous circumstances and deserving of such relief. The Wisconsin Lime & Cement Company presented to the commission its claim in the sum of $102,452.89 to be approved for payment by the commission for coal delivered by it to persons in necessitous circumstances, as directed by the Cook County Bureau of Public Welfare, from January 4 to January 31, 1932, inclusive. A voucher for this amount was issued by the commission and forwarded to the respondents, Garrett D. Kinney, director of finance, and Oscar Nelson, auditor of public accounts of the state of Illinois, with the request that Kinney approve the voucher and Nelson issue a warrant to the Wisconsin Lime & Cement Company for the amount of the voucher drawn against the treasurer of the state of Illinois. Kinney refused to approve the voucher and Nelson refused to issue a warrant therefor for the reason that the purchase...