People v. Evans

• Citation: 93 N.E. 388,247 Ill. 547
• Parties: PEOPLE v. EVANS.
• Decision Date: 21 December 1910
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

247 Ill. 547

93 N.E. 388

PEOPLE

v.EVANS.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 21, 1910.

Error to Saline County Court; G. H. Dorris, Judge.

Harry Evans was convicted of violating the miners' examining board act (Hurd's Rev. St. 1909, c. 93), and he brings error. Affirmed.Defrees, Buckingham, Ritter & Campbell (M. S. Whitley, of counsel), for plaintiff in error.

W. H. Stead, Atty. Gen., W. C. Kane, State's Atty., and June C. Smith (George B. Gillespie and A. M. Fitzgerald, of counsel), for the People.

At the May term, 1910, of the county court of Saline county an information was filed against the plaintiff in error, Harry Evans. This information charged him with having violated the statute known as the ‘Miners' Examining Board Statute.’ The information alleged, in substance, that the plaintiff in error was the mine manager and foreman of the Wasson Coal Company, operating a coal mine in Saline county, and that as such he suffered and permitted one Mason Dunning to be employed and to work in said mine as a miner, and that said Mason Dunning did not have a certificate of competency and qualification from the miners' examining board of some county in Illinois, and was not working under the direction of a certificated miner. The plaintiff in error moved to quash the information for insufficiency, which motion was overruled. A plea of not guilty was entered, and thereupon a trial was had, which resulted in the plaintiff in error being found guilty, and a fine of $100 was assessed against him by the judgment of the court. Motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment were made and overruled, and this writ of error is prosecuted to reverse that judgment. The only question raised in this court is the constitutionality of the statute under which the plaintiff in error was found guilty and fined.

The uncontradicted evidence is that the plaintiff in error was the mine manager and foreman of the mine of the Wasson Coal Company, situated in Saline county; that he had the complete management of the mine, including the employment and discharge of miners; that at the time complained of one Mason Dunning was employed in the mine; that Mason Dunning did not have a certificate or license from the miners' examining board of Saline county or of any other county; that he was a citizen of the United States and of the state of Illinois and a resident of Saline county; that he had been working in the mine of the Wasson Coal Company as an assistant of his father, who was a certificated miner; that some days prior to the filing of the information the father of Mason Dunning ceased to work in the mine. Mason Dunning, however, continued to work in the mine notwithstanding his father's departure and without being under the direction of or working with any other certificated miner. This fact was communicated to plaintiff in error and known by him, but he permitted Mason Dunning to continue to work.

The miners' examining board statute (Hurd's Rev. St. 1909, p. 1515) reads as follows:

‘An act to amend an act entitled ‘An act to provide for the safety of persons employed in and about coal mines, and to provide for the examination of persons seeking employment as coal miners, and to prevent the employment of incompetent persons as miners, and providing penalties for the violation of the same,’ approved June 1, 1908, in force July 1, 1908. (Approved June 5, 1909. In force July 1, 1909.)

‘Section 1. Be it enacted by the people of the state of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: That an act entitled ‘An act to provide for the safety of persons employedin and about coal mines, and to provide for the examination of persons seeking employment as coal miners, and to prevent the employment of incompetent persons as miners, and provide penalties for the violation of the same,’ approved June 1, 1908, and in force July 1, 1908, be and the same is hereby amended to read as follows:

‘Sec. 1. That hereafter no person whosoever shall be employed or engaged as a miner in any coal mine in this state without having first obtained a certificate of competency and qualification so to do from a miners' examining board of some county in this state: Provided, that any miner actually employed in this state when this act becomes effective, who has been employed as a miner at least two years in coal mines, shall be entitled to a certificate permitting him to work in the mines of this state as a practical miner: And provided further, that any such certificated miner may have one uncertificated person working with him and under his direction for the purpose of learning said business of mining and becoming qualified to obtain a certificate in conformity with the provisions of this act.

‘Sec. 2. In each county of this state where the business of coal mining is carried on, there shall be created a board to be styled ‘The Miners' Examining Board,’ to consist of three practical, experienced, and skillful miners of at least five years' continuous experience, who are then actually engaged in mining coal in the county for which they are appointed. Such appointments shall be made by the county judges in their respective counties immediately after this act shall be in effect, and on or before the 10th day of January in each year thereafter, and all vacancies in said board shall be at once filled by the county judge of the county in which such vacancy occurs. Each of said boards shall organize by electing one of the members president, and one member secretary; and every member of said board shall, within ten days after his appointment, take and subscribe an oath or affirmation before a properly qualified officer of the county in which he resides, that he will honestly and impartially discharge his official duties; each of said boards shall provide itself with an impression seal, having engraved thereon the name of said board and the county for which it is appointed. Members of said board shall receive, as compensation for their services, three and fifty one-hundreaths dollars ($3.50) per day for each day actually engaged in their official duties, and all legitimate and necessary expenses incurred in attending the meetings of said board, under the provisions of this act, and no part of the salary of the members of said board, or the expenses thereof, shall be paid out of the state treasury except as herein provided.

‘Sec. 3. Each of said examining boards shall designate some convenient meeting place in their respective counties, of which due notice shall be given by advertisement in two or more newspapers of the proper county. At such meeting a book of registration shall be open in which shall be registered the name and address of each and every person to whom said board shall issue a certificate of competency under this act.

‘Sec. 4. Each applicant for examination for the certificate herein provided, shall pay a fee of one dollar, and the amount derived from this source shall be held by said boards respectively and applied to the expense and salaries herein provided, and such as may arise under the provisions of this act. The said boards shall report in writing quarterly to the court appointing them, all moneys received and disbursed under the provisions of this act, together with the number of miners examined under this act and the number failing to pass the required examination. All moneys over and above the amount required to pay the salaries of the members of said board in their respective counties, and their necessary actual expenses while in the performance of their duty as such boatd, shall be paid to the State Treasurer on the second Wednesday of each and every month, and the same shall be paid out by said State Treasurer only upon warrants issued by the county judge of the county for which such board was appointed. Said warrants shall show on their face that they are for the payment of the salary and necessary actual expenses of the members of said board in such county.

‘Sec. 5. It shall be the duty of said boards respectively to meet on the first Wednesday of each month and to remain in session for a period of two days, and no longer, and said meeting shall be public. The said board shall examine under oath all persons residing in the county in which said board resides who apply for certificates as provided in this act, and said board shall grant such certificates of competency or qualifications to such applicants as are qualified, which certificates shall entitle the holders thereof to be employed as, and to do the work of miners in any county in this state, without other or further examination. No certificate of competency shall issue or be given to any person under this act unless he shall produce evidence of having had not less than two years of practical experience as a miner or with a miner, and in no case shall an applicant be deemed competent unless he appear in person before the said board and orally answer intelligently and correctly at least tweleve practical questions propounded to him by the board pertaining to the requirements and qualifications of a practical miner. The said board shall keep an accurate record of the proceedings of their meetings and in said record shall show a correct detailed account of the examination of each applicant with questions asked and their auswers, and at each of these meetings the board shall keep said record open for public inspection. Any miner's certificate granted under the provisions of this act shall not be transferable and any transfer of the same shall be deemed a violation of this act. Such certificates shall be issued only at meetings of said boards, and said certificates shall not be legal unless then and there signed by at least two members of said board, and sealed with the seal of the board issuing the certificate.

‘Sec. 6. That no person shall hereafter engage as a miner in any coal mine without having obtained such certificate as aforesaid. And no person shall employ any person as...