Trapp v. Wells Fargo Express Co.

• Decision Date: 24 October 1908
• Docket Number: Case Number: 403
• Citation: 97 P. 1003,1908 OK 204,22 Okla. 377
• Parties: TRAPP, Auditor, v. WELLS FARGO EXPRESS CO.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

1908 OK 204

97 P. 1003

22 Okla. 377

TRAPP, Auditor, v. WELLS FARGO EXPRESS CO.

Case Number: 403

Supreme Court of Oklahoma

Decided: October 24, 1908

Syllabus

¶0 1. STATUTES--Construction--Intent. It is a proper rule of construction that the entire act or instrument is to be examined, with a view of arriving at the true intention of each part, and that effect is to be given, if possible, to the whole instrument and to every section and clause.

2. SAME--Conflicting Provisions. If different portions seem to conflict, courts must harmonize them, if practicable, favoring that construction which will render every word operative, rather than one which makes some words idle and nugatory.

3. SAME--Acts Passed on Same Day. Acts passed on the same day, separately, or at the same session of the Legislature, are to be construed together, the presumption being that they are all intended to operate, and may not be revoked or altered by construction, when the words may have their proper operation without it.

4. ELECTIONS--State Election Board--Duties. The state election board is a part of the executive department of the state, and is subordinate to the Secretary of State in performing duties imposed upon it by statute, when the Constitution requires such Secretary to have such duties performed.

5. SAME--Ballots--Duty of Secretary of State. It is the duty of the Secretary of State to certify the title and text of each measure presented by initiative or referendum petition, or the Legislature, including constitutional amendments, to the State printer in due time, and to see that the state printer has printed upon the official ballots, as contracted for by the state printing board, such title and text.

6. STATE FINANCE--Submission of Referendum--Expenses. The Secretary of State is required to forward, or cause to be forwarded, to the county clerk of each county a sufficient number of pamphlets relating to questions submitted, by initiative and referendum petitions, or by the Legislature, including constitutional amendments, to the people for their approval or rejection: but such duty having been performed by the state election board, and a voucher having been drawn by the said board upon an available fund, to be paid not only for transporting said pamphlets, but also the election supplies, it being admitted that the charges were reasonable and just, and that the same should be paid by the state, the fact that in such voucher for transporting election supplies was included the charge for transporting the pamphlets, which was properly an expense belonging to the office of Secretary of State, is not such prejudicial error as will require the reversal of the judgment of the lower court; the interests of the state not being prejudiced thereby.

7. SAME. It is more advisable, however, for the Secretary of State, in the future, to transmit such pamphlets and arguments, it being a duty, under the statute, solely imposed upon his office, separately and independent of the election board, to the county clerk of each county.

Error from, District Court, Logan County; A. H. Huston, Judge.

Agreed case between M. E Trapp, State Auditor, and others and the Wells Fargo Express Company. From the judgment, the State Auditor brings error. Affirmed.

On August 14, A. D. 1908, M. E. Trapp, State Auditor, and the state election board, by its secretary, Will Linn, and Leo Meyer. acting Secretary of State, and the Wells Fargo Express Company submitted for decision of the district court of Logan county the following agreed case, to wit:

"It is hereby agreed by the Wells Fargo Express Company by William Murdoch, its attorney, and the state of Oklahoma, by Chas. West, Attorney General, that a controversy shall be submitted, under the Oklahoma statute, to the judge of the district court of Oklahoma, for Logan county, in writing, with the request for a judgment to be rendered therein at the earliest convenience of said court, and that the losing party shall at once perfect an appeal to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, and that the matter be submitted to that court with a request, concurred in by both parties, for the advancement of the case on the docket at the earliest convenience of said court, and for said purpose the following are the agreed facts:

"That now, and at all times named therein, J. T. Gray was the chairman, and Will Linn was the secretary, of the state election board of said state, and that said state election board, through the act of said J. T. Gray, as chairman and Will Linn as secretary who in doing so were authorized to do said act, sent, or caused to be sent, transmitted, and transported by Wells Fargo Express Company certain registration certificates, election supplies, and pamphlets of the initiative and referendum propositions, all of which to be voted upon at the election to be held in the year nineteen hundred and eight in the state of Oklahoma, from Guthrie, the place where said state election board then and now held its office, to various places within said state, as shown by the itemized statement hereto attached; that said Wells Fargo Express Company was then and there a common carrier in said state, and under the duty and obligation of transporting and transmitting the said election supplies delivered to it for transportation, and did faithfully its full duty in the transportation and transmission of the same, and that a reasonable and legal compensation, according to the legal, reasonable, and proper rate, for said transportation was two hundred and twenty-two dollars and twenty-two cents ($ 222.22), as shown by the voucher and itemized statement hereto attached and made a part hereof; that the said voucher with said statements was examined and approved by said state election board, as shown by the official indorsement of said J. T. Gray and Will Linn thereon; that the said account and voucher was duly and properly sworn to as being just, correct, and that the services were actually rendered as therein stated by Geo. P. Hickey, who in doing so was acting as the agent of said Wells Fargo Express Company, and who had actual knowledge of the facts therein sworn to--all of which appears on said voucher; that a proper voucher therefor was filed with the Auditor of said state in due time, as shown by the indorsement on said voucher; and that said Auditor refuses to draw a warrant for the payment of the same, for the reason that house bill 174 apparently places the duty of preparing and transmitting said election supplies upon the Secretary of State, who was allowed a contingent fund by the Legislature, whereas the general election law, subsequently passed to house bill 174, puts said duty of transmitting said supplies upon the secretary of the state election board, and that an appropriation was properly made to cover the expenses of said state election board, and said Auditor does not know whether said warrant should be drawn upon the account of said Secretary of State or said state election board; that if said warrant is to be drawn upon the account of said Secretary of State, the said Secretary of State has not examined and approved the same; that the Auditor is ready and willing and anxious to perform whatever duty in the premises may be required by law, and joins with the Wells Fargo Express Company in praying the court for an early adjudication and order as to which fund, if any, he shall draw the warrant for said expense upon, and in this controversy the Secretary of State and said state election board join through its attorney, the Attorney General of the state, and by the signature to the hereunto statement of facts."

On the same day the same was heard, and the court found from the admitted facts that it was the duty of the State Auditor to audit and allow the claim of the Wells Fargo Express Company, as therein set forth, and judgment was accordingly rendered against the auditor, requiring him to audit and allow the claim of the Wells Fargo Express Company for carrying and transporting election supplies, as set out in the voucher, and to draw his warrant therefor, and deliver the same to the said express company, and that the said express company recover its costs therein expended. Exceptions were duly saved on the part of the State Auditor, and an appeal prosecuted to this court on petition in error.

Chas. West, Arty. Gen., W. C. Reeves, Asst. Arty. Gen., and E. G. Spilman, Asst. Arty. Gen., for plaintiff in error.

Wm. Murdoch, for defendant in error.

WILLIAMS, C. J.

¶1 (after stating the facts as above). The question involved in this controversy is whether or not the expenses of transmitting and transporting certain registration certificates, election supplies and pamphlets, relating to the initiative and referendum propositions, including the proposed constitutional amendments submitted by the Legislature, to be voted upon at the general election on the first Tuesday in November, A. D. 1908, from the state capitol, the place where the state election board and the Secretary of State maintain their respective offices, to various places in the state, shall be paid out of funds available for the state election board, or funds available for the expenses of the office of Secretary of State.

"The Secretary of State shall submit to the state or public printer a copy of the title and text of each measure presented by initiative petition, referendum petition, and by the Legislature. Printed copies shall be supplied the document rooms, from time to time, and the chief of each shall supply copies to applicants and in such quantities as demanded, provided reasonable assurance is given that they will be placed singly in the hands of the people." (Section 9, House Bill 174, Sess. Laws Okla. 1907-08, p. 446, c. 44.)

"The ballots and other election supplies for the state

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