Farley v. Stirling

KNIGHT, J.

An appeal by plaintiff from a judgment in favor of defendants, in an action brought by plaintiff, as a taxpayer of Monterey County, to enjoin said county, its su

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pervisors, and horticultural commissioner from manufacturing and selling therein poisoned barley to be used in the extermination of ground-squirrels. Before trial the action was dismissed as to the members of the board of supervisors.

Appellant contends upon this appeal that the evidence is insufficient to support the findings and that the findings do not sustain the judgment; also that the enterprise engaged in by the county was illegal and that taxation of property for that purpose constituted a taking of the property without due process of law in violation of section 13 of article I of the state constitution and of the fourteenth amendment of the federal constitution.

The trial court found that the practice here complained of was undertaken and carried on by respondents with the sole design of speedily and effectively destroying ground-squirrels, and “as a sanitary and salutary measure conducive to and in promotion of the general health and economic well being of the people of said Monterey County”; that it was impracticable for the land owners of that county to obtain enough suitable, effective, and reliable squirrel poison in the open market for the purposes stated and that the prices at which those poisons were obtainable “were so great that the farmers, ranchers and landholders of said Monterey County could not be induced to undertake the extermination of ground-squirrels,” thereby making it necessary for the county to provide such poisons; that the county purchased the necessary ingredients, including the .poison and the grain, separately, and that the same were afterward mixed and distributed by the county horticultural commissioner and his deputies directly to the farmers, ranchers, and landholders of said county at the actual cost of said ingredients to the county, no charge being made for mixing and distribution; that occasional sales were made through local merchants upon which a ten per cent commission was allowed, but that the quantity sold through said merchants was insignificant, amounting to practically nothing; that no profit was made or loss sustained by the county in the manufacture and distribution of said poisoned barley. The court further found that said undertaking by the county was not carried on as a business nor was said poisoned barley sold at wholesale or retail quantities to the “general public” nor in the “open market.” It further found that the practice complained of did not