16 Colo. App. 215 | Colo. Ct. App. | 1901
Lead Opinion
ON REHEARING.
This is a proceeding in mandamus to compel the board of county commissioners of Grand county to levy a tax for the payment of a judgment. The suit was instituted on the 21st
The specific ground on which the judgment was reversed was that there was no proof that the commissioners had refused to levy the tax. There was evidence of a meeting between Mr. Rohan, the chairman of the board, and the representatives of the relator, in the city of Denver, at which Mr. Rohan, purporting to represent the board, refused to agree to the levy of a tax. No authority of Rohan to act for the board was shown, and we held that a refusal by him was not evidence of a refusal by the county. The date of the conversation between Rohan and the relator’s representatives. did not appear. At the subsequent trial the relator undertook to supply the insufficiency of proof in which the weakness of his case, as first made, consisted. The testimony concerning the conversation between Rohan and the parties speaking for the relator, was the same as before ; but it was supplemented by an order of the board from which, it is asserted, Rohan derived his authority. That order reads as follows : “ On motion it was ordered that Mr. John Rohan, chairman, be empowered to go to Denver to meet the creditors of the county, and that he is hereby authorized to make such arrangements as he can for the benefit of the county.” In further support of his case, the relator introduced another order of the board of which the following is a copy: “ On motion the board decided not to take any action in regard to the judgment of New Hampshire Savings Bank and the King judgment, and refuses to make any levy on same at this meeting.” The first of these orders was made on the 3d day of October, 1893, and the second, on the 16th of October, 1893. The relator also proved by a witness, Thomas H. Reynolds, that he, as agent of the owner of the judgment, was present at a regular meeting of the board on October 3, 1893, and made a demand on the commissioners that they levy a tax to pay it, but they declined to take any official action while he was
The petition for mandamus was verified on the 20th, and filed on the 21st, day of September, 1898, and the alternative writ was ordered on the latter day. The petition alleged that demand had been made on the board for the levy of a tax, and that the board had refused to order a levy, the refusal of which the relator complained was not the refusal which he proved. Unless, before the petition was verified and filed, the board had denied compliance with the demand, no sufficient ground for the proceeding existed, and the relator was not entitled to the writ. Everything that he showed relative to a refusal occurred a considerable time after the action was commenced and the case comes to us again as destitute of necessary proof as it was at first.
The judgment might be reversed at this point, but another question, which more vitally affects the controversy, is now pressed upon us for decision. In our former investigation of the case, the importance of the question was not recognized; while it was made the subject of some remark in the opinion, it was not determined, the decision turning upon another and totally different question; and in the opinion which gave rise to this motion for a rehearing, it was entirely overlooked. As the case is to be retried, and as the question is one which is of controlling importance in all cases presenting the same distinctive features with this, I conceive it to be the duty of this court to express an opinion upon it, and, interposing a few observations by way of preface, I shall put it into form, and proceed to its consideration.
Under our practice, when notice of an application for a writ of mandamus is given in the prescribed manner, no alternative writ issues, but when the application is made without notice, there must be an alternative writ, and when there is an alternative writ, it is the first pleading, and the answer is made to it. Civil Code, secs. 310, 311. In this case there seems to have been an alternative writ, but it does not appear
The petition, after alleging the rendition of the judgment, and its nonpayment, set forth a demand in writing upon the board for the levy of a tax. ' This demand recited that the judgment was upon warrants and orders of the county; and it required the board to levy a tax upon the taxable property of the county to pay the judgment, principal and interest. The refusal which was averred, was a refusal to levy a tax to pay the judgment, or any part of it. The demand was in
By the law in force when these warrants were issued, it was provided that there should be levied and assessed upon taxable real and personal property within the state, in each year, for ordinary county revenue, including the support of the poor, not more than ten mills on the dollar; for the support of schools, not less than two, nor more than five mills on the dollar; and for road purposes, not more than five mills on the dollar. Section 2816, Gen. Stat. This section was amended by an act approved April 6, 1891, so as to read that there should be levied and assessed for ordinary county revenue, such rate as would be sufficient to defray the ordinary expenses ; for the support of the poor, not more than three mills on the dollar; for road purposes, not more than seven mills on the dollar; and for the purpose of paying outstanding warrants and other floating indebtedness, not more than three mills on the dollar. Session Laws, 1891, p. 112. See also same book, p. 290. Further provision was made in relation to outstanding warrants, by an act approved April 8, 1893, as follows: “It shall be the duty of the board of county commissioners of any county in this state which has, or shall have, any unliquidated and unpaid county warrants or orders, drawn on any fund, for the payment of which there are no funds in the county treasury of such county, and to pay
The provisions respecting the payment of county warrants are very clear and precise. The warrants are payable in the order of their presentation to the county treasurer, and not otherwise. The law enters into and becomes part of the contract between the county and the holders of its warrants. Each registered warrant matures as soon as sufficient money has accumulated in the treasury to the credit of the proper fund for its payment, after paying all other warrants of the same class whose registry was prior in time. The holder of a warrant has the right to its payment at its maturity; and without his consent he cannot be deprived of that right by the holders of other warrants, or by the county. The payment
The proposition submitted to us by the relator amounts to this : That by the simple expedient of reducing his claim to judgment, the holder of a county warrant avoids the statutory provisions concerning its payment, and secures an advantage to himself which the statute prohibits.
The question before us is not new. In different forms it has been frequently before the courts, and I am unable to find any substantial disagreement among the decisions. The consensus of judicial opinion is that the merger of a debt into a judgment changes its form, but not its identity; and that when the judgment is presented to a court for affirmative action, and is sought to be collected by a process not contained within itself, the court will look behind the judgment in order to ascertain from the nature of the original claim what method may be adopted for its enforcement. Inasmuch as this statement is disputed, I think a careful review of the principal authorities will not be misapplied labor.
In Boynton v. Ball, 121 U. S. 457, the question was whether a judgment recovered against a bankrupt after the time of commencement of the bankruptcy proceedings, upon a debt which existed prior to that time, was released by the discharge in bankruptcy of the 'judgment defendant. In the discussion of that question the court said: “ Two propositions are advanced by counsel for defendant in error in support of the judgment of the supreme court of Illinois, as reasons why the certificate obtained so long after the judgment in the state court, should not have the effect of a discharge of the debt evidenced by that judgment. The first of these is, that the original debt on which the action was brought in the circuit court of Stephenson county.no longer exists, but that it was merged in the judgment of that court against Boynton, and was therefore not released under the act of congress, which declares that all debts provable against the estate of the bankrupt at the time bankruptcy proceedings were initiated,'shall be satisfied by the order of the court discharging the bankrupt.
I do not understand that the foregoing decision involves any disagreement with other utterances of the same court to the effect that a judgment is conclusive of the validity of the cause of action. The character of the indebtedness upon which the suit was brought appeared, as is the case here, in the petition for mandamus; from the facts concerning it which that pleading set forth, it appeared that the original claim was void, and the court holding itself not precluded by the judgment from an examination of the cause of action which resulted in the judgment for the purpose of ascertaining what the remedy should be, simply decided, upon such examination, that no tax could be legally levied for the payment of the claim, because it was void.
In United States v. Macon, 99 U. S. 582, it was sought to compel the authorities of the county of Macon, Missouri, to levy a tax for the payment of a judgment recovered by the
I quote the following from the opinion in Ralls County Court v. United States, 105 U. S. 733, a case in which mandamus was asked to compel the levy of a tax for the payment of a judgment recovered upon interest coupons attached to bonds issued by the county: “ The present suit is in the nature of an execution, and its object is to enforce the payment, in some way provided by law, of the judgment which has been recovered. The only defenses which can be considered are those which may be presented in the proper course of judicial pro
A dissenting opinion -was delivered by Judge Cole, in which he argued that the board was, by section 3275, authorized to levy a tax to pay off the judgments, even although taxes for other purposes had been levied to the extent of the maximum of its authority. But in the case of Polk v. Winett, 37 Iowa, 34, a case decided after Land Co. v. Sac County, although reported in an earlier volume, the same judge, delivering the opinion of the court, abandoned his former position, and held that the board of supervisors had no authority to levy a tax to pay a judgment rendered upon warrants for ordinary and bridge revenue, where it had, in the same year, levied the maximum rate allowed for those purposes.
Stryker v. Grand County, 77 Fed. Rep. 567, was a proceeding by mandamus to compel the levy of a special tax for the payment of a judgment rendered against the county upon warrants issued by it. The respondent answered, among other things, that taxes had been levied in every year at the highest rate authorized by law. A demurrer to the answer was overruled, and the ruling sustained by the majority of the appellate court. In the opinion, which was delivered by Judge Thayer, it was said that the legislature did not intend that the holder of county warrants should have the right to reduce them to judgment, and to demand the levy of a special tax to pay the judgment when recovered, without reference to the question whether there were other warrants entitled to priority of payment, and without reference to the question whether such levy would increase the annual tax for ordinary county expenses beyond the highest amount allowed by law. From this opinion Judge Sanborn dissented. He disagreed with his associates upon several of the questions discussed, but he concluded as follows: “ By the provisions of Laws, Colo. 1891, pp. Ill, 112, it was made the duty of the board
I conclude my review of authorities by an examination of the case of Rio Grande County v. Burpee, decided by our own supreme court (24 Colo. 57). A peremptory mandamus had been awarded commanding the commissioners of the county to levy a tax to pay a judgment. The validity of the original cause of action was attacked, and the question was presented whether in the mandamus proceeding the court could go back of the judgment for the purpose of inquiring into the validity of the original indebtedness. The court held that it could not, and that it could not go behind the judgment for any purpose, except to determine what means were provided for the payment of the original claim. After citing a number of cases, and among them Ralls County Court v. United States, supra, the court speaking by Mr. Justice Goddard said: “ Summed up, the doctrine of the foregoing and kindred cases is that the judgment conclusively determines the validity of the claim against the county, but gives no new rights in respect to the means of payment. Hence the court will go behind the judgment to determine only what means were provided for the payment of the original claim, in order to apply the same to the payment of the judgment.”
It is strenuously insisted that the foregoing language is not applicable to a case like the one under consideration. The argument is not destitute of ingenuity, and, if the court had expressed itself less clearly, or if there had been any obscurity in its statement of the case, might be entitled to attention.
In the further prosecution of my investigation, I deem it proper to consider the question to what class of judgments the act providing for the levy of taxes to pay judgments was intended to apply. Is a judgment obtained upon a county warrant within its contemplation ? The. supreme court of this state, in Forbes v. Grand County, 23 Colo. 344, discussing the questions when a right of action accrues upon a county warrant, and what the action shall be, uses this significant language : “ While it may be that under some circumstances an action may lie to recover a money judgment against a county upon orders or warrants of this character, yet the policy of the legislature, as evidenced by the various enactments prescribing the manner in which the finances of a county shall be administered, is manifestly against the maintenance of such a suit.” It is evident from the whole tenor of the opinion, and the authorities it cites, that whether the money applicable to the payment of a warrant had been collected and payment of the warrant refused, or whether the board of commissioners failed to levy the proper tax from which the warrant, in its due order, could be paid, the court regarded mandamus as the proper remedy, — in the one case, against the treasurer to compel payment, and in the other, against the board to compel the levy of the tax. It appears from the language we have quoted, that the court was not satisfied that a money judgment could ever be recovered upon a county warrant:
Another reason why the provisions of the judgment act were not designed to embrace judgments upon county warrants, appears upon the face of the act itself. The county commissioners may, at their option, pay all or any part of a judgment by a warrant. A judgment upon a county warrant is within the purview of the statute, or it is not. If it is not, there is nothing to discuss. But if it is, then at the option of the commissioners it may be paid by warrant. The act makes no distinction between judgments, and if its provisions are applicable to a judgment upon a county warrant, then such a judgment is upon precisely the same footing with any other judgment against a county ; the commissioners have a right, by the explicit terms of the law, to pay the judgment by a warrant; and to change the law, or deny the right which it gives, is not within the power of the courts. Now the second warrant may also be reduced to judgment, this judgment paid by another warrant, and the same process repeated forever, so that the time would never come when the county’s creditor would receive his money. We have no right to impute a want of sense to the legislature, or to suppose that a situation so absurd was within its contemplation.
The power invoked in mandamus proceedings upon a judgment against a county, recovered on a county indebtedness, is the power to levy a tax to pay the indebtedness; and in this case the extent of that power must be found in the statute providing the tax to be levied for the payment of outstanding county warrants. The complaint shows that the judgment in respect to which relief is sought, was recovered upon warrants and orders of the county. If the board of commissioners each year since the issue of the warrants, levied the highest amount of tax authorized by the law providing the mode of their payment, it performed its whole duty. Its power was exhausted; and as no court can compel it to act in excess of its power, there is no remedy for the relator upon its judgment. If the board has failed to levy the proper taxes for the payment of the warrants, then, as is said by Judge
It is true, as counsel for the relator suggest, that the petition does not state to what class the warrants upon which the judgment was recovered, belonged, but the omission is immaterial. There are two classes of warrants which may be issued by a county, namely, warrants drawn against the general fund, and warrants drawn against a special fund. Each fund is supplied by taxation within limits prescribed by the legislature, and if a warrant of either kind is put into judgment, the only tax the commissioners are bound to levy is the tax provided for the fund to which it belongs, so that the conclusion which I have reached, applies equally well to warrants of either class reduced to judgment. In my opinion, the only judgments to which the provisions of the act authorizing a tax for the payment of judgments, were intended to apply, are judgments recovered upon claims for the payment of which, as such, no statutory provision exists, and whose payment cannot be compelled, except in pursuance of those provisions, after their reduction to judgment, — as for instance, a claim
I cannot forbear remarking that even upon the relator’s own theory of his case, his petition is insufficient. The power of the commissioners to levy the tax which the relator demands, should have appeared from the statements of the petition. The act upon which he relies provides that all the taxes levied for the payment of judgments shall not exceed one and one half per centum on the dollar of assessed property for any one fiscal year. If, at the time demand was made upon the commissioners for the levy of a tax to pay this judgment, one and one half per centum on the dollar of the assessed property had been levied for the same fiscal year to pay judgments, the commissioners had exhausted their power, and no further levy for such purpose would have been legal, or valid. It should have appeared from the petition either that no tax at all had been levied for that purpose, or, if levies had been made, that they did not amount in the aggregate to one and one half per centum of the assessed property. On this subject the petition is silent. That the board had levied taxes up to the authorized limit, and was without power to make further levy, is entirely consistent with all the averments of that pleading; so that, even if a levy might be ordered for the payment of this judgment, bjr virtue of the provisions of the judgment act, the petition, by failing in the statement of facts from which the power of the commissioners to make the levy might be deduced, showed no right in the relator to the writ.
It is suggested that the refusal of the board to levy a special tax for the payment of this judgment, is in some way,— but how is not explained, — in violation of its duty to the relator, and not consistent with business integrity. I shall devote a few moments to the suggestion. County warrants are issued by statutory authority, and the statute prescribes the conditions upon which they shall become payable, the order of their payment, and the method for providing the fund from which payment must come. Every purchaser of a county warrant is chargeable with notice of the statute under which it
It is asserted that the doctrine announced here in relation to the mode of payment of judgments upon county warrants clashes with the decisions of this court in People v. Rio Grande County, 7 Colo. App. 229, and 11 Colo. App. 124. Where the conflict is, or out of what it arises, is not specified. No question in this case was in that, and no question in that, is in this. There can be no inconsistency between a decision that to compel payment of a judgment against a county, recovered upon a claim for the payment of which, as such, there is no statutory provision, resort must be had to the statute requiring the levy of a tax to pay judgments; and a decision that the payment of a judgment recovered upon a claim for the payment of which, as such, the statute specifically provides, cannot be compelled, except in accordance with the mode prescribed by the statute for the payment of the claim.
This is the first time the principal question I have discussed has been squarely presented to this court; and if, in cases where it was not raised, or was subordinated to some other question, and so failed to receive the consideration to which, in my opinion, it is now entitled, statements have escaped the court from which it might be inferred that we were committed to a doctrine different from that announced here, I regard this as a very proper occasion for their retraction.
The judgment should be reversed.
Reversed.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring specially.
In my opinion, the controlling question in this case, — the one which is decisive of the appeal, — has been settled by the supreme court, and of course this court is concluded by that decision, Forbes v. Grand County, 23 Colo. 344. It is true in that case the court at the outset of its opinion, in announcing the general proposition that it was contrary to legislative policy that a suit could be maintained against a county upon county orders or warrants of the character involved, said, “ While it may be that under some circumstances an action may lie to recover a money judgment ” upon such orders or warrants. It has been urged that the court thereby held there were exceptions to the rule. I do not think that a reading of the entire opinion justifies or supports such a contention. The opinion neither points outnorspecifi.es nor indicates any circumstances which would support a departure .from the rule announced, and if the court’s conclusions upon and determination of the controlling question in the case are correct, which we are bound to acknowledge, I cannot conceive that there could exist any circumstances that would permit the maintenance of a suit upon such warrants contrary to the general rule announced. Neither is such a supposition warranted by the reasoning of the court, nor by that of the authorities cited in its support. On page 349, in announcing its holdings and conclusions, after a citation and discussion of the statutes applicable, the court said that it was evidently the intent of the legislature to provide for the payment of county warrants in the order of their presentation, out of a fund to be realized from the levy and collection of a certain tax provided for by the statute; and further said, that “ not until such a fund had been collected and was applicable to the payment of the warrant in its order of presentation, could a holder require payment thereof, and not until such time would any right of action accrue upon such order or warrant against the county, unless perhaps the board had been derelict in its duty in levying the amount
However, if my construction of the opinion is not correct; and it is conceded that there may be some exceptions to the general rule, yet the warrants upon which judgment was rendered in this case are of identically the same character as were under consideration in that case. In either event, then, the rule laid down in that opinion is directly applicable to this case. The supreme judicial tribunal of the state having thus in my judgment declared the law upon the controverted question involved, this court is bound to hold in conformity to its adjudication. For this reason, I concur in the opinion that the judgment should be reversed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
I shall depart from the usual course pursued by the judges of appellate courts, and the course which has been uniformly pursued by this court in determining questions which occa
Proceeding with this case : this action was begun against the county and resulted in a judgment. It is quite evident from an inspection of the record, from an examination of the petition for mandamus, and from the arguments of counsel,
The leading question discussed by counsel on the original hearing of this appeal, on the two arguments, and on the rehearing, is simply the one whether when a judgment is obtained against a county, mandamus may issue to compel the levy of taxes to pay it. This is the only question which counsel have discussed in their arguments, and the one on which they have principally relied in their briefs, and it is really the leading and fundamental one in the controversy, and the principal one which we are called on to determine. It is one, which being resolved in favor of the relator, entitles him to a mandamus to compel the levy of a tax which shall suffice to pay his judgment, should his allegation and proof ultimately be found sufficient. I have such very strong convictions in regard to this matter that I depart from the usual procedure in such cases and state my individual views in justice to those convictions, and to furnish so far as I can, material of greater or less value for the ultimate determination by the supreme
Proceeding: It has always been the policy of this state to permit the collection of judgments obtained against a county by compelling the levy of a tax. This is, however, outside the question as to whether parties have or have not a right to sue on a county warrant. It is the established rule that all
Some of these cases do not directly pass on the question nor directly determine it, though they are on cognate questions. As already intimated in the 7th Colorado, the circuit court of appeals of this circuit has not entirely agreed with this court, but reached a different conclusion which was expressed in the Board of County Commissioners of Grand County v. King, 67 Fed. Rep. 202. The matter again came before them, and while it adhered to its decision, the court was not unanimous. Stryker v. The Board of County Commissioners, 77 Fed. Rep. 567. How far Judge Sanborn was influenced in his decision by the determination of this court, is not very easily ascertained from his dissenting opinion. He upholds in a very strong argument, the position which the court assumed, and in referring to the discretion given by the statute, follows this court as one of the appellate tribunals of the state, in a measure regarding our decision in the matter as controlling.
We now come in the natural order of the discussion to two decisions of the supreme court which must be analyzed, their force and effect determined and their scope and extent ascertained before I can proceed to announce my own conclusions. I grant if those decisions contain what it is contended on the part of the county they decide, we are concluded. If they do not, we are not concluded. My opinion is unchanged by anything which is contained in them. I will now proceed with the examination of those decisions. What I may say, is not to be taken in the broad sense of criticism, but rather in the more restricted one of an expression of my own convictions concerning the law. It is quite true there is not reserved to this court, nor to any member of it, the right to criticise or overrule the opinions of the supreme court as it is reserved to that distinguished tribunal to criticise and overrule ours, but I think at the end of my term it will not be harmful to general judicial harmony, nor be regarded as totally unwarranted, if I proceed somewhat to analyze these opinions, and see whether therefrom I can gather material sufficient to support what I shall hold. It is quite true the opinions were rendered by one whose professional and judicial equipment has not been surpassed by any who have adorned the supreme bench, and by one whose judgment and understanding have been quickened and invigorated by the practice of a profession which has done more as Burke says to that end than all others. Notwithstanding this, it would seem that the ultimate consequences and effect of the position assumed were not entirely anticipated in Forbes v. The County, 23 Colo. 344, wherein the supreme court decides,
I next support the position which I take that this is a regular and proper judgment and one which maybe enforced because it has practically been so decided by the supreme court in the case of Rio Grande County v. Burpee, 24 Colo. 57. My position in regard to this opinion is entirely independent and over and above and beyond the general doctrine which we have heretofore expressed in this court and maintained by copious citations of decisions of the United States supreme court. This Burpee case was an application for mandamus to compel Rio Grande county to levy a tax to pay a judgment. A judgment was entered awarding the writ and therefrom an appeal was prosecuted to the supreme court and a motion was made to dismiss it on the ground that that court had no jurisdiction. Quite manifestly the parties did not desire to come to this tribunal which had already adjudged them liable. They therefore tried the other to see if they could not secure a different decision. The court proceeded to consider the question of jurisdiction and said that it was only determinable by a con
It is quite trhe that that court, as did I, cited a sentence from the Wisconsin case to the effect that you might go behind the judgment to ascertain whether the claim is one of such a nature that the court is authorized to enforce it, yet it could not be done for the purpose of determining the validity of the original cause of action. I do not think either was fortunate in the selection of that sentence as an illustration of the doctrine. What I gather from all these adjudications of the supreme court is, and I think there is no question about it, that wherever the applicant for mandamus by his plead'ings and by his prayer invites the court to look through the judgment to the cause of action on which the suit was brought, and to the legislative enactment which was the authority for the creation of the obligation in order to enforce what the plaintiff and pleader insists is a contractual right growing out of the enactment authorizing the issue of the security, or providing a remedy for its enforcement, you may look to the cause of action. In those cases you may look through the judgment and behind it to the cause of action to ascertain whether in reality there was authority to issue the security or the law gave a remedy.
The petitioner for mandamus here is not compelled to resort to the statute which authorizes the issue of county warrants and provides for their registration and payment in order to obtain a remedy and enforce a judgment. We do not find any provision in the statute regulating the issue and payment of county warrants which provides for their ultimate payment or collection, reduction to judgment and enforcement thereafter. We do find, however, that ever since 1861 there has been a legislative enactment providing a remedy for the enforcement of judgments against counties. This has been entirely independent of the statutes regulating the presenta
There are many other considerations and arguments which might be adduced in support of the general position which I have assumed in the case. These arguments generally speaking are to be found in the other decisions of this court, and in the dissenting opinion of Judge Sanborn in the Stryker case. I find some warrant and basis for the decision in the cases from the supreme court which I have analyzed, and which I have been compelled to discuss because they have been so persistently thrust on the attention of the court as conclusive of the controversy. I have dealt as generally with them as I could in justice to myself, and I have done no more than I believe I am warranted to do as a judicial officer of the state, and I have said and written what I have in this opinion that I may leave behind me when my term expires in April a judicial expression of a very firm conviction on the subject under consideration. If I am wrong I have been unable to see the right. If I am right, I have done my best to uphold it, and if it shall ultimately become the law of the state, I believe it
I assent to so much of the main opinion written by my Brother Thomson, as holds that the proof respecting the time and the nature of the demand was not substantially altered on the subsequent hearing, and that in reality one of the prerequisites to the commencement of such proceedings, to wit, a sufficient demand, was not made prior to the time that these proceedings were instituted. It is gravely doubtful whether the form of the demand was sufficient; whether it was made at the proper place and on proper parties, and it is clear, as already suggested by Brother Thomson, that it followed rather than preceded the beginning of the proceedings. I should therefore have assented to the reversal of the case simply, but for my desire to put on record my convictions respecting the main proposition which are not in accord with those of my learned brethren. The majority of the court would not be opposed to my conclusions but for the fact that Brother Wilson conceives that his opinion is foreclosed by those decisions of the supreme court which I have attempted to analyze and explain. This makes no difference in the result, but it lends a little more support to my position and somewhat strengthens my conclusions.