Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-11-30
More Pertinent Questions from Potts

l
tions propounded to Col. Godfrey
by me have not been answered
and as he tells on the streets tha'
they are not worth answering; also
that 1 blame him for drawing uI
contracts go as to protect the bes
interests of the city, it becomes my
duty, both in seIf-defense and fol
the best interests of this city, to
show why l asked those questions
and let the people decide whether
they are worth answering or not
and whether I or Col. Godfrey IL
looking out for the best interests o
the city. claim that it Is always
the best interests of the city or any
other government to respect and
protect the Individual rights of its
citizens, while Col. Godfrey thinks
1t Is nice thing to gain few dol.
lars for the city's revenue at the
expense and sacrifice of individual
rights. In this he makes no differ
ence, provided that public senti
ment will sustain him; the man
whose property is needed for open.
ing, widening or grading streets,
the contractor for city improve.
ments, are all ruined and theii
property confiscated If he can have
his way. No one is safe, not even
the poor day laborer-who is com
pelled to rent a house for his little
family, with only one old COW to
give milk for them, with few OIL,
beds and blankets, some old second
hand furniture ami few hens and
ohickens-this poor down. trodien
class must pay tribute to the city
treasury, to support lot of dema
gogues and xiii glove politicians, il
Col. Godfrey can have his way.
For the correctness of these state
ments I refer the reader to Capt.
Smith, Stevens & Haber, Mappa &
Gay, Capt. Moore, George Lyman,
Mr.. Roberts, P. Beaudry, Bishop
Amat and a host of poor men on
First street, whose property was al
most confscated to pay for widen
ing that street because a few rich
men wanted 1t widened and public
sentiment sustained them. But
some will say that the laws of the
city sustained this and, consequent-
ly, there was no other way to ac.
cOmplish it. But, hold, gentle
reader, this man Godfrey had the
Inside track in making a new city
charter, and If he had been I'm sy m
pathy with this class of men he
could have had those laws so as Ia
protect individuals; but what did
he do? He tried to frame law In
reference to opening. widening and
grading streets that would throw
things into the hands OF the Cou :
ell aud, ceuse sequently, into the
hands Of the City Attorney, leav-
ing the property owners nothing to
10 or say in this matter only to
walk up and pay their cash when-
ever some ring should undertake to
have these works done; but, for.
tunately for the people of this city,
there was one In the revising com
mittee who had suffered from these
unjust and unequal laws, one who
fought these things at every step,
and through the influence of honest
] men, who wanted nothing but such
laws as would insure Justice to all,
| he succeeded in having most of
these laws amended, so that those
who had to foot the bills should
hava some voice in these i'm mprove
ments. In proof of these things
refer the reader to the charter as
adopted under the supervision of
Col. Godfrey, and the charter AS
amended by the Committee of the
Whole, and also to the mem bers of
that committee.
But the worst part of this new
charter Is section 6. of article 5, In
reference to the collection of per-
| sonal taxes. This has been called
In my hearing, by prominent
| workingman, o cursed law. AS
proof that Col. Godfrey Ia alone re-
sponsible for this hard law, sub
init to the poor hard workingmen
of this city the original papers that
I had before the commit ee, and
will say to them that had a good
prospect OF having this clause
stricken out, as took the ground
before that committee, of mostly
heavy taxpayers, that they would
rather have the ten or fifteen thous'
and dollars claimed to be lost on
personal property added to their
list each year, than to have one
case occur such as l pictured to
them in the picture Of old
Crump and the'little hungry girl oil
boy; but this poor mans sympa.
thizer offered an amendment tina.
closed the door and let the curtain
fall, EN- bracing In its dark folds one
of the most tyrannica! and brutal
laws that ever disgraced a civilized
Christian country. j. w. PORTS.
| Los Angeles, Nov. 26th.
The following Is portion of the
record referred to above by Mr.
Potts:
! CHARTER COMMITTEE MEETING
The Charter Committee had =
very full meeting this afternoon
Mr.. Slauson was called to the
Chair. Mr.. Ayers moved to strike
out all that portion Of the article
referring to the Public Library,
which deferred its operation to mex
December, so that the article woult
} go into effect Immediately on tn,
passage of the Charter.
Col. Godfrey offered an amend
! ment to the motion to the effec
that the entire Charter as amended
| by the committee be approved ant
! ratified. He explained his reason
for this amendment. The commit
tee had been engaged for over |
month in the labor of producing
. a Charter which would be all i'm
| provemeut on the one we now had
1t had been gone over by him care
fully and amended wherever |
: seemed defective. We had passe'
, upon these amendments in thei