Los Angeles daily herald., 1890-01-04
rhe Councilmanic Octopi.

lures evolved from the consummate pus
eerie genius of Victor Hugo is in that
portion of "The Toilers of the Sea" IN
which man is in the grasp of the devil
fish in a cave where such creatures are
liable to congregate. Hugo's hero
escapes, and we heartily hope that the
taxpayers of this city may escape from
the Councilmanic octopi who threaten to
squeeze the life out of them.
Yet that they are in the tolls, no man
who today has to shoulder his heavy
load of taxation can doubt. If these
exactions had been attempted in the
days of the "boom," probably no one
would have objected. Then money
flowed as freely as water, and the rush
of "Iser rolling rapidly" was the only
simile which could ftly represent the
force of the vital current that pulsated
hereabouts, unless we fall back upon the
time-honored metaphor of Niagara
shooting her rapids. Yet, strange to
say, nobody thought Of taxing prop
erty owners in those jocund days
of riches realized and of the "riches
fineless" with which the imagination Of
every man jack of us all was filed. Great
actual profits and the adjuncts of the Cas-
ties in Spain made every one, in that
halcyon era, ante up to every demand Of
necessity or caprice.
The hand of the tax-collector, laid on
lightly then, is now imposed with a re.
lentlessness that makes the ordinary citi-
zen vince, and every one is at present
anxious to know for what Legitimate
municipal purpose these enormous taxes
are imposed. In the now charter pro
vision was inserted that no contrac
should be entered into for supplies to be
furnished the city in a sum exceeding
$500 unless there had bean publication
in daily newspaper inviting bids. This
was done to prevent frauds and officia
favoritism. When the time came to
move from the old City Hall to the new
Mr.. J. M. Skinner, responsible con
tractor, who had examined into the worl
required to be done, offered to do tbs
whole thing for 81 900, in lump cum
1t is quite likely that, if public compe.
tition had been invited, the city coult
have got it done even more economically
On the 23rd of September, as the of
fetal records show, the Police Com
mission requested the Council to adver
tise for bids to remodel the old City Hall
Their request was referred by the Council
to the Building Committee, but that body
never made report on the matter. The
Building Committee of the Council &C
cordingly took the subject in hand, and
the change was effected at a cost o.
$3,175--or loss to the taxpayers of
$l,575, as to Mr.. SINNERS proposition
and probably of much larger sum, be-
cause unquestionably in an open com
petition Mr.. SINNERS voluntary Offer
would have been heavily reduced.
There is no question of the fact that
the Council has been persistently ignor
ing the spirit of the $500 provision of the
new city charter. The m odus operand,
is very simple. Where it is seen that
the purchases on any line of the city's
needs will amount to more than $500, the
order is broken up and the supplies
bought in fractional parts, or the order
for work is given in sections, az is exem-
plified in the account which appears il
our local columns relating to tho remodel
ing of the old City Hall. the list of de-
mands is given therein. and the job was
done uuder the superintendence of a
Mr.. McLain.
What ought to have been done under
the charter, and what common honesty
required, was an advertisement asking
for bids for this work, and the award OF
the contract to the lowest and best bid
der.
In precisely the same way the devil is
being whipped around the stump by the
Council in many lines. The HERALD, in
the name of the people Of Los Angeles
demands that return shall be made to
the methods contemplated by the people
when they adopted the charter, and il
insists that the taxpayer shall no longer
be robbed by cunning devices which pal
ter with the spirit of our municipal
organic law, and even violate it's letter.
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SECRETARY WINDOW thinks there is en-
tirely too much specie in the sub-treasury
at San Francisco, and has ordered the