The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-02-10
DO NOT LIKE 1T
Organized Opposition to Charter
Amendments
IDEAS OF BUSINESS MEN
Merchants and Citizens Formulate Their
Arguments.
A Committee Gives Voice to the Reasons Why
the Charter Should Be
Defeated.

On February 4th the several committees
of the Citizens League, the Board of Trade,
the Chamber of Commerce and the Mer-
chants Association held their final meet
ing to take action upon the proposed
amendments to the Los Angeles city char
ter, for the adoption or defeat of which
the people of this city will be called upon
TO vote on February 18th.
The meeting was called to order by Mr.
]. S. Slauson.
The following resolution was adopted:
That this committee, composed of rep
resentatives from the Citizens League,
the Board of Trade, the Chamber of Com
MERGE and the Merchants Association, is
opposed to the passage of the proposed
amendments to the city charter as pro
mulgated by the City Council, and that
statement for publication in the city pa
pers, giving the history of the consulta-
tons OF this committee with the commit
tee of the City Council, and the reasons
why this committee now opposes the pass
age OF the proposed amendments to the
city charter, be prepared and given out
for publication by this committee, or such
subcommittee thereof as the chairman
may appoint for that purpose.
The chair appointed as such committee
Charles Forman, W. c. Patterson and II.
W. Latham.
Ia consequence thereof the committee
now presents the following statement:
In the Spring of 1894 the Citizens
League began an active and thorough in
vestigation OF the present city charter
for the purpose of suggesting to the City
Council such amendments thereto as
might be conducive to an improved condi-
ton in tive city government.
In ordei' that the work might have the
sanction OF the mature Judgment and
careful consideration of the thinking
minds of the community, the Board of
Trade, the Chamber of Commerce and the
Merchants Association were invited to
cooperate with the Citizens League in
the deliberations of the committee.
The allied committees of these several
institutions, after many sessions, pre-
pared a number of proposed amendments
embodying four principal ideas: The
vesting of the power of appointment in
the Mayor, and the withdrawal of admin
istrative functions from the Council; the
holding of municipal elections at date
remote from other elections; the CONSOLE
dation of some offices and abolition of
others; the creation of such a system of
accounts and checks as would insure ac-
curate records of the financial affairs of
the city.
Having formulated the large number of
amendments necessary to embrace such
variety of ideas, the allied committees
held series of meetings with the special
committee of the City Council. Cradu-
ally conflicting theories became harmon
lied until the Council committee had
agreed to adopt substantially all the
amendments suggested by the allied com
mittees, or the allied committees had so
changed their amendments as to conform
to those proposed by the committee of
Council IN q
the power to appoint the City Engineer
and some other officers.
After several conferences the committee
of the Council agreed to accede to the ur-
gent appeals of the allied committees and
to propose amendments yesting in the
Mayor the right of appointment of such
officers as had been mutually agreed upon.
Thereafter the Council as a whole de-
cined to ratify the agreements of its COM
mittee, and determined to submit to the
voters amendments which not only do not
give to the Mayor the right to appoint
such officials, but in some instances take
the right of election from the people, in
whom it is now lodged and vest the power
to make such appointments in the Coun-
Gil itself.
In thus rejecting the action of its cwn
committee, without an extended investi-
CATION into the merits of the committees
suggestion, and without any statement of
any reasons for their rejection, the Coun-
ell acted hastily and without due regard
for the painstaklng study and careful ex-
animation which had been given by it's
committee and the allied committees of
the commercial institutions.
In Justice however il must he said
that the Council Committee. however
well disposed to the work, really had not
the time, burdened as thew were with so
much routine Council work, to consider
and study the principles of municipal re-
form and the remainder of the Co1ncil
though voting on the amendments an
parently had given much less thought to
the great questions involved
These committees will therefore urge
the defeat of the proposed amendments
to the charter which the Council has
published, and for the further reason that
although the published amendments con-
tanned many changes in the line of GOOD
government, vet no real reform can he
ACCOMPLISHED without stripping the mn
nicpai legislature of all administrative
functions. Patronage and irresponsibii
mpnt authoritV eynarenre and