The San Francisco call., 1898-01-16
ORGANIZED TO MIDDLE
 IN POLITICS Aim of Los Angeles League for Better
 Government. Conducted in the Interest of Trio of Cor
 pOratiOns. Its Mission to AntagOnize the Regular Republicans of
 the City. GANG RULE ITS POLICY. Mem bership Has Fallen From Four Thousand to Less Than Two
 Hundred.
Its Mission to Antagonize the Regular Republicans of
 the City.
GANG RULE ITS POLICY.
Mem bership Has Fallen From Four Thousand to Less Than Two
 Hundred.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 15.-Under the cloak of a Lame which appeals strong ly to every fair minded and patriotic citizen, the League for Better City Government in Los Angeles has und- ertaken to do things that would have brought down the severest condemna- tiOn upon any organization that had not succeeded in deluding the general public as this has done. Organized ostensibly for the purpose of bringing about better conditions in Los An geles, it's name is now used for the self-advancement of certain individ- uals in the interest of a few corpora tions and as a means of splitting the Republican party in the interests of the local Democracy.
 The movement for better city govern ment was instituted under the aus pices of the league about elghtees months ago. Its membership increased rapidly, and just before the munlcl- pal election held in December of 1896 there were more than 4000 names on its membership roll
 The manner in which the league con- ducted it's campaign in this election and the manner in which the league aHalrS were handled by certain small clique which represents corporation interests, the tripartite newspaper combination of Los Angeles and the concentrated antagOniSm to the regular Republican party has caused the membership to fall off to such an extent that there are not to-day more than 200 members in good standing and possibly less than half that number.
 Under the bylaws adopted by the leagues affairs are controlled by a board of directors, consisting of twen- ty-three members. This board is now constituted as follows: s. 4. Butler, Harry Chandler. O. P. Clark. H. J. FEeishman. T. E. Gfbbon, J. NJ Grif- fth. Burt Estes Howard, Lee A. Mo COnnen, D. NJ. McGarry, Robert Me Ctarvin. Octavius Morgan. M. H. New mark. William Pridman, Ferd. K. Rule, yAIfred Stern, w. L. Valentine, J V. Wachtel, c. H. Wadleigh, T. s. Wads worth, I. A. Weld, M. Welsh, J. R. Newberry and W. D. Woolwine.
 Because The Call, in connection with its investigations regarding the School Board scandal, has been giving all the facts and giving them fairly as they develop, it has aroused the league to Q childish and impOtent antagonism of this journal. It was not so much that The Call published unprejudiced re- ports of the sessions of the Board of Education which was hearing the Webb case, but the fact that this paper called attention to the felonious action of another member of the Board of Ed ucatiOn, who is also a member of the league, that caused the league by for mai resolutions to set up a howl against The Call in unison with the yelping and barking Of the three news papers-the Times. the Herald and the Express that run the paper, or are run by the leagues inner clique.
 q d1Trc hop ful of men-a bare quorum of the board of directors of the league-passed a set of resolutions which has not one fair or truthful statement in it, and which smacks strongly of the charac- teristic winnings Of a hypocrite ex- posed. These resolutions are as fol- lows:
 Resolved, That we call the attention of the business men and taxpayers of this city to the treatment which the School Board scandal is receiving in the San Francisco Call, a newspaper which pro- fesses to be friendly to this section. and which has some circulation in this city, but which has consistently misrepresent- ed the facts to the disadvantage of the forces at work for municipal reform and to the detriment of this city.
 Resolved. That the League for Better City Government, an organization which has for it's object a business administra- ton of the city's affairs, without regard to party, hereby emphatically condemns
 
 VI nd baSeless attacks on respectable citi- Iens and its attempted defense of boo dIers.
 At the meeting at which these reso- lutions were passed there were present out of the nty-three-dlrectors here tofore named only eight, as follows: s. A Butler, Lee A. Cornell, Robert Me Garvin, w. L. Valentine, J. V. Wachtel, G. H. Wadleigh, T. s. Wadsworth and W. D. Woolwine These men repre- sented in spirit if not in fact those persons and interests which have been forcing the prosecution against Walter L. Webb, against whom no adverse tes- timOny has been brought out except that given by two self-confessed per Jurers. These same persons and inter ests have set their forces to the work to shield and protect J. H. Braly, a member of the Board of Education, 8 member of the League for Better City Government and the president of the Southern California Savings Bank
 This attitude of defense on behalf of Braly has been assumed in the face of documentary evidence of an incontro- vertible character that has been shown to exist against Braly, and which shows him to have been guilty of d felOnious act and to have involved his bank in transactions frbidden by law in order to protect savings bank de- positors.
 Among the eight members present and participating in the star chamber proceedings of last Tuesday night will be noticed the name of w. D. Wool wine. MT. Woolwine is the cashier of the Southern California Savings Bank, of which MT. Braly is president
 A brief history of the League for Better City Government throws con- siderable light upon the ulterior ends for which it was organized and in whose interests it is and has been used. Y It was incubated and matched in the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce by C. D. Willard. then secretary of that body and now manager of the Los Angeles Express. Willard was also a member of the first board of directors elected after the league was incorpo- rated, in May of last year. Among the