The San Francisco call., 1899-12-14

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mon to receive a return postal card from
some sister city setting forth the fact
that the inquirer finds himself ignorant.
and almost pathetically begging you. with
300 or 400 others. to tell him upon a postal
card. half big your hand. what you
know. have never tried this. but ii must
be pitfully slow and unsatisfactory. To
get even a passable idea OF city govern
ment during ones usually short term OF
office is next to impossible. There is need
OF a clearing house of information; a place
OF exchange. There may be a storehouse
of book and pamphlet under the same roof
for reply to letter and urgent telegram OF
inquiry.
In the pavement of streets. clamorous
contractors make no mention of other and
perhaps better pavement than their own.
Cobblestones. granite blocks bricks. wooden
blocks. asphalt, btumen macadam. gravel
and every experiment under the sun has
been tried I'm other cities like our own
and the citizen and officeholder should know
with what result.
In the sight of brave municipal under
takngs the weakest city. with spirit now
broken by private corporate domination,
may rise again to possess in it's own name
and TO manage solely for the public good
water works. gas and electric plants and
street car lines. Hospitals. almshouses and
orphan asylums have come TO be main
tsined by many municipalities as a matter
OF course while other cities of even greater
size have none OF these and need the stimu-
lus OF example to undertake them.
Joseph Hutchinson, chairman of the
board of trustees. suggested needed
changes in the bylaws of the league. He
advocated the choice of San Francisco
bank as treasurer; that provision should
made
secretary. at least; that the selection Of
place of meeting should be left to the con-
Vention instead of the executive commit
tee Article 10 of the bylaws should be
so amended he said, that a committee of
LAWYERS could be appointed to consider
needed legislation and draft bills to be
submitted to the convention before intro
duction to the Legislature of 1901. He con-
cluded with a motion that the chair
should appoint a committee of three TO
draft amendments To the bylaws and pre-
sent them for action of the convention on
the last day of the session.
The motion carried, the chair appointing
Mr. Hutchinson. G. \. Klrkbride Of San
Mateo and II. a. Mason of Santa Clara
Some very pointed remarks on the Vroo-
man act and the police pension act were
made by Mayor Eaton of Los Angeles 1r
part he said:
We are 50 far away down in Los Angeles
that we know nothing OF this organization
until Organizer Lamborn came down our way
several months ago. We could not under
stand fully from him what II was all about
so | came here 10 find out Speaking about
needed changes in the laws affecting mu-
inequalities IL is my opinion that the Nroo-
man act should be repealed II is cumber-
some and extremely unsatisfactory one
of the principal objections TO II is that IL
/ is too technical serious defect in IL is
that the Street Superintendent is placed in
charge Of all street improvements while
the engineer who designs and plans the
work has nothing 10 do with its execution.
For years Los Angeles worked under an
old charter shaped after the charters Of
some Of the Eastern cities. 1t was simple
and satisfactory and we accomplished many
! improvements. As soon were forced
to make our improvements under the pro-
visions OF the Vrooman act the cost OF
street work went up over 30 per cent.
The police pension law is another that
| should be repealed. II makes police Jobs
too desirable | have found that the men
who have been most anxious to get the
/ appointments are the fellows who are hunt
| ing for a soft thing. and when they get in
| ofSca they never make the best men for the
places The law has had the opposite ef-
| feet to that for which II was intended. II
Il was prompted by any motives of welfare
| 10 the communities which IL affects There
! is no reason why police should be pensoned.
/ They are in no great danger. Their uniform
is a protection TO them. and you seldom hear
OF one Of them getting killed while doing
his duty.
Much applause greeted the announce
ment from the Southern Mayor that the
! feeling in favor of State division had en-
/ tirely disappeared in his section OF the
/ country.
was read by the secretary. In part II
ran:
The meeting in convention OF representa-
tives from different municipalities, each
with its own peculiar institutions. fitted TO
the local conditions prevailing at each place.
/ cannot fail 20 result in an exchange OF ideas
and methods mutually beneficial to all, and
| in giving each city an opportunity 10 adopt
for itself the very best practices prevailing
elsewhere. We expect our annual meetings
10 be largely experience meetings. and doubt
! not that every member in returning 10 his
! home will carry with MIN more new ideas
abou: good municipal government than he
ever dreamed OF before.
A permanent bureau should be established
with n salaried secretary 10 collect and
classify and distribute information about
what our cities are doing. and about the
| thousand and one things for which city Of
| fcials are constantly in search.
4 campaign OF education is necessary 10
let the public become familiar with our
work and It's value Once understood popu-
| lar approval cannot long he withheld Much
! rrDoi benefit
be done by volunteer effort.
Through special committees would
| compllsh division OF labor. subjects being
| assigned 10 those specially interested in
handling them. II arrangements could be
made for frequent publication Of the com
| mittees' proceedings. the public would be
| kept interested In our work and a larger
number Of people would be reached through
| the publications than would ever attend one
Of our conventions.
Lewis F. Byington made few remark
on the benefits of cheap streetcar fare.
and the rights OF municipalities TO regu
| late them.
George Hansen of Berkeley told of tn
opportunities Oakland had to secure valu
| able park sites, of which he regretted tn
city across the bay was not taking ad
President David Starr Jordan was tn,
only speaker at the evening session. HI
subject was 1.-The Continuing City" Th
central idea OF his address was that goo,
government is the force that will enabl
municipalities 10 continue. Bad govern
| ment gave rise 10 corruption. DnNSlcal ant
moral. The private use Of public utilitie
made II an object for some persons to de
sire bad government. While the cit,
ought to be the best place TO live in, tn
fact was that the energy of the cities ha,
constantly TO be recruited from the coun
try He raped Tammany hard and de
scribed Il picturesquely. He dealt largel,
with the school system and ridiculed III
practice of giving places to teachers sim
ply because they were in need OF employ
ment
Incidentally he alluded to the Senatoria
situation in Pennsylvania and said tha
| QUAY ought not to be confirmed simpl'
TO give support to the administration
Speaking OF the British Government. n
said that the war in South Africa Nigh
have had it's origin in the tactics OF
certain British statesman who, wher
things went wrong at home. diverted IN
public by waving the flag and incitin
their patriotism He believed that tn
best form Of city government was wher
there were many Supervisors or Council
men and the Mayor had very large DOW
ers. Strong approval was given to con
ventions of municipal officers, who wer
trying TO find out the best way to admin
the American people was a lack of seri
| holding their servants TO strict accounta
bilityS He had several recommendation
for the publication of municipal polite.
which were-Civil service rules. maxim
| political corruption a misdemeanor edu
eating the community He conclude
with the sentiment that "Vigilance is IN
| yNrf. 90 ~