Los Angeles herald., 1905-08-29
WORKERS HAVE MOST AT STAKE

statement worthy Of thoukhtfu pondering By ell
citiaens Of Los Angeles made recently by superln
endent Muholand OF the water department II was to
the effect that he ehad been called By walking dele
gate of the Carpenters union stated that the union
Is opposing the acquisition Of Owens river water" The
superintendens response was that n" the carpenters
succeeded In defeating the purchase Of the water there
would be carpenters union eh In the city, build
Ing would come to sudden endr
No sagacious observer can doubt that deadly blow
to the growth Of Los Angeles would be delivered BY
defeat of the water proposition The acceptance
lection Of that proposition will be determined Thurs
day of next week. Assuming for the moment that
majority Of votes will reject the project by voting
against the bond ISSUE what will be the logical conse
quence?
Every person who has given intelligent consideration
TO the subject knows that Los Angeles is draining
it's available water resources the bottom Geologists
cv engineers practical water developers and all other
competent to express opinion the subject declare
that Los Angeles has reached the limit OF ts water pos
sbiies by the last resort now provided for In
the Owens valley proposition.
Defeat the bond issue intended to cnch the water
shed purchase in that valley and what then7 Los An
geles will have attained its maturityits full stature
1t is impossible for this city to bigger without
more water 1t is for youth to grow without more
blood stunted and dwarfed Los Angeles, without
ample water for It's increasing population, is inevitable
where would the Carpenters union and all the other
building trade unions be in such evenuality? Capt.
tai would cease to flow into new buildings the purchase
of undeveloped property would end and reaction in
property values would set In Not only would there
be no work in the building trades but the value of every
home in the city would deprecate It is the future prom
ise of steadily expanding city under the most favor
able circumstances in respect that now is en-
hancing the value of all real property and making all
owners of homes richer thereby
The manual workers OF this city, In the building
trades and all other vocations have more vital in
terest any other class Of citizens in clinching the
greater water proposition Not only the prospect for
employment but the value Of every home owned or
bargained for is directly associated with the issue in
that election next week. the bond election should
fail and Los Angeles to the inevitable standstil
in that case the thousands Of cosy homes owned by
workers process of payment would decrease rap
idy in value and the of hard times would
front large element of the city's population.
The manual worker has another direct incentive for
favorng the water proposition in the fact that at least
s20OOOOOO will be expended by the city, mostly for
labor in constructing the greater water plant. The
workers will receive the lions share of that vast sum-
To assume that the voters Of Los Angeles are likely
to vote against the proposition would be equiva
lent to saying they think the city has reached the limit
of its usefulness and that, with thanks 10 DIR. Osler
for his idea, 1t ought to- be chloroformed.