Los Angeles herald., 1905-04-14
ANTI-SALOONISTS
FILE PETITION
DOCUMENT BEARS NAMES OF
$500 VOTERS
DR.. CHAPMAN is PLEASED
Councilman Houshton Back Of Moves
ment to Completely Exclude
Liquor Of All Kinds From
Los Angeles
DR.. CHAPMAN IS PLEASED

Rev. DR.. Erwin S. Chapman, accom-
panied by a corps of his lieutenants,
yesterday filed with city Clerk Leland
the anti-saloon petition, consisting Of
1876 pages bearing signatures of 5000
registered voters of Los Angeles.
The weil-known saloon fighter was
accompanied by Lenord Merrill and j..
II. Scott, the latter carrying the large
petition as they entered the city hall.
There was no playing to the gallery
the three man simply walking up to the
clerks desk and transacted their busi-
ness quickly, attracting the attention
of no one but the newspaper men who
were waiting for them.
Before leaving the building DR.. Chap
man said:
This petition represents large
amount of unrequited labor. 1t has
not cost one penny, except for the
printing. If could have hired men 10
circulate the petitions the work would
have been done much quicker, but l
did not have the money. Each sub
scription was circulated by volunteer
and no one person circulated more than
one petition, as the law requires that
each petition shall be signed by the
person circulating 1t.
Names Have Been Checked
1.-The names on the petition have been
checked with the great register and,
while almost without exception the
signers are registered voters, a num-
ber made technical mistakes when
signing. Some had moved so that their
new address appears on the petition,
and the old one on the great register,
thus they are thrown out. AS near as
we could determine, however, there are
about 1900 names on the petition which
check with the great register.
"The statute creating the initiative
specifies that the petition must contain
at least five per cent of the voters cast
ing their ballots at the preceding elec-
ton for mayor. AS there are in Los
Angeles 27,291 voters, 1t takes 4094
signatures to call an initiative election.
and I am satisfied that we have the
required number and many to spare"
City Clerk Leland is determined to
make no mistakes in regard to the GER
tification of the names on this petition.
The city clerks office has just ten days
in which to compare the names on
the petition with those on the great
register and must therefore send the
petition with their report to the city
council on Monday, April "a. The
council will at that time, If the clerk
finds the petition in accordance with
the law, set time at which the special
initiative election shall be held.
Houghton Has Plan
Councilman Houghton is backing a
movement whereby at the time of this
election counter proposition shall be
presented to the people, giving them
the alternative of voting the anti
saloon ticket, the saloon ticket, or his
ticket, which is to completely exclude
liquor from the city of Los Angeles,
going so far as to make it unlawful
for the drug stores to keep liquor on
hand.
Other councilmen appear to be of the
opinion that the plan of the councilman
from the Sixth ward is ridiculous and
that If incorporated in the election will
tend simply to confuse the voters.
The question has come up, however,
of the legality of mixing the issues in
an initiative election, and it is con-
sidered more than probable that the
Houghton idea will be knocked out be-
fore 1t gets on the ballots. City At
torney Mathews was not prepared to
give final opinion yesterday, but stat
ed that as he understands the law
other issues can not be added to the
ballot in an initiative election unless
they are put there by a petition, just
as the original issue which calls the
election.