Los Angeles herald., 1905-01-16
WORK OF
THE ASSOCIATION
SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE
WORK OF BODY
Merchants and Manufacturers oraan-
izatlon Commended by Prominent
AngeIenos for Successes
Already Gained

With the election Of directors TODAY
of the Merchants and Manufacturers
association the organization begins a.
new year.
Praise for the past successes of the
association and suggestions for future
activities are given by a prominent
citizen of Los Angeles, who saws,
There must be no backward step
ana no shirking of responsibilities If
this society is to keep progress with
the growth and the fame of this fair
metropolis. No person can look over
the useful work of this society without
being proud of its existence. II has
removed onerous taxes imposed by the
municipality upon the merchants; re-
moved the Impeding lunch wagons from
the thoroughfares downtown: in
creased the number of fire hydrants.
inaugurated improved street cleaning
methods; arranged for the removal of
garbage from residences and business
places, and is now looking to the erec-
tion of large convention hall that
shall attract large associations to Los
Angeles. and thus result in advertising
the town all over this wide continent.
Future Activities
but there is much to be done even
along the lines Of success already fully
appreciated by the community and en-
couraging to the association. Better
methods for cleaning the streets are
needed. One merchant suggests that
daily, men proceed to flood the streets
with water thus removing all the dust
that accumulates in the twenty-four
hours. That is the way they purify
Paris, one of the most beautiful cities
in the world. Further attention might
be given to fraud charities, for the
merchants are even now haunted by
officers of an association, an imitation
of the Salvation Army, which has al
ready been advertised in the public
press as working for selfish and de-
ceptive purposes only.
New Building Law
"The new building ordinances should
have the attention of the association
This requires the close attention of
this organization, for it is due to our
citizens individually as well as in a col
lective representative body to see to
1T that everybody who comes here has
fair field and no favor; that he shall
not be at the mercy of plumbers or
any other confederation that compels
him to pay three times as much as an
article is worth.
Much good can be done in the di-
rection of the attempted prohibitive
temperance legislation soon to be re-
ferred to the voters of Los Angeles.
AS a representative association much
good can be done in this direction
Unquestionably the saloons are a great
evil, but setback will be given to
this metropolis equal to the smallpox
epidemic of years ago, when half the
population left the town, if the sa-
looms are entirely suppressed. Carried
on the wave of temperance enthusiasm
people commit such absurdities as to
arrest a man and his wife drinking
whiskey in their own house. as was
done in Corona some weeks ago
Missouri sends to prohibition Kan
sas two million dollars worth of
whisky every year. Restriction and
not abolition might we'll be advised
by this representative association in
an important movement placed before
the will of the people by referendum, or
any other way
"Favoritism in the granting or ex-
cusing of licenses might be looked into
Better lighting of the public streets,
the bill board nuisance, the extension
of cellar entrances over sidewalks, the
public property, and the unexplained
permission that certain furniture
moving van proprietors have to stand
their wagons all day on the public
streets. as we'll as the impediments
produced to public travel by lines of
wagons backed up against curbs on
Broadway delivering vegetable pro-
duce-these and number of others,
might well have the attention not only
OF the seven new directors, but of the
entire board of the Merchants and
Manllfa eturers' association"