Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-09

themselves Dellllu lHlS dlleSeu dill6nu-
ment, the records and the facts are all
against them. 1t is not only a fact
that no such amendment ever was sub
mitted by the consolidation commits
sion, but the minutes of the meetings
of that commission show that no docu
ment of that nature ever came before
it for the consideration of the menu
bers Further than that, several of
the members OF the commission, includ-
ing some of the members of the law
committee, did not even know of the
existence of such document until they
saw it's publication in an afternoon pa
per yesterday.
Chairman Is Mystified
Chairman Butler of the consolidation
commission was considerably mystified
yesterday when he was informed that
the Los Angeles delegation at Sacra-
mento claimed to have such an amend
ment in their possession. Judge Dillon,
chairman of the law committee, was
able, however, to throw a little light on
the subject, and his explanation Is as
follows:
The amendment which the commits
sion desired to have included in the
governors call was sent to the COVER
nor nearly a month ago. This amehd-
ment he is supposed to have turned
over to the legislative committee, but
later, when a committee from our COM
mission called on that committee for
the purpose of discussing the subject,
the members claimed to have lost it,
The chairman asked us if we could fur
nish them with a copy, and l told him
could do so.
TT is right here that the trouble
doubtless occurred. A short time be-
fore going to Sacramento, one of the
members of the commission prepared
an amendment which corresponds
closely to the one published, and
copy of it was sent to me. This amend
ment differed from the one adopted by
the commission in that it contained a
self lf-executing clause. The one the law
committee approved, and which the
commission adopted and sent to the
governor, did not contain such a
clause, it being the idea of the mem
bers of the commission that the man
ner of putting the amendment into op-
Grafton might be left to the next ses-
sion of the legislature. All we really
wanted at this time was authority to
go ahead with our plans, and the self
executing document was not considered
at all by the law committee.
No Reason for Substitution
IL had placed a copy of this amend
ment in my pocket before going to Sac
ramento, together with the amendment
adopted by the commission and other
papers bearing on this subject, and
when we were asked for copy of the
proposed amendment I informed the
committee that 1 had my office files in
my pocket and that they were at the
disposal of the members. OF course l
did not suppose for moment that L
was handing over a copy of this self
executing amendment, but as that doc
ument was in the files 1 must unthink-
ingly have handed it over with the
other papers. l cannot explain the mys-
terry on any other ground. But l GER
tainly also gave the committee copy
of the amendment desired by us, and
there was no good reason why the
members should have substituted this
one for it.
"I have stated repeatedly, in public
and in private, that there was no in
tention on the part of Los Angeles to
try to resort to coercive measures, and
it could not do that if it would. This
has been the sense of the commission
throughout, and the records will show
that no such amendment as the legis-
lative committee claims to possess ever
was adopted by the commission, or that
1t ever was even discussed"
The constitutional amendment which
the commission asked to have included
in the governors call is as follows
Amendment in Question
Section 7. Two or more cities, to-
gether with intervening and contiguous
territory. or a city and contiguous ter
ritory, may be merged and consolidated
into one municipality, and the govern
ment of such consolidated municipality
may be merged and consolidated with
county government into one munich
pal government with one set of officers,
and may be Incorporated under general
laws providing for the incorporation
and organization of corporations for
municipal purposes. Such consolida ted
municipality may frame charter for
it's own government under the provi-
slons of sections eight and eight and
one-half of this article, which charter
when adopted ratified and approved, as
i'm this constitution provided, shall
supersede all existing charters of any
city embraced within such consolida-
tion, and shall become the organic law
of such consolidated municipality. The
provisions of this constitution applica-
BILE to cities, and also those applicable
to counties, so far as not inconsistent
or prohibited to cities, shall be appli-
cable TO such consolidated govern
ment."
Records Show Action Taken
Action on this amendment was taken
at the meeting of the consolidation
commission held May II. and the rec
ords show this to have been the one
adopted. The minutes of that meeting,
so far as they relate to the amend
ment, are as follows;
"The committee on law and form OF
government submitted constitutions
amendments, drafted by Them for this
approval and adoption OF the commits
sion as a whole. The secretary wal
requested TO read the same. After the
reading Of section 7 and the substance
thereof discussed, motion was made
seconded and carried that this section
be adopted After the reading of sec
ton 5 and the substance thereof dis