Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-02

thought another river-bed franchise
was to be considered by the city coun-
Gil. The crowd was composed chiefly
of t.lmbers OF the Public Ownership
and Independence leagues. who were
there, avowedly. to protest against the
council placing before the public for a
vote the proposition of extending the
lives Of street railway franchises. In
side the railing where the couucilmen
sit was another crowd Of representative
business men, whose names are always
mentioned as prominent citizens. to
plead for the adoption Of the amend
ment.
But both factions were disappointed.
The council did not consider any of the
amendments that have been previously
discussed, because, although the city
attorney and members of the charter
amendment committee labored all day
Sunday, there had not been sufficient
time to get the amendments into proper
legal shape.
Another meeting will be held today
at which the charter amendment COM
mittee will submit the following sug-
gestions on the franchise question::
ITO amend the section of the charter
providing for the issue of franchises by
striking out the phrase for longer pc
TlOQ J1dn lWeItJ -Ollt yttfSs ddiu 1AiAStAI I
for a term after January 1, 1910, with
out the consent of a majority of the
qualified electors of said cityI voting
| upon such proposition at a general 81
| special election at which such PROPOSE
tion shall be legally submitted,
Charters Expire simultaneously
The object of this amendment, accord
| ing to A. S. Peterson, member of the
-. - Il
permit of all franchises ending at prac-
! tically the same time and expiring with
| the majority OF the franchises now in
operation This amendment is so worded
| that a franchSie granted next year
| would extend for thirty-three years, one
granted the year after would be for
| thirty-two years, one the third year
would be for thirty-one years, and so
on. All these franchises. whenever
granted would expire in 1910.
But neither those who appeared on
behalf of the amendment nor those who
were opposed to it knew of this last
agreement of the. charter committee, 1t
was not arrived at until late yesterday
afternoon.
When the question of charter amend
ments came before the council yester-
day w. H. Garland "a prominent real
estate man, was the first to speak IN
favor of submitting the question or eX-
tending the franchises
1.-The street railways have given us
prosperity in no uncertain way" said
Mr.. Garland. The system IN tnls city
is second to none anywhere in the
limited States" Here he was inter-
rupted by applause from some and
hisses from others. The Kisses came
| from the lobby, outside the railing. Un-
daunted by the Kisses, he continued: I
ham here chiefly to represent the real
estate men. There are $500 real estate
men doing business in the city or Los
Angeles, and I am sure that every one
of them is in favor of this extension or
franchises.
"We real estate men know that II is
the building of street railways into the
suburbs that brings up the price of
property. We want Huntington TO de-
yelop this town. What we are largely
interested in is the building of connect
ing lines all through the suburbs and
the city proper. with the trunk lines.
Speakers Are Kissed
Huntington and no one else Will do
this under twenty-one yea 1rancnlse,
BY extending franchises for thlrty-
three years they will expire at the same
time.
1--WE are not giving Mr.. Huntington
very much No other interests can be
exnected TO come in here and build Tor
no other purpose than furnishing reed
ers for Mr.. Huntington's lines, especlal-
Iv IL he will not grant them transfers
and i'm allowing him to build connect
ing lines that will expire at the same
time his main lines do, we are certalhly
not doing him nearly as great favor
as he will do us by building these
lines" He sat down in perfect STORM
of Kisses from the lobby.
IT was noticeable that those who We're
opposed to the extending of the fran
chises greeted every speaker who IA
yored II with Kisses, catealls, boos and
Interruptions of all sorts, while those
who favored the amendments permitted
sneakers on the other side to express
| their opinion without Interruption OF
any kind
| q. N. Black, another real estate man
who favored an extension of the fran
chises, said:.
"While under the twenty-one year
franchises we have had few extern
sions of street car lines, i'm every in
stance the citizens have had to pay for
the nrivilege The street car companies
demand bonuses before they will extend
their lines into undeveloped territory
Huntington can't see where he is going
to make it pay under twenty-one year
franchise.
A Business Proposition
"It is purely a business proposition.
| No business man can afford TO put up
the same class OF building with only a
ten-year lease on the ground as he
could under a lease for fifty ;-ears. This
question should not be mixed in poll
| tics. 1t should not be class against
class. as 1t was two years ago. when the
present amendment was passed. 1t isl
not for the benefit of any one class. 1t
is for the benefit of all
"This crowd that has come here today
has evidently confused the issue. We
are not facing a proposition for the
council to extend the franchises. We
are simply asking that the council give
the people a chance to say If the fran
chises should be extended.
'Are you people SO afraid TO put this
question before the whole people? Are
you afraid that since your plan has
been tried and found a failure, as far as
development Is concerned. that the ma
iority OF the voters have changed their
/ mfnds I'm the last two wears? II they