Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-02

lobby of the Conucil chamber yesterday
afternoon, a stranger might have
thought another river-bed franchise
was to be consideerd by the city coun-
Gil. The crowd was composed chiefly
Of rsmbers of the Public Ownership
and Independence leagues, who were
there, avowedly to protest against the
council placing before the public for q
vote the proposition OF extending the
lives of street railway franchises. In
side the railing where the councilmen
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 questions;
ITO amend the section of the charter
providing for the issue of franchises by
striking out the phrase for a. longer pc
riod than twenty zone years. and insert
for a term after January 1, 1910, with
out the consent of a majority of the
qualified electors Of said city! voting
upon such proposition at general tr
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, a member of the
charter amendment committee, is to
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 franchise granted next year
would extend for thirty-three years, one
granted the year after would be Tor
thirty-two years, one the third year
would be for thirty-one years and so
on. All these franchises, whenever
granted. would expire in 1940.
But neither those who appeared on
behalf of the amendment nor those who
were opposed to 1t knew of this last
agreement of the charter committee II
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 of eX-
tending the franchises.
"Fhe street railways have given us
prosperity in no uncertain way SAID
Mr.. Garland. 1.-The system in this city
is second to none anywhere IN the
United States" Here he was inter-
rupted by applause from some ana
hisses from others. The misses came
from the lobby. outside the railing. un-
daunted by the Kisses, he continued
am here chiefly to represent the. real
estate men. There are $500 real estate
mon doing business in the city OF Los
Angeles. and / am sure that every one
of them is in favor of this extension OF
franchises.
"Wo real estate men know that II is
the building of street railways into the
suburbs that brings up the price OF
nronerty. We want Huntington to de-
velop this town. What we are largely
interested in is the building of connect
ing lines ell through the suburbs and
the city proper, with the trunk lines.
Speakers Are Kissed
Huntington and no one else Will dc
this under a twenty-one yea francnlse
By extending franchises for thirty
three years they will expire at the same
time.
1--WE are not giving Mr.. Huntington
very much. No other interests can o'
exnected 10 come in here and build fol
M other purpose than furnishing feed
ers for Mr.. Huntington's lines, especial
Iv n he will not grant them transfers
aud in allowing him to build connect
inc lines that will expire at the same
time his main lines do, we are certainly
not doing him nearly as great a taVol
as he will do us by building thes'
lines" He sat down in perfect storm
of Kisses from the lobby.
If was noticeable that those who were
opposed to the extending OF the iran
chises greeted every speaker VINO IA
yored 1t with Kisses, catcalls, boos an6
interruptions of all sorts, while thos'
who favored the amendments permitted
sneakers on the other side to express
their opinion without interruption o
any kind.
G. N. Black, another real estate maj
who favored an extension of the iran
chises, said.
"While under the twenty-one yea
franchises we have had few exten
sions of street ear lines, in every IN
stance the citizens have had to pay 70
the privilege. The street car companie
demand bonuses before they will exten'
their lines into undeveloped territory
Huntington can't see where he is goini
to make it pay under twenty-one yea
franchise.
A Business Proposition
eft is purely a business proposition
No business man can afford to put u
the same class OF building with only
ten-year lease on the ground as h
could under a lease for fifty ;ears' Thi
question should not be mixed In poll
tics. 1t should not be class agains
class, as It was two years ago, when TN
present amendment was passed. IL
- 90. tha hanaft of any one class.