Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-28

deeper sense. The octopus showed his
tentacles While those helpless men
and women still bent above the smol-
dering embers, gang of men from the
neighboring Salt Lake station suddenly
descended among them and corralled
the whole burned district in a barbed-
wire fence. A squad of armed Long
Beach deputies at the same time de-
scended as from the clouds and drove
the bewildered people back. When I
visited the scene later in the day a
little boy had just happened to VEN
ture in a skiff under the inclosure to
fish for bobbing oil can. Here, you
boyi" shouted a hero with a badge,
Clear out of that-quick! D. you
hear?"
The boy looked up. ct amt doing
any harm. I'm only getting the can
for my mother. This was our place."
Il don't care whose place it was,
you've no business in it. Clear out Of
there-quickl"
The boy sullenly padded off.
But it was his mothers" observed
mildly. II know the boy"
The hero only glared.
Citizens Are Aroused
That was on Thursday The octo-
pus kept it's grip until somewhere about
night. That night an aroused San
Pedro held a mass meeting reaffirmed
it's old jurisdiction over East San Pc
dro, swore in half hundred special
police-our men not unwillingly among
them-sent this delegation in grim
squads across Duffy'S ferry, and for
some minutes the air of the captured
district reSounded only with the click
of arms. These arms were our wire
cutters.
A neighbor of mine who came from
night work on the dredger at midnight
stumbled upon a lonely man huddled
by himself on the Salt Lake pier.
well, Long Beach all routed?" he
asked cheerfully.
Il guess So" the man answered.
There's a little bunch of them some
where up the track, / guess. I don't
know what's become of the rest. I'm
one of them myself" he added. Were
not going to fight those people. We
know they've been treated mean
We're just holding this job for the
money that's in it."
Our night watch stood its guard for
several nights afterward, its campfires
blazing on the sand, but the enemy
never opened battle. The members of
the watch have gradually subsidized into
peaceful citizens again.
Though the end is not yet. in their
old quarters new shacks are going up,
its little flag of transient victory flying
bravely over EACH To be sure. as has
been limited, there are a few of these
shacks with which we could ourselves
unregretfully dispense. but all sorts
of folk make up the big world as well
as the little.
Most of us, burned out and otherwise,
are hard working people, mechanics,
longshoreSmen boat builders, shop
keepers. machinists, artists, clam dig
gers, fishermen, and stray scientist or
two.
Have Love for Their Homes
The nucleus of our settlement was
made before the Salt Lake came, when
the trestlework of the old brealSwater
was new. a quarter of century ago.
Our children have been born here
and old folk have died. The old break
water is the place where we earn our
livelihood. Many of us would be hard
pressed to have to establish ourselves
anywhere else. We have an odd liking |
for the place. 1t is our home. We feel
that we have a right to be ousted at
least fairly when our time comes to
so.
We are well aware that Uncle Sam
is not making great deep-sea harbor
for our tide washed cabins, our fishing
pOdtS, our eHBlne SnOpS anu our llllle
children playing in the sand.
But neither is Uncle Sam making
great deep-sea harbor especially for
The octopus
If we are private individuals. whose
welfare must give way before the pub
lie good, so also is the octopus a prl-
vate corporation, whose welfare must
give way before the public good.
In the eyes of the law of equity we
have equal rights.
So long as Uncle Sam leaves us our
after ALL / imagine
hat we are still his squatters-we viii
stand upon those rights. And although,
Ike the comics, we are little folk"
ind make our homes "among the
'ocks," yet just now our fate seems to
1e mixed up with the fate of large is
sues For instance, the open harbor;
he validity OF law; the question of
'heer Justice OF man to man.
Big hre. Venice Halloween evening /