Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-17

tee as being sufficient, and thereafter
adopted by the commission.
Votes for Haas Amendment
/, as a member of the law commit
tee, and also as a member of the COM
mission, voted in favor of the Haas
amendment. Previous to the adoption
of this amendment the law committee
had prepared several drafts to be in
cluded in the governors call, which
was in general terms merely meeting
the requirements of the call, so the
governor could select the one he deemed
proper. The governor had assured Mr..
Butler that the call would include one
of them.
II state this affirmatively because I
am perfectly willing, as l think are
most of the people of Los Angeles, t.
believe In the truthfulness of Mr.. But
ler's statement in case of a controversy
between him and the governor regard
ing where the truth lies. At the meet
ing of the commission which adopted
the Haas amendment the question was
raised as to whether an amendment
could be provided which would contain
the machinery for carrying out the cleo
tion for consolidation and thereby
avoid the delay necessary for the regu-
lar session of the Legislature to provide
the machinery for the election.
operative CIauSeS ConfliCt
''It was suggested that the constitu-
tional mendments wuld not become op-
erative in any event until the next
session of the Legislature If this were
the case nothing would have been
gained The next day 1 investigated
the subject and discovered that the
amendments would be effective as soon
as favorable vote thereon was ascer-
tained by the secretary of state, and
so informed the other members of the
law committee and indicated to them
my intention of preparing an amend.
ment containing the machinery for the
election generally designated as a self
executing provision. By this time l
had become convinced that Pasadena
would not come into the consolidation
and the amendment which drew pro-
Vided for the creation of an election
district by the board of supervisors
within which said consolidation coulu
be created and a majority of the votes
of that district in favor therof would
have effected consolidation within said
territory.
Anxious to Include Harbor
81 have been exceedingly anxious for
a long time to see San Pedro harbor
included within the limits of the city
of Los Angeles, and / apprehend that
the Importance of this is not secondary
to the very great Importance of the
Owens river. 1t was with view that
such district was the proper one that l
made provision for only one district.
The reason for this is not far to seek.
Suppose several districts were created
for as many towns as there are between
Los Angeles and San Pedro, in which
the voters of each We're to determine
whether they would be included in the
new consolidation or not, both San
Pedro and Los Angeles being in favor
of consolidation. One small community
voted to stay out; the whole scheme of
consolidation would fail, and is 1T to be
said that the interests of the great city
of Los Angeles and the importa nee of
San Pedro harbor to those interests
shall be lost by the adverse vote of
small community of. say, two or three
hundred people?
Against Divided Districts
"No sane person would contend for
several districts which would bring
about this result. The same reason ap-
plies as you enlarge upon the argu-
ment Suppose that Pasadena, Alham-
bra, Dolgeville. Fernando, Long Beach,
Redondo, Santa Monica and other cities
and communities not yet organized
into cities were to be included in sew
eral separate districts. Any one of
SuCH CllleS NOlllS W otdy Out MOulu
defeat consolidation and destroy the
whole plan. My idea was and is that
first district including Los Angeles
and San Pedro with intervening terri-
tory should be created and consolida-
tion therein effected. Then we could
enlarge by degrees and rapidly. Pasa-
dena could hold an election and deter
mine for herself whether or not she
would come in. Alhambra Long Beach
and the other cities could likewise de-
termine for themselves whether they
would come i'm or stay out. Los An-
geles would have to approve their COM
ing. II any or all should stay out, 1t
would not affect the consolidation al
ready in existence.
Is Against Coercion
II do not believe in coercing COM
munities by the wholesale to come
into consolidation. However. there
is some very high authority for the
creation OF one district to determine
consolidation matters. and for those
desiring Information in that regard, III
will refer them TO the plan of Presi-
dent RoogaVelf for cOnsolida ting fha