Los Angeles herald., 1907-10-04
CHARTER COMMISSION

SpOUSlfe III lho PoOiAS
AL heart of Los Angeles when he
said, touching the new charter Il
want to see a broad-gauge, representa-
tive body doing this work. Put some
doctors, ministers, lawyers, plain peo-
ple-put women on the commission,
say!" For a time, sufficient to make
it hoary with age, the press of all large
cities regularly at each recurring elec-
ton urges the good people to take a
part in elections and especially to iden-
tify themselves with all public meas
ures nor leave such work to the ward
heeler" and tough. Here is an invita-
ton which doubtless will be accepted,
and if unprejudiced action is taken In
the makeup of that charter committee
Los Angeles will have the most and
best representative commission ever
appointed for the purpose.
Above all else we claim Los Angeles
to be a city of homes and business
and that urban law is not In the
hands. of ''gangs" or rings" but justly
representative of all classes and con-
ditions of men and women, and for
these reasons all classes should be
called upon to give form to the new
charter. Women, as sole traders and
owners of property and payers of
taxes, form very considerable per-
centage of our people, and it is not only
fitting in the ethical sense, but needful
on the plane of common Justice, that
women should be heard from in form
ing the new law.
Ministers, doctors and lawyers are a
large and growing force in the city
and are men of brains and discretion,
and though some may be supersensitive
on certain features and customs Of
metropolitan life it does not follow
that their wishes will be granted by
the people if the people do not indorse
them. The greater harm would be in
excluding these people and thereby put
ting into their mouths that effective
cry: Taxation without representa-
ton"
Mayor Harper wisely recalls: 1--WE
are legislating for years ahead; for a
for city on which the eyes of the
world are resting, and about which the
world is talking" and up to that limit
we are making history and precedent
by which other large cities may be
guided in years to come, so that it is
the part of plain common sense to
make the members Of the drafting
committee as widely representative and
as numerous as reason demands, to
the end that in after years no class,
condition or sex may arise to say:
1--WE were not consulted"
Women wage earners of Los Angeles
are many and their number Is grow
ing. and there is wide room for inn
provement in many ills that now
harass them, and women can suggest
remedial laws and proper adjustments
in such cases, that their male con-
freres may be intelligently guided in
framing just laws. Complaint from the
wage-earning women is stified through
the grim necessity that often forces
submission, but the crying need for
T6ueI III Induy ways 10 PASSSsN6 NA-N
should be answered.
There is wholesome fear prevalent
that corporate and other large financial
interests may get the larger represen-
tation. and this is one excellent reason
why the commission should be so large
and so fully representative Of the whole
people, that such suspicion may not
be INDUCED, let alone justified Capital
and labor. the professions and trades,
the teamster and utility man. women
capitalists and saleswomen. all should
be represented. as all are bound TO
live up to and obey the laws framed.
and all, in some FORM pay the money
required to enforce them.
The pressing demand for the initia-