Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-08-01
TO THE MAYOR

by honest censure to attend to the
business of ruling the city and to shed
additional luster on his administration,
we take the liberty of stating briefly
a few of the topics with which he must
familiarize himself If he would be up
to date in regard to the municipal his
tory of Los Angeles. We will ask him
to consider only matters of moment.
and hope he will consult the files of the
newspapers, public records, etc, and
familiarize himself with the various in
teresting developments which took
place during his absence, and as he is
doubtless aware, caused much COM
ment.
Mr.. Mayor, if you will pardon us for
our holiness in addressing you direct
| ly, your attention is called, most re-
specially, to a thrilling and sensation
al chapter in the annals of YOUR adj
ministration, the imprisonment of wo-
men of good moral character in the
filthy city Jail, where they were eX-
posed to unspeakable and unreliable
conditions of degrading discomfort and
embarrassment.
| AS your honor and others have long
ago realized and admitted new city
Jail is necessary. The fact that known
conditions disgraceful to the city were
allowed to exist in the old Jail has ex-
cited much comment. 1t is not a new
scandal. Since by advocating the erec-
ton of a sanitary Jail your honor and
hal 10
form IS necessary, much surprise has
been felt over the fact that reform
has not been begun with the present
Jail. Why should the community have
to wait for new jail before humane
methods Of taking care of its prisoners
are adopted and put into effect? That,
Mr. Mayor, is question asked by
many citizens. The women who, on
account Of a blunder on the part of
authorities, were lodged in the filthy
| Jail were innocent of any crime. The
conduct for which they were arrested
was constitutional and not criminal
Yet they were treated as If they had
been prisoners arrested for actual Of
lenses. They were deprived of their
| liberty, and had to suffer the hor-
rors of the prison, and to endure eondi-
tons of filth which were disgusting to
women of delicate up bringing, of cul-
ture and refinement. The charge has
been made during your absence, Mr..
Mayor that not only were Jail condi-
lions filthy and horrifying, but it has
been openly asserted before large audi
ences of citizens, and it will be asserted
before more audiences, prisoners in the
Jail are not we'll cared for. They are
underfed, and they dare not make ON
plants.
Patrolmen and others are. it is
openly alleged, assigned to beat up"
prisoners in the city jail if they should
prove "contumacious' or 'unruly."
p vsical discipline" is barbarous
feature of prison life which has been
known and indeed has been shown to
exist in other cities. Now the charge
has at last been made that Los Ange-
les has Jail where brutal "disciplin-
ary' methods are practiced. This is a
serious accusation, Mr.. Mayor, and is
no doubt both disquieting and annoy
ing to you, as it is to all citizens who
believe the fair fame and good name
of Los Angeles are well worth protect
ing and preserving.
We have no doubt an investigation
would place you in possession of facts
upon which you could found recon-
mendations with regard to future Jail
| policy, which would eliminate from
city prison life at least the element of
| bullying, irresponsible brutality which
/ is said TO characterize it.
The city council, by revoking the I'M
constitutional ordinance, acknowledged
the innocence of the women who We're
| imprisoned in this disgraceful jail, but
to make an acknowledgment of inno-
cence is a poor way of making amends
for actual bad treatment and probably
you will agree with us that the least
you can do is to order an immediate
investigation into the arrest and i'm
prisonment of the innocent women and
into their sufferings while in prison.
We think perhaps you will be inclined
also to take advantage of the fact
/
committed to jail in a manner which
actually may be said to have consti-
tuted a personal investigation on their
part and you may be inclined, at any
inquiry you may institute, to avail
yourself of their experiences.
You will be Mortified to learn that all
the proceedings as to which citizens are
prepared to make we'll founded COM
plants arose out of an unwaTrantable
interference with the constitutional
right Of free speech. The files of the
newspapers and testimony which you
may readily obtain will inform you
there were many disgraceful scenes on
the streets Of Los Angeles while the
fight for free speech was in progress.
Many times citizens were compelled to
, witness the spectacle of respectable
women being taken through the streets
to Jail as If criminals. In consequence
of this scandalous interference with the
personal liberty of citizens of Los An
geles and this arbitrary interposition
of tyranny between their constitutional
rights and their free exercise thereof,
scores and perhaps hundreds of Demo-
Gratis of the better class have repudi-
ated the municipal brand of "Democ-
racy" and say they will no longer sup
port it. We ask you, Mr.. Mayor,
whether you are aware that, at this
critical period in the history of the
nation and of the Democratic party,
YOUR administration has driven or