davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21

/" HE announcement that the Eqult-
able Insurance company proposes
n to erect in New York an ofhce
building of sixty-two stories, which
will be nine hundred and nine feet high,
gives fresh impetus to the question
whether there should not be limit to
the height of buildings. This question
concerns every large city in the coun-
try, says the San Francisco Bulletin.
High buildings are supposed to be
fireproof, but those who beheld the
roaring furnaces into which tall build
ings were converted duringN the great
fire in this city know how little the
word "freproof" signifies. 1t Is true
that modern structure of steel and
masonry offers little food for an ordfn-
airy fire, but in a conflagration the
skyscraper becomes a great fire-box,
radiating heat and brands to a great
distance and causing fresh fires hum
dreds of yards away. Once fire secures
a firm hold on q tall building 1t is be-
yond control. The fire department can
not conduct streams to the higher
stories, and it is from the higher stories
that the flames spread to other build
ings.
Not only are very high buildings
hazardous to surrounding property, but
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
HIRE FREE LABOR

~ HIEF KERN has renewed his
suggestion that Los Angeles
should add to its revenue by tax
ing charge OF the river bed and SELL
ing sand. 1t is believed the city would
realize $4,000 year. To the proposal
that the work of digging and sitting
this highly profitable sand should be
done by members of the chain gang
we are positively, infexibly, emphati-
cally and unalterably opposed. There
is no reason why Los Angeles should
use slave labor for the development
of a great and lucrative municipal in
dustry.
Let Los Angeles citizens and taxpay-
ers be employed for this work. It is
good, clean work. No one need be
ashamed or afraid TO engage in it.
Pay good wages. The city can afford
to be generous, since it is practically
finding and picking up a big addition
to its income. The taxpayers are en-
titled to demand employment on the
work of the river bed. LIE us hear no
more about the extraordinary proposal
to disgrace Los Angeles by depriving
honest men OF an opportunity of max
ing a living in return for developing
for the city an industry worth $4,000
a year,
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
DISGRACEFUL JAIL

OONSTITUTIONALISM and COM
mon sense have been indicated
~ in Los Angeles. Members of the
city council showed their good sense by
listening to the appeal of citizens who
urged the immediate revocation of a
section of an ordinance which was at
variance with one of the fundamental
and explicitly stated principles Of the
constitution of the United States. 1t is
to be regretted, however, that this
action was not taken before the dis
grace of Los Angeles had attracted ma
tional attention through stories pub.
lished far and wide throughout the
country. No student of the constitu
tional history of the United States ever
doubted for one moment the right of
citizens to address orderly open air
assemblages without obtaining formal
official permission, Russian style. The
imprisonment of the women has had
one good effect, which is in the nature
of a public service. In an emphatic
way it has again called attention to
the vile and revolving conditions at the
Los Angeles bastile, the city Jail. con-
ditions which could not be overdescribed
by pen like that of Dickens, or over
drawn by a pencil like that Of Hogarth.
An eighteenth century Jail is out of
place and out of date in a twentieth
century community, and is a constant
disgrace to this city.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
SAYS CALIFORNIA WOMEN ARE
TlLTING AGAINST WlNDMILLs

LOS ANGELES, July 20-[Editor
Hehaldl: L observe in the evening pa
per that the women of Southern Cali
fornia are to ask the next legislature
for law against usury; that they
note that many poor women are bled
by heartless usurers, etc. Cannot
something be done to stop this most
ignorant fitting against windmills?
Twenty-Five years ago, when 1 first
came to this country, 1t excited my
profound intellectual scorn to- find a
whole movement, which was then pow
erful numerically, but went to pieces
because 1t had no clear ideas-the
Changers movement-wasting all it's
energies on this very thing. OF course
1 knew, as everyone who thinks for
two minutes necessarily knows, that
all sue. legislation is absolutely futile.
When i must have money 1 must
have it; and the more imperative the
must" the more 1 will pay for it.
If the law forbids the lender to charge
more than per cent and my necessity
is such that l am willing to pay 100
per cent, what does the money lender
do? Obviously he advances me $50 and
takes my note for $500, charging 6 per
cent and keeping fully within the law.
This is done daily and hourly in every
state where they have these ridiculous
anti-usury laws. Every one of them
is a dead letter. ECONOMIST. F.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
BELIEVES EVERYBODY SHOULD
VOTE FOR GOOD ROADS BONDS

Los ANGELES, July 20.-[Editor
Herald: Your public letter box is a
good thing. 1t gives a free and fair
discussion of all subjects. l am in
favor of the bonds for improved and
good roads, and intend to vote yes.
Our public roads have been too long
and sadly neglected. We cannot have
too many good roads-the more the
better. Just now a good many people
who live in our city and country need
work. The proposed appropriation
would put a large number of men to
work, which they need. They would
put the money into circulation, which
would be a benefit to ALL 1t would
benefit the people in the city and coun-
ty both to have plenty of good, wide
roads. Our own citizens should have
the first chance for employment and
be given the work. and in no case
should the work, if let out to contract
ors, should they be allowed to import
cheap laborers who are not citizens of
the United States and employ them
In preference to men who live here,
who are taxpayers and help to pay
the bills If the work is let out to
contractors there should be a clause
in all contracts that they SHOULD not
employ any person who is not a citi
zen of this country. If they did the
contract would be forfeited, null and
void. Boost the bonds, boost good
roads, give our own citizens the work
See to it that the money is properly
and judiciusly and economically used
honestly fairly, and no graft. Do the
work we'll and as it should be done,
without long delays. Vote for the
bonds and push the work for more
good roads. ]. D. BAILEY.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21

Democrats are hereby informed that
n dollar fund has been started for
national Democratic campaign ex-
penses. Mr.. Bryan asks the Democrat
ic newspapers of the United States to
take charge Of the collection of cam
paign funds. Any funds sent to The
Herald will be acknowledged duly
and forwarded promptly to the cam
paign committee. Subscribers may de-
pend upon it that every penny Of the
Democratic campaign fund will be ex-
pended for legitimate purposes within
the strictest definition of the word
legitimate. The disbursement of cam
paign funds will be accounted for pub
licly.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
No Harmony Is Possible
At HerYin S Price or Terms

tooth and toenatl against the measure
with the determination and desperation
BETTING a drowning man graphing at
a straw"
1t is a desperate cause which is
driven to silly misrepresentation of
facts so easily exposed, but this exam
pie is quite in line with the persistent
policy of the Chronicle in relation to
the work of the Lincoln-Roosevelt
league. The league does not complain
of this policy. 1t does not hurt any-
thing but the Chronicle and 1t serves
to indicate the motives and the desires
thai animate the pitiful cry for har
mony. There will be no harmony in
the rarity until Mr.. Herrin is eliminated
and an end made of the scandalous use
of state patronage for bribery and in
timidation,
In San Francisco today Mr.. Herrin
is engaged in debauching the Republic
can county committee in order TO get
full control of the party machinery. and
Governor Gillett appears to have given
him carte blanche to use all the pat
ronage powers of the state government
to accomplish his purpose Governor
Gillett remembers his creator. but his
surrender of public trust to be used
for a corrupt purpose serves to pro-
mote harmony no more than the shabby
and sneaking misrepresentation of the
Chronicle.
Governor Gillett, Mr.. Herrin and the
Chroricle know on what condition they
can have harmony in the party This
fight is only beginning and it will not
be ended by anything short of uncon-
ditional surrender. Mr.. Herrin's sem
tence is written and he knows it. If
he thinks he can save himself by drag
ging Gillett in the mire and calling on
the Chronicle for help he will find his
mistake. There will be no harmony at
Herrin's price,
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
UP TO THE MAYOR

! NNCE the action OF the police in
In enforcing an unconstitutional city
~ ordinance which took women of
good reputation away from their homes
and families and thrust them into a
filthy jail while resorts and women of
questionable character were apparently
protected by the official position OF
members of the mayors cabinet, has
brought upon Los Angeles storm Of
highly undesirable comment which has
been centered and visited chiefly on
the local official administration. it has
incidentally brought reproach on the
local Democratic party and forced hum
dreds of erstwhile supporters of the
administration to repudiate it and
many of it's works. If it were not well
known that the decent element of local
Democracy is NOT ALLIED WITH
THE HARPER ADMINISTRATION
the recent vagaries OF officials who
stultified the city by practically re-
pudiating the constitution of the
United States would have been a Sc
we're blow to the Democratic party in
California. A partial victory for de-
cency was achieved when through the
power of the press exercised by means
Of news stories published in Los An
geles Record and Los Angeles Herald
with regard to the connection of a
member of the board of police COM
missioners. through the company of
which he is president, with the own
ership and collection of rentals from
houses of i'll fame, immoral and vicious
resorts of the lowest and most revolt
ing character. a number of these
houses were closed, and the self
respecting citizens of Los Angeles
must see to it that they remain closed.
But the president Of the>, company
which owned them is still man Of
authority and continues to hold his
official position. Does the mayor in
tend to retain on the police board
man whose name has been dragged
through the mire on account of his
connection with questionable houses?
Surely the police commission is the
last of the departmental governing
DOQA6S Va lAAC SAAS OAA WAASA OAAC WYNN
expect to find a member who had ever
derived part of his income from such
houses" This disgraceful incident
has called to the attention of the peo-
pie of Los Angeles more strongly than
ever the character of the men with
whom Mayor Harper has been so I'M
fortunate as to surround himself.
While, undoubtedly. there are some
members of the official household who
are above reproach, yet the actions of
certain members of the police board
have been such as to furnish for pub
lie delectation some spicy stories of
their nocturnal escapades. We cannot
understand why such men should be
retained in office. But if Mayor Har-
per chooses to approve. indorse and
champion a man like Fuller by retain
ing him in the official household, then
the responsibility is clearly the
mayors. In the language of the day,
If it may be quoted without offending
the fastidious ears of the members Of
our cultured and polished municipal
official circle. TITS up to him."
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21

elections and preyed upon a defenseless
public through the subservient officials
whom they have raised to place and
power. The conscience of the nation is
now aroused to free the government
from the grip of those who have made
1t business asset of the favor-seeking
corporations; it must become again a
peoples government, and be admins
tered in all its departments according
to the Jeffersonian maximS equal rights
to all and special privileges to none.
SHALL THE PEOPLE RULE? is
THE ovERSHADOwING ISSUE IN
ALL THE QUESTIONS NOW UNDER
DISCUSSION" This is common sense.
The parallel passage of the Republican
Pecksniff preamble Is nonsense. With
the mills filled with working women,
and the factories and mines crowded
with working children who should be
at school preparing themselves for
American citizenship, talk about ''equal
opportunities for c.llS is mere gibber-
ish. The pompous and sounding words
caught the ear of Pecksniff, and tickled
LIS vanity WnllC OIldA IAtCpg III ietl-
guage which under the circumstances
borders closely upon rank irreverence,
dares to humble his hypocritical graft
tude for Gods bounty, which, with
all the mastery devices invented by
the perverted ingenuity of the hirelings
of very thigh" finance, he has pervert-
ed to base purposes. The Republican
platform says America owns one
fourth of the worlds wealth. But the
population of the United States is not
one-fourth of that Of the world. So
small is the population of this country
in proportion to it's wealth that 1t is
outrageous that any of our people
should be starved, should be without
employment, should be deprived of the
necessities of life. or robbed of educa-
ton. There is not a shadow of an ex-
cuse for 1t. excepting that for many
long years the voters of the United
States have tolerated or encouraged
Republlcanism, national hoodoo
which too long has been allowed to
as a mascot.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21

m HE tornado must be conoein rntie 90.
it's passion and its thoSs sasr,ns !,
l. ness. but it has one r ,saitstivo'
characteristics. 1t is never lii i'n,o,e
mach individual cyclone Is t as are
The mold is broken and dupheSa an lose
not not in NTH the market, says the san Jose
Herald. ,aasure. for the
fact that the victims OF the pas ~ theiT
ssIs harbor malice. They have t .Rar
little hour or two of travail, ana .noil
there are years and years o. o. Soiis and
sation' of boastful comparison a All.
Scott of Guymon, OKLA VINO o,.o Mas
caught midway between the WEN ha, he
door. and the storm cave. Wnen thr me
took his breath of relief ne was as NIL miI1
niles awav swathed among Ine mm
Iowss of Sand creek. he nae had VIE 1',,re
blown through three hogstignS o Mars
fences and over some OF tne rous s,,,,'
country of the section. Don't you SUP sup
nose he'll forgive that iorns sor With ~ip
mat barbed fence? Surely. Tor WIZ
time the wind will have pioWn s se'ooa
hundred miles an hour ana the iSahe
viii be not merely hog-tisnt, OF ,, I" te
bit-tight, but water-tight. ~ wlli /, D %
a pleasure to listen to the trimmings
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
Limit Height of Buildings
i'm All the Greater Cities

they are hazardous to life. Suppose
that fire were to spread rapidly on the
twentieth story of the Singer building.
or the proposed Equitable Life building,
and to seize the stairways and eleva-
tor shafts. How could the thousands
Of persons in the upper stories be
saved?
1t has been calculated that if panic
caused by an earthquake or other
emergency were to empty at the same
time all the office buildings in the Wall
street region of their population the
streets would be filed two or three
layers deep with people, and loss of
life in the crush would be inevitable
and great.
These are the conspicuous considera-
lions of safety. The considerations of
beauty and comfort in favor of restrict
ing the height of buildings to ten or
twelve stories are numerous Tall
buildings have turned the main streets
of lower Manhattan into sunless cav
ems, where the winds, congested as in
tunnels, are a plague. The gloom of
these deep canyons in the banking dis
trict must profoundly affect not only
the health, but the character of the un-
happy mortals who are constrained to
pursue the elusive dollar in those SOM
Der regions.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
MORAL ISSUES

ONE of William Jennings Bryan's
sayings is: II believe in the right
of each community to attend to
its own business. I believe the people
of the community. know better what
they want done than any outside per-
sons can know" This is a sufficient
answer to all who are trying to make
certain social and moral issues ma
tional issues. 1t cannot be done. Some
states will vote dry" others will not,
and without ehdangering the first
principles of Americanism you cannot
take a federal club and spank the
nation with 1t, shriel1ing, Nov will
you be good?" Long ago the truth
of this was recognized wittily by a
British legislator, who said, half joe
ularly, half ruefully, You cannot make
men good by act of parliament" If
communities desire to show their adj
vance in civilization by making local
laws on social and moral questions,
there is nothing to hinder them, but
what might be very good restraint
for New Hampshire might be very
bad restraint for California. 1t is al
ways highly important to remember
that national happiness long ago was
defined to be the attainment of the
greatest good for the greatest number
of citizens. Sometimes this desirable
result may be obtained by federal leg
islation. Sometimes it is the part of
wisdom to leave to each community
the task of working out it's own SAL
walton on lines suggested by local con-
ditions and local needs. Moreover,
there is this to be said with reference
to political or quasi political organi-
cations which are in existence for the
purpose of effecting the passage of
legislation: They draw
their support from the bigger parties,
and their faddist or single-idea plat
forms and candidates tend to obscure
the greater issues before the people.
The Democratic party Is the party Of
progress and reform and any interest
which is of vital Importance to the
well-being of the nation may be in
trusted to 1t. Democrats all over the
land are as one man in the determine
ton to revive the moral sense in the
United States and to ask the cG-oper-
alton of all patriotic citizens in the
endeavor to mend or end conditions
which interfere with the true welfare
of the nation. Democracy and the
Democratic platform should receive
the support of every good conscien-
tious American, and for both the can
didate and the platform he can vote
with a conscience void of offense to-
ward God or man.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
BRYANISM

MIR. BRYAN is opposed to any kind
wi of campaigning which will be
-A'A likely to stir up class hatred. 1t
is correct to hate causes of evil, but
far from right to hate any class, be-
cause a class which is the cause of evil
is in all probability the victim of igno-
rance and of a wrong mode of thought,
and is to be pitied and helped; not
hated. Mr.. Bryan has never said any
thing which could be construed as an
attempt to array class against class
On the contrary, he has said, in an
admirable address delivered to univer-
sity men in the east: Il have read
many descriptions of heaven, but I
have never yet read a description of
heaven where there were two depart
ments-one for the rich and one for the
poor. If the rich and poor must live
together forever in one heaven here
after, cannot we do something toward
getting them acquainted here, so that
they will not have to be introduced
when they reach the other side? What
are we doing to solve this question? 1
DcllCN6 IOlSLoy Is right WHCA lie soy .
the great trouble today-a trouble that
manifests itself in all these questions
is the lack of sympathy between man
and man; and for twenty-nine years,
clad in the garb of a peasant and liv-
ing the simple life Of peasant, he has
been preaching out unto all the world
a philosophy that rests upon the doc
trine, THOU SHALT LOVE THE
LORD THY GOD WITH ALL THY
HEART AND THY NEIGHBOR AS
THYSELF.'
Republican friends who talk lightly
of Organism" would do well to famil-
iarize themselves with the subject they
heedlessly and thoughtlessly condemn.
Upon investigation and analysis, they
will find Organism consists of altru-
ism and Americanism, in equal parts
No political candidate for the Office OF
president has ever stood upon higher
PERSONAL platform than Mr.. Bry-
ans. And the political platform tc
the support of which he is pledged is
IN keeping with the high standard Of
Organism"
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21

N HE merchants Of this coast have
continual struggle to get fair con-
4 sideration from any department.
of the federal government in respect TO
the supply of commodities in which we
can compete on equal terms or with
some advantage. 1t has been con-
tinuous fight with the interior depart
ment to secure deliveries OF Inolan
goods at points to which freights DO
not give a great advantage to eastern
competitors. OF recent. years we nave
had more consideration, but we have had
to fight for it and have to fight to retain
it. The government officials who deal zeal
with this subject seem never to reaiize
that any part of the United States lies
west of the Missouri river: AS eastern
competitors unquestionably work as as
hard to exclude us as we work TO get
a chance for this business 1t must be
no ground for wonder IL there grows
up a conviction here that this consls-
tent ignoring of the west is the result
of Improper influence secretly exerted'
says the San Francisco Chronicle.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21

A Republican correspondent writes
us Taft does not directly own a huge
ranch in Texas, but that it is owned
by his relatives. So the eastern Re-
publican papers which published huge
pictures of the Taft castle in Texas
and glowing descriptions of the ranch
must have done their man an injus-
tice. If Judge Taft is not really the
owner of the Texas estate and is
merely a member of the owning family,
the Republican press agents who pho
tographed and described the Texas
place did an injustice to themselves, to
their party and to the Republican
newspapers which used the "story"
doubtless with the belief it was liter
ally true. If any apology is due, Re
publican papers will doubtless be quick
10 make it.
Los Angeles herald., 1908-07-21
DEMOCRAT DECLARES POLICY
OF SUPPRESSION HURTS PARTY

VENICE, July 20.-[Editor Herald:
am a Democrat with my whole being
and l look to Democracy to right the
wrongs of the people and to work for
the betterment of mankind. l am
afraid the agitation for free speech
will spread from Los Angeles all over
the country and do for Democracy
what it is doing in Los Angeles-losing
US hundreds of votes every week.
am convinced that the city govern
ment of Los Angeles is composed of
others than Democrats. The country
and nation that boasts of freedom and
liberty should act accordingly, as the
mere boast is shown in Los Angeles to
be mockery and hypocrisy. These
wearers of the cloak of Democracy are
enemies to our party.
From a philosophic standpoint is it
not better to discuss problems openly
and sensibly without intimidation or
interference? Freedom of speech and
of the press is the bulwark and pro-
lection of free people.
By mere accident 1 was attracted to
crowd of Socialist speakers. 1 lis
tened to them and must say they adj
yocated no unreason. I want to re-
main with the Democratic party. but
there is one thing sure, l shall vote
for men who guarantee absolute free
| speech, not for religion only, but upon
all topics. THEODORE RUBERG.