Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-04-04
DIRECT PRIMARY
BILL TO RESULT
IN GREAT GOOD
CITY CLUB HEARS ADDRESSES
ON TIMELY TOPICS
TWO STATE SENATORS TALK ON
IMPORTANT ISSUES
Speakers Show That California Has
Adopted Measures Which viii Be
of Great Benefit to Its
Citizens i.


an unusually interesting and varied
program for the City club at it's meet
ing at the Westminster. The three
speakers were Senators M. w. Thomp
son and Charles w. Bell and John A.
Fox. director of the National Rivers
and Harbors congress.
Senator Thompson was the first
speaker. His topic was the Direct
Primary" and although his speech was
brief in the short time he held the
floor he told of the difficult fight which
had been made to pass the direct
primary bill and of the ultimate good
which would be accomplished If the
citizens of the state realized what a
powerful weapon they had in their
hands and acted accordingly.
but the matter now lies in the hands
of the ordinary citizen" said Senator
Thompson. by his indifference and
inactivity he has permitted the manip-
ulation that has been done. We can
now have the best men possible in all
our public offices, if every voter does
his full duty. But if he fails the
primary law will have no effect, and
matters will be as bad or worse than
they were before.
For days and weeks the contest over
this primary bill waged hot and fierce"
continued Senator Thompson. 1.-THE
newspapers have told you some of the
details of that contest, but they did not
give ALL There were sidelights that
never became public. But California
now has direct primary law on her
statute books, and, in it's present form,
I believe 1t vastly superior to the one
in which it was first Introduces. In its
first form it was in such shape that
the undesirable element of the large
cities could control the selection of a
United States senator.
Permits of Closer Contact
"But preserving the district form, as
is done in the bill as it stands, it per-
mits of closer touch with the people
as whole. BY giving the legislators
an alternative, it is possible for the
members to turn to some good man,
when they see that the candidate of
their district cannot be elected. Other
wise it would be possible for large
number of candidates to be nominted
and the issues confused.
There are several bad features in
the present primary law, but there
must be i'm ALL One of the worst is
that It will reintroduee partisan politics
into purely municipal elections.
but the few bad features can be
easily overcome by the great amount
of good this bill will do, If every citizen
will work and vote for proper men and
proper legislation"
Senator Bell spoke on Legislative
GTORTeSS. Il WO years dSO ll6 uletuC Oh
address to the City club on the same
topic on his return from Sacramento,
and then he had hardly anything but
harsh words for legislators and legisl-
ton, and with good reason.
To-day | came back with kinder
thoughts and kinder words" said Sena-
tor Bell. "But the last legislature was
not the best that we could have had
at that he added.
Notwithstanding the splendid bills
that were passed by the legislature,
some of the most vicious laws that
could possibly have been devised were
passed by both houses and are now
before the governor for his signature.
1--WE found it hard shedding for re-
form measures. Every senate COM
mittee was packed and we knew what
we were up against as soon as the
list of names was read. This was es-
pecially true of the committee on pub
lie morals, the committee to which the
anti-race track bill was sent. Every
member of this committee was opposed
to the bill. One of the members was
financially interested in the track at
Emeryville.
Packed Committees Handicap
Packed committees are bad ham
dicap for decent legislation. Every re-
form measure that was suggested was
looked on with scorn. And l want to
say right here that we few Republicans
who introduced these measures depend
ed heavily on the good, clean Demo-
Gratis. All honor to them We had
nineteen votes for the anti-race track
bill. We made a bluff that we had
Then the newspapers began to publish
an honor roll. That part was blu, too,
but soon all began to climb into the
bandwagon. We had to play the game
hard. We had to use some of the tricks
of the opposition, and in the end We
won.
And I want to say that Senator
credit due him for the magnificent work
he performed, both for the anti-race
track bill and the direct primary bill.
If there ever was a man who woS
hammered on a proposition it was
Thompson. But he manfully stood up
under the hardest kind of pressure.
"Thompson's anti-land grabbing bill
was one of the best pieces of legisla-
ton that was passed by the last legis-
lature, or any previous body. It's OPP
Grafton will wipe out of existence one
of the worst gangs of land pirates that
has ever stolen the public domain.
1.-THE banking act was one of the
best bills ever placed before the peo-
pie. The bankers join me in saying
this"
Senator Bell sandwiched in bad bills
with the good He spoke of the
"Change of Venue" bill.
1.-TWO years ago this bill was. intro
duced into the legislature and defeated.
This time it was passed, and it is one
of the most vicious pieces of legisla-
ton with which I have ever met. It
is for the sole purpose of helping Ruef.
1t was followed through the senate
by one of Ruef's former secretaries,
and it is now up to the governor for
his signature. But hope and believe
the governor will not sign this bill.
Writ of Review Bill Obnoxious
"The Writ of Review bill is another
obnoxious law 1t permits a dive
keeper, who has broken all the laws
of the city and who is before the po-
lice commission for the revocation of
his license, to take his case before the
superior court. With the delays that
can occur in such cases it is possible
to postpone trial for two years or
more. and in that time a dive keeperl