Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-20
CHARTER AMENDMENTS

HITH the charter amendments COM
wv mittee of the City club conduct
ing a campaign in which the
members Of the committee may be said
to represent the rank and file Of the
citizens of Los Angeles, there is a rea
sonable prospect that citizens will take
as keen an interest in this most mo-
mentous subject as they would If the
election Of of1ceholders were at Issue.
The success of q charter amendment
election depends more than an or
binary election on the number Of peo-
pie who take an active, intelligent in
terest in the questions at stake. Thirty
one charter amendments are proposed.
They are printed in convenient form,
and copies may be obtained by all citi-
zens who wish to look before they
| leap" and to make their civic duty a
matter of study and Of information. 1t
is the duty of citizens to become
thoroughly well informed on the sub
jects of the various amendments.
The Municipal league, which has
taken the trouble to obtain expert
opinion on the subject Of some Of the
amendments, has been able to give
citizens of Los Angeles the information
| that Seth Low, one of the foremost liv-
ing authorities on civics and on educa-
| ton, is in favor Of the "at large"
| method Of choosing public servants,
among them councilmen. Some Re-
publican friends seem to think the "at
large" system will deliver the city to
a clique Of "silk stockings" but it has
been shown it is easier for political
corporation to control a big city ward
| by ward, or a ward at time, than to
dominate and control the whole city.
| Tammany Hall and Richard Croker
| gained power by skillfully availing
| themselves Of the opportunities afforded
by the ward system in New York In
| fact, the bigger city grows the more
risky to the general good does the ward
system become. Some wards become
VIGOROUSLY bad" We do not think
there is a corner of Christendom thar
has not heard of the notorious Fourth
ward" of old New York. Wards, in
fact, are apt to become little NUM-
cipalities within the big municipality,
each with its own interests; and in the
history of great cities over and over
again the fact has had to be recorded
that, owing to machine political or
other influences, one ward has become
bitterly hostile to another! So acute
has this sectional or ward feeling be-
come that after council meetings or i'm
portant elections not infrequently one
ward has met another in the clash of
riotous battle Of course in Los An
geles this would be out Of the ques-
ton, but we mention what we know to
be fact merely to show what the ward
system and ward politics may lead to.
It would seem that a reform in the
method of electing councilmen would
be advisable. If for no other reason
than than Los Angeles, which is a
metropolitan city, surely should be
metropolitan in its city hall. Govern
ment administered with a metropolitan
breadth Of view, plan, scope, purpose,
may be equally metropolitan in atten-
ton to detail, and in a strict and
scrupulous regard for the policies that
| will produce the greatest good for the
greatest number of citizens. A city
with a metropolitan method of choos-
ing legislators would be apt, sooner or
later, to have metropolitan mayor,
which is surely q consummation most
devoutly to be wished.
1t is impossible to produce modern
results with antiquated methods. We
know the very thought of having to
surrender the privileges conferred upon
! them by ward bossism is wringing the
| hearts of some of our friends who are
uttering despairing appeals to the peo-
pie to retain and protect a system of
council representation which was in it's
full vigor when the dodo was in his
prime. The council must think in terms
of the city of Los Angeles and pre-
| serve withal a proper regard for the in