Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-01-06
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
ENDORSES SCHOOL BONDS
Association Expresses Utmost Conf
dence in Board of Education and
Approves of Proposed
Issue

The chamber of commerce has given hearty
Endorsement to the school bonds project and
at the same time expresses the utmost con-
fidence in the board Of education. The fol-
lowing from the chamber states why the bonds
should be carried:
Resolved, that the board OF directors OF
the Los Angeles chamber of commerce., real
izing fully the great importance of the ques-
lions involved in the coming school bonds
election, and having carefully considered the
SUBJECT in all its phases, declares itself heart
lily in favor Of the issuing Of the bonds.
Without going into detailed statements the
board is convinced, as every thinking citizen
must be convinced, of the absolute necessity
for increased school accommodations to meet
the demands of our population, which, it is
estimated, has trebled itself in eight years,
while the number of scholars enrolled is today
twice large as it was four years ago. A
careful consideration of the estimates on
which the call for bonds is founded shows
clearly that the amount asked for is under
the circumstances, extremely moderate.
while this board realizes the wisdom of
the closest scrutiny of every attempt to in
crease the bonded Indebtedness of the city,
especially in the present juncture of municipal
affairs. it also recognizes the fact that there
are certain public interests which are of the
essence of things and which must be ade-
Cuatey provided for if the city is to con-
tinue to prosper; and proper provision for the
education of the coming generation of citizens
is unquestionably among the first of those
public interests. In this conclusion the board
believes all intelligent voters will concur
1.-THE only question remaining then is, can
the citizens and taxpayers of Los Angeles
safely trust the expenditure of the money
asked for to the wisdom, discretion, ability
and integrity of the board of education and
it's executive officers? The character and
standing in the community of these gentle
men is reassuring on this point. The board
was chosen directly by the people on a non
partisan issue, and though their administra-
ton has been subjected to the seYerest criti-
cism and scrutiny we believe the verdict of
the people is that they have proved them
selves worthy of the trust committed to them.
That they have perhaps made some mistakes,
that they have fallen into slight errors in
their bookkeeping, that they have miscon-
strued in instance the purpose and mean
ing Of act of the legislature may be true.
But that their administration as a whole,
both from an educational and business stand
point, has been wise, honest and efficient has
been within a few months the finding of a
committee composed of educators and business
men of the highest standing, representing the
Merchants and Manufacturers association, the
Municipal league and this chamber of COM
merce. And if anything further were needed
to secure public confidence in them we find
it in the verdict of the grand jury, reached a
few days ago, after careful examination and
investigation.
After alluding to certain minor errors of
bookkeeping in the handling of certain funds
the report of the grand jury closes in these
words
6 In view of the early bond election to sup
ply additional school funds for this rapidly
growing city, and in the interests of educa-
ton, we have gone into all actions by the
city board of education, especially in their
handling of school funds, and have thoroughly
examined the same, and we find that there
has been no misrepresentation of school funds
in any manner whatever.
" And aside from these errors in bookkeep-
ing, we commend the action of the city board
of education in the conduct and management
Of the school affairs in this city,"