Los Angeles herald., 1909-05-14
IN HE report of j. o. Koepfii president
AL.ar,iniranl Lea w hlCf


At no time in the past has the league
been so busy and accomplished so
much in municipal affairs. The MEM |
bers extended themselves some justifi- /
able REORGANIZATION.
Probably the most important thlng
the president had TO report in his re-
sumo was the recall and eviction OF A.
c. Harper former mayor, and the cleo
ton of George Alexander, the present
mayor One sentence of the report
contained the meat of the part relating
to the recall. "Fifty-five days after
the executive committee OF inns organ
ization called the first meeting of its
membership to consider the citys eX-
ecutive, the administration was
changed" The full report was as FOL
lows:
'The Municipal leagues fiscal year
which ends today has been without eX-
ception the most eventful one in its
history. The work of the league, meas
ured by results, has been of great I'M
portance to its membership and to all
citizens of Los Angeles.
"During the year the league has sue
cessfully carried out two great under
takings-the adoption of amendments
to the city charter and the recall of
MAYOR and the election of his success
or by the people. The direct effect OF
either one of these achievements is far
reaching in the work of obtaining good
city government. The moral elIect OF
these two decisive victories, whlch
those who believe in new ana better
order of things, won over combined re-
dictionary forces, is of no less import
ance than are the practical results.
Charter Amendments
"As to the charter amendments ey-
erybody versed in matters of city ad-
ministration had become convinced
that our present city charter, being as
IL is a patchwork, should be replaced
NV a new charter. The city council
appointed a charter revision commas
sion for the purpose Of preparing new
charter for the city. The members OF
this commission were, at the request OF
the council, selected by the different
commercial and civic organizations,
and the commission was made up OF
strong men who had the publlcs con-
fidence. -,
AFTER a great deal of work had been
done nv this commission, and lmpor-
tant changes in the charter had been
decided upon by them, the commission
requested the council to proceed to ap-
noint q hoard of freeholders, as is re-
ouired by the charter. AT TINS stage
the council demanded of the commas
sion that it submit the results OF lts
work. The commission thereupon took
the position that it was not responsive
To the council, but that the RESPONSE
bilitv of the new charter Would RESI-
mon the board of freeholders with
final action by, the people, Inc coun,
Gil refusing to call an elecllon lor
board of freeholders, the eliar M LII OH
mission adjourned sine die. Inc eNl-
dent determination of the council 10
leave the city with it's imperfect ana
unWieldy organic law unless II couIu
dictate the provisions of the new CHAR
fer were generally resented: your eX-
ecutive committee felt that Ger Ian IAN
changes were imperatively needed anu
that others were most desirable 1t be-
inc impossible, owing to the STAND OF
The council, to give the city a new
charter. the next best thing was done
end vo1lr committee decided to give the
peopie an opportunity to amend the
charter by resorting TO the iIlltialise
"a request was made to the gentle
men who had constituted the SUBJ
committee of the charter revision COM
mission on the draft of new charter
to furnish such amendments as they
considered most vital, and which MAD
been agreed upon by the COMMISSION.
The amendments so certihed 10 the
jeague were those relating to the cleo
+ion If councilmen at large, direct pri-
maries, public utilities and harbor mat
tiers.
~The league having obtained the nee
essary number of signatures, an cleo
ton was called, but the city council
tackled on tWenty-four addltlonal
amendments to those proposed oy the
league. The two amendments Wnlch
had caused the opposition of council TO
the work OF it's commission were those
relating to the election of councilmen at
large and the direct primary. The rea-
son for this opposition is obvious. The
same reason moved a most bitter fight
on the amendments. The political ma
chine. supported by the Los Angeles
Times and all the forces controlled by
them, used every effort within their
power to defeat the Municipal league
amendments.
"The result of the election was that
all the amendments proposed by the
league, with the exception of the least
important one-relating to city en-
ployes' bondS-Were adopted, Whlle
nearly all the council amendments We're
defeated. Amendment four virtually
disposed of the question of party con-
troll in city elections, and amendment
two will result in raising the standard
of the council and make that body ac-
countable to the people of the whole
city The amendments relating to pub
lie utility and harbor matters were of
pressing need, the former safeguarding
the city's interests, and the latter MAX
ing 1T possible TO undertake lne CONSOLE
datien of Los Angeles with it's harbor
cities.
"The service rendered by the league
to the city in the matter of these char
ter amendments can be measured by
the tremendous Importance of the
city's interests affected by them.
Harper Recall
an the recall of Mayor Harper the
league achieved a result bearing much
farther than simply the retirement of
an unfit public servant, or even the
disrupting of a system of graft that
fourished under that administration.
However important the direct result,
the recall of Harper and the election
of Alexander means a great deal more
than is evidenced by the marked diff
ference of the actions or of the per-
sonal equation of these two officials.
"The issues in this campaign were
clearly drawn and fully recognized by
both sides. Good government measured
its strength with bad government. All
the people and all the interests who
look to the city government for some
thing besides an administration of the
city's afairs or the equal benefit of
all the people ught the recall. They
fought st so hard that a Socialist cam