Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-04
TIME FOR BLIND
OBEDIENCE PAST
ASSERTS MARINE
STRAIGHT ADVICE GIVEN TO
VOTERS OF LOS ANGELES
"DoN'T SWAP HORSES IN MIDDLE
OF STREAM" SAID LINCOLN
-
Madison Marine Points Out That
Voters Better Remember Owens
River and Pacific Ocean
at Primaries

III
N the Good Government meeting at
ALA Gilhousen hall last night, made
strong plea for realization Of the re-
sponsibility of the citizen in the coming
election, making a strong appeal for
better understanding Of the duties OF
citizenship His address was in part as
follows:
1--WE, as citizens, have been derelict
In the main in our duties to our gov
ernment. We have allowed the bosses
Of the political parties to nominate
whom they pleased, and we have bllnd-
ly voted for them without either KNOW
ing or caring who they were. We nave
worshiped at the altar of party ana
not at the altar of the nation A Greek
sage said: Men are not born to their
parents, but to their country And we
are slowly awakening to the fact that
men are not born to parties, Dut 10
their country, state and city.
"There is a great movement through
out the length and breadth of our
land to take municipal affairs out OF
the hands of political parties and place
them in the hands of the decent busi-
ness men and decent working men who
stand for clean. business methods IN
municipal affairs.
race TO race WIFI tSSuC
To-day we are face to face with such
an issue in our city, and in order for
you to do your duty as citizens 1t will
be necessary for you to take your sam
pie ballot and study the candidates
thereon carefully and find out all you
can about the integrity, ability and,
above all, the honesty of each one OF
them Then vote for the best men on
that ballot. If you do not do this you
have miserably failed in the great duty
which you owe your city and which
your city demands you to do, and our
government by the people and for the
people is a failure so far as you are
concerned.
To-day we believe that our city ap-
proaches nearer to giving the citizen a
chance to help run its government
than any other American city by the
means of the recall, referendum, ini-
tiative non-partisan election law and
the election of the council at large.
Yet if the citizen fails to do his duty
all these will fail. for the success Of
these depend upon his patriotism and
demand that he does his fnll duty in
telligently and honestly
"Our city is committed to great inn
provements and likewise great expenses.
We are now contemplating borrowing
100000 for the harbor and $3,OOOO 600
We must have honest men at the head
of our city to spend this money.
Two Streams to Cross
"The biggest and hardest dollar that
one has to pay is the tax dollar, and
yet it is notorious that 1t buys less
than any other dollar. 1t is inconceiv-
able that the citizen has been so lax
in selecting those to spend his money
throughout the length and breadth of
our land. 1t is your duty to get an
honest man at the head of our city.
How does Alexander-'Uncle George
measure UP TO this standard? We
find that only a short time ago he
saved the city $4,000 on the sale of
bonds, much against the wishes of
other gentlemen who were serving with
him. Again, we find that shortly after
becoming mayor he saved our city
thousands of dollars in the purchase of
fire engine house sites. During his long
career as an efficient public servant
even his bitterest enemies cannot
point to one act of dishonesty, but he
has at all times done his duty, and has
done it WE'LL He has great and glo-
rious record-one that any person
might be proud Of
Abraham Lincoln said, Don't swap
horses while crossing a stream Let's
not swap horses While we are bringing
two great streams to our city, the
Owens river and the Pacific ocean.
"AI over our broad land government
of municipalities by political parties
have been dismal failures. The names
of New York, Boston, Philadelphia.
San Francisco, st. Louis, Chicago and
the other great American cities are
synonyms for political debauchery and
graft which are a disgrace to the peo-
pie thereof-men are crying out all over
the nation that these things ought not
to be. If pure American ideals of gov
ernment are to be preserved govern
ment Of municipalities by political
parties must go, or else the rule of the
people must go.
Keeps Good Company
"A man is known by the company he
keeps. The men back of Alexander
who are they? They are the patriotic
and unselfish citizens who have fought
so hard to give us the great privileges
Ia \, s..xr kO1