Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-21
WHO ISLANDERS LOS
ANGELES?

NJ d laDOToQ oQlLOr1dl Oe-
Tending its present anomalous po-
sition as a supporter of Mayor Har-
per, after insisting that during all it's
journalistic career in this community
it has stood for the moral forces of the
city, for the public interest and a
higher standard of public service. says;
practical newspaper men, who are
qualified to speak on the subject, know
that there never was a time under any
mayor, under any police commission,
under any chief of police. when there
was not vice in the city. There never
was a mayor, police commissioner Or
a chief of police who did not know
there were places of evil report, Of
evil influence in the city. ALL PER
SONS WHOSE OPINION IS WORTH
A STRAW UPON THE SUBJECT
KNOW THAT THESE EVIL INFLU-,
ENCES ARE NO MORE FLAGRAN,F
TODAY THAN THEY WE'RE IN
YEARS BEFORE. Now there is the
ground on which the Times stands to-
day"
statement of the Times in justification
of its present attitude. The Times says
that for a generation it has served the
people of this city as a newspaper and
has been familiar with conditions here
during that time.
Has the Times ever before known Of
a time in the history of the city when
the mayor, the majority Of the police
commission and the chief of police had
deliberately allied themselves by a
mutually of business interest with
the liquor dealers, the gamblers and
the keepers of disreputable houses in
the city, as has been done by the Har-
per administration?
Has it ever before known of time
in the history of this city when men
who owned large blocks of stock in
corporations in which the mayor and
the majority of his police commission
were heavily interested were permitted
to maintain places as vile as that of
r. F. Goings, which offered. all the ac-
commodations of a wine room for men
and women, a bawdy house and a gam
bling hell on the same premises, and
that of "Chowder House JIM Dunno,
which in its character rivaled the
lowest French restaurant of San Fran
cisco in the most palmy days of vice
in that city?
Has the Times ever before known of
a period in the history of this city
when the mayor and the majority of
his police commission, all heavily in
terested in stocks of corporations
which cost them nothing, deliberately
employed a member of the police COM
mission to sell stock of these corpora
tions to the extent of a quarter of a
million dollars to proprietors of bust
nesses which were by the laws Of the
city placed under the special control
of the mayor and his police commission
and the police department, and the pro-
ceeds of which stock sales went direct
ly to the benefit of the mayor and those
police commissioners by increasing the
value of the bonus stock which they
held in those corporations?
These matters are facts which
the mayor and his police commission
ers and the chief of police have not
pretended to deny and which the Times
will not pretend to deny.
In the face of all this, does the Times
expect any one to agree with its edi-
torial statement above quoted that
'evil influences are no more fragrant
today than they were in years be-
fore?"
In the same editorial the Times fur
ther says:
1--WE feel that if mems minds were
not blinded by passion or prejudice.
WHEN A NEWLY ARRIVED CITI-
ZEN NAMED McNUTT got on his
feet in a public meeting and libelously
proclaimed that the mayor of this
city is profigate. a reprobate, a
CRATER, a frequenter of low places, a
companion of low, degraded men and
women, and that those who stand
against his humiliation, disgrace and
dismissal from office by the recall pro-
cess are of the same characterize
say if they had not been blinded by
prejudice or passion, the gray-haired
Vilifier of his neighbors would have
then and there met with a rebuke that
would sting to the quick, unless his
hide is as thick as the integument over
his brain which shuts out the light Of
facts
The Times reference to Judge Nc
Mutt ''as a newly arrived citizen is
about as correct as any other state
ment of fact contained in its editorial.
In point Of fact, Judge McNutt has
been an honored citizen and member
of the bar of this community for more
than twelve years, which should re-
move him from the category of "the
newly arrived
Furthermore, nearly everything that
Judge McNutt said in condemnation of
Mayor Harper has been repeated and
emphasized by the majority report Of
the grand jury. composed of citizens
of this city and county.
The Times denounces Judge McNutt
for having said that Mayor Harper was
a prof1igate, a frequenter of low places,
a companion of low, degraded men and
women, and characterizes this state
ment as libelous.
The majority report of the grand
jury, published before Judge McNutt
made his speech, states that the mayor,
whose champion the Times has consti-
tuted itself, has with members of his
police commission on frequent occa-