Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-21
VENICE MERCHANTS IN
FAVOR OF DIVISION
STRONG RESOLUTIONS PASSED
AT BEACH CITY
Long List Of Reasons Why a New
State Should Be Formed Are
Presented to tho
Public

Much talk of state division is hear1
on the streets of the Santa Monica
hav cities. and several leading men who
are in a position to judge declare tha'
the sentiment is practically unanimous
The Merchants Of Venice, an organ
ization composed of business men ol
the WindWard avenue district met tnls
and adopted resolutions
practically the same as those passed
bv the chamber of commerce. The fol
lowing are the resolutions adopted by
the Venice chamber of commerce:
Resolved by the Venice chamber
of commerce, That the interests or
Southern California and of the Pa
cifc coast demand the admission Of
Southern California into the Union
of sovereign states of the United
States of America.
We herewith present some of the
reasons for action to secure the
long delayed statehood of southern
California:
First-The propriety and need for
the best public interests of Two
states in the territory included in
California was fully recognized in
the convention of 1850 at Monterey,
at which convention the state con-
stitution was adopted and the pro-
ceedings to create the state or
California were had. 1t was then
agreed that a Division of California
would be agreeable to all.
Second-In conformity with this
agreement an election was called to
divide the state and to create
new state. The election was had
and the vote was favorable. The
new state was to have been named
Colorado" The proceedings were
forwarded to the congress at Wash
ington. No final action was ever
taken by the congress on this state
hood matter. The excitement due
to the approaching civil war prob
ably prevented the consideration.
1t is the opinion of some of our
leading members of the bar that
action by congress favorable to the
petition mentioned is all that Is
necessary for the admission of the
new state The only change neces-
sary would be the substitution OF
the name Southern California" for
the name Colorado" since appro-
priated by a great state mainly on
the eastern divide of the Rocky
mountains.
Third-The division of the state
would best serve the public inter-
ests because of the great distances
between the south and the north
parts of california and the difficult
ty a legislature of the state has in
framing laws suitable to these di-
verse interests. This applies also to
the difficulty of efficient service by
the executive officers and by the
courts of the state.
Fourth-The saving of money to
the south, which now sends about
100000 north every year, and for
which sum two state governments
can be well conducted. In fact
large states are now well governed
at a cost of less than half of the
above sum.
Fifth-The spirit and interests of
the two portions of California are
as different as those of any two
contiguous states now in the Union.
Sixth-The fact is that the people
now and for long time have rec
ognized these differences by uniting
to call the southern portion of the
state Southern California" Ma
tives and travellers have united in
recognizing the district of Southern
California by that name.
SeVenth-The addition of two sem
ators from the Pacific coast is
step in the direction of falrer rep
resentation of the great Pacific
coast interests in the United States
senate. At the present time the
Pacific coast has but six senators.
The Atlantic coast has thirty sena-
tors and there are eight more from
the gulf states. This makes total
of thirty-eight senators from the
states on the navlgable ocean wa
ters on the Atlantic side to six on
the naVigable waters of the Pacific
side of our country. This enormous
disproportion of representation in
the United States senate demands
relief.
For these reasons the Venice
chamber of commerce suggests that
all of our public bodies and all or
ganizations to promote progress in
Southern California take up the di-
vision of the state as originally
agreed to and as voted for in 1859,
both for the local and the general
interests and for the Pacific coast
and its better representation in the
senate of the United States.
We suggest the now accepted and
largely advertised name of South
ern California" for the new state.
An active campaign will, we be-
lieve, result in securing favorable
action and the realization of the
promises made at the birth of the
state of California.
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