Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-19
MASS MEETING
WILL BE HELD
AT SAN PEDRO
INDIGNATION AT TRUSTEES
ACTION INCREASES
CALLED TRAITORS TO SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA
Los Angeles Harbor Commission
Passes Strong Resolution Con-
demning Attempt to Grab
Franchises

T INTEREST in the consolidation ques-
ton has centered around the pro-
n posed giving away of valuable
franchises in the inner harbor by the
board of trustees of San Pedro. and the
| indignation of San Pedro, Los Angeles
and Wilmington people has grown to an
extent that meeting which promises 10
| be beyond the capacity of the largest
! hall at the harbor will be held at San
Pedro Monday night to protest against
| the franchise grab. The action or the
trustees is almost the sole topic of con-
Versation at the harbor. where II IS de-
nounced in the strongest terms, even to
! the extent of an occasional intimation
| that the three trustees responsible Tor
the action should be designated here
after as TRAITORS to the growth and
| progress of San Pedro and Southern
| California" as one man expressed his
sentiments yesterday.
| The indignation meeting Monday, al
though called by the San Pedro CONSOLE
datfon committee, viii be a joint one of
| the interests of the three cities. Mayor
| Alexander and the city council of Los
| Angeles, the chamber of commerce,
| harbor commission, directors of the Mu-
nicipal league, Merchants and Manufac-
| turers association and the Associated
Jobbers have been invited to ask their
! members to attend. The Wilmington
trustees, chamber of commerce and citi-
zens generally have been requested to
attend. 1t is expected that SO large a
delegation will go down from Los An
! geles that special cars will be neces-
sary.
Captain Fries to Speak
The meeting will undoubtedly be one
of the most vigorous in expression ever
i held in Los Angeles county. Captain
Fries has been urged to speak, as being
| the best posted manssn the harbor situ-
alton. He has been quoted in San
Pedro as favoring the granting of the
franchises and this misrepresentation
will make his speech all the more Wig
orous Mayor Alexander, Chairman
! Jess and Secretary Fleming of the
consolidation committee from Los An
geles, City Attorney Hewitt and others
will be on the program. DR.. W. A
! Weldon, Capt. Lewis Hansen and other
! San Pedro speakers will state the sem
| timents of leading citizens of the har-
| Dor city.
Many San Pedro citizens refuse to
believe that the three trustees at the
meeting comprehended the extent of
| the grab asked of them and they ex-
pressed hope that this belief will be
borne out by the action to be taken by
the board in future on the franchise
requirements. The consolidation COM
mittee and other business men of San
Pedro believe in taking no chances,
and they propose to show the extent
of the public feeling against interfer-
ence with the construction of a great
harbor by meeting Monday night that
win have a historical place for years
| to come.
In any event the action of the trus-
| tees is generally regarded as greatly
stimulating the feeling in favor of
consolidation, and it has converted to
the consolidation side numerous San
Pedro voters who have formerly been
rated as undecided.
Corporations Confess
IT regard the action of the corpora
| tions interested as of great signifi-
canoe in relation to the tidelands SUITS
said A. P. Fleming, attorney and sec
retary for the Los Angeles harbor
commission yesterday. 1T is. in fact,
a complete confession that they have
no hope Of winning the tidelands litiga-
ton, and they have chosen to take this
tack instead. If their titles were good,
as they claim, there would be no need
of this haste to get wharf franchises
or to destroy for fifty years public ac-
cess to the choicest section of the har-
Dor.
1.-The public indignation at this
proposition is an indication of the gem
eral interest in the harbor. San Pedro
is awake to the enornity of the af-
fair and the meeting planned for Mon
day night viii be one of the strongest
ever held. in California. The impor-
tance of checking this encroachment
into the very center of the great pub
lie harbor that is being planned cam
not be made too strong. This is a ques-
tion which involves the future of
Southern California by the bottling up
of 100 acres that should be given over
for public harbor purposes, and in
wolves the interests of Los Angeles and
all the surrounding territory as well as
San Pedro"
Passes Resolutions
The Los Angeles harbor commission
took official cognizance of the matter
yesterday and passed the following
resolutions, which will be presented to
the San Pedro board of trustees pro-
testing against the granting of the
proposed franchises:
Be it remembered. that hereto
fore, to-wit: That on the 18th day
of June, 1909, at a special meeting
of the Harbor commission of the
city of Los Angeles at which there
were present George III. Stewart
president, and Commissioners T. e.
Gibbon and ]. e. Carr, the follow
ing, among other proceedings, was
had, to-wit:
Whereas. the attention of the
Harbor commission of the city OF
Los Angeles has beens by the public
press called to the fact that the
trustees of the city of San Pedro
contemplate selling and granting
certain wharf and railroad fran
chises over and along the east side
of Mormon island and along the
main channel in the east basin of
the Inner harbor of San Pedro,
which wharf franchises are applied
for by j. p. Banning, Banning
company, William Banning, Wilm-
ington Transportation company and