Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-11
RECALL ELECTION
IN MARCH, BELIEF
CLERKS BUSY CHECKING OFF
NAMES ON PETITION
Change in City Administration Deemed
to Be of Vital Importance for
Aqueduct and Other Big
Enterprises
Continued from Page One,

persons VINO attended the former meet
ing, and attendance will be restricted to
that number. The card makes the fol-
lowing statement of the object of the
meeting:
Friday, February IL, at b. M, in
symphony hall, 232 South Hill street,
there will be an adjourned meeting of
the meeting held for the purpose Of
nominating candidate to run against
Mayor Harper at the coming recall cleo
uon Bring this card with you.
JOHN D. WORKS,
Chairman"
In addition to the naming of a candi-
date to defeat the present mayor, some
times referred to by the Los Angeles
Times as Eddie Morris bosom friend.
A. O." the committee will take up other
details of the coming campaign in re-
gard to selection of a campaign COM
mlttee and another committee to draft
resolutions which will constitute the
platform. These will be announced by
the chairman, Judge Works, in accord
anCe with the authority given him at
the first meeting.
Arraignment Convincing
GAS a matter of fact" said a member
of the Municipal league yesterday, .'the
platform is already before the people,
thanks mainly to The Herald, assisted
by the grand jurymen and the execu-
tive committee of the Municipal league.
If any more convincing arraignment
can be prepared than has already been
made public [ should like to see it, but
there is certainly enough to justify the
recall.
Il should like to see the real issue
brought out more prominently, however,
the fact that this is not fight on one
man or over term of less than one
year, although a man so disposed CAN
Il 4,
the Municipal league has pointed out,
the recall is an extreme measure. Its
influence should extend into the future
for years, and for that reason it should
not be invoked lightly or for trivial
| cause.
Nov, to my mind, the big fact is
that in comparatively brief time we
can lcarry to fulfllment tremendous
undertakings for a municipality which
will give US the credit Of tackling and
mastering some of the largest problems
ever before an American city. Or we
can hand the graphing Of these big
things over to a set of moneysuckers
in fashion that will bring a glaring
shame on Los Angeles in the future.
IF you stop to think of it: Suppose
the aqueduCt water and power propO-
| sitiOnS were, as The Herald quoted a
! political OfficehOlder in one of its series
| Of articles, fixed, what would be the
net result? The construction of the
Iaqueduct, instead of costing $4,000 900
or less, would total more than $60,0O0,-
] 000 | have the word of a prominent
member of the organization, uttered
after the statement in The Herald re-
! ferred to, that the aqueduct will cost
more than that amount, $60,000,0 000 in
dicating that they had it in their
minds.
Would Despoi City
''If this jobbery should be undertaken
on the aqueduct Los Angeles would
wake up to find herself despoiled Of
| $40 000 900. That is not all. One of
the biggest features Of the aqueduct
will be the enormous electric power
which may be available at the lowest
meter rate in the United States. Here
would be an awful chance for graft,
and a man open to temptation in lesser
things would not let it pass. If we
preserve this power free from political
butchery and utilize it to build up the
| factory and similar industrial progress
| of Los Angeles we shall have one Of
the greatest cities in the world in
twenty years.
Yet the aqueduct proper and the by
| product of power are not together as
great as the possibilities for this see
tion in a municipality controlled harbor.
Here is a wonderful opportunity and
the men who turn it to account for the
| city must be men above suspicion and
| capable of fOreseeing that the great
progress already made is only a small
step compared to the great leap which
is possible. Only men who have stud
led this question can realize the pos
sibilities, and to turn these to account
requires men of administrative ability
greater than is asked of any other city
in the country. There is no limit to
what Los Angeles can do, and believe
it will achieve in the next two decades
a record that will stand unequaled
among municipalities.
At Parting of Ways
"But right now we are at a choice
of highways. If we are going to wink
at shiftless, Wideopen law-violating
town, are we going to be in the mood
to keep the bOOdlers' hands off the big
ger things? Are we to have men APP
pointed to office on the city's commits
siOns who will say to the man Who
would demand special privilege in
much larger things than all-night res
taurants: Keep away If you come
around here you will land in the peni-
tentiary.' We must have that stamp
of men around the city hail.
For that reason it is a question
away beyond the length of term for
Mayor Harper, it is vastly more than
merely the answer to the question, rs
vice protected in Los Angeles?' That
question being answered in the affirm
atiVe it leads merely to a bigger one,
If we permit this, where will it end q
The danger to the aqueduct to the
business honor of the city, to our pride
in handling the great possibilities laid
before us-this is the danger against
which the recall is invoked and not as
any personal animosity or to decide
who is good enough for uS''