Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1909-01-29
THE RECALL
TT THROUGHOUT the history Of Amer
icanfsm the recall principle is
- plainly in evidence THE very

icanfsm the recall principle is
plainly in evidence. The very
term, Representative government"
implies that the government shall
represent the people, an idea that is
further illustrated by the phrase,
Government of the people, for the peo-
pie, by the people," Government is
more likely to be for the people if it
is by the people, and government by
the people is an impossibility unless
the officials charged with the admin
istration of government represent ac-
curately the people. AS soon as a
public official ceases to carry out the
popular will he may continue to illus
trate government, he may continue to
govern, he may continue to discharge
what he may imagine to be the duties
of his office, but when he ceases to carry
out the popular will he becomes a
tyrant, and tyranny has neither recog-
milton nor place in the scheme of Amer
lean government, national, state or mu-
nicipal. Therefore the criticism that
the recall is dangerous, unfair and I'M
American is without foundation. It
may be un-Russian. or un-Turkish, but
it is certainly not un-American; on the
contrary, it is very American, and
carries out in the letter, with direct
reference and application to modern
and existing conditions, the spirit of
the constitution Of the United States.
The assumption that the people elect
tyrants and not representatives, IL
accepted seriously, would stultify the
American nation and every branch
of its government. All government
must be representative, and must con-
tinue to be representative, and when
the functions Of government are vested
in an executive officer he is not en-
powered to misconduct himself at will
and pleasure, or to hold that he is re-
quired to administer his office accord
Ing to the wishes of the people he
represents only as long as it pays him
to do so. In Los Angeles we are in
grips with the same old controversy
which now in one form and now in
another has disturbed the orderly pro-
cess Of administrative government from
took the first oath of Office, since the
first governor assumed the response
bilities Of his exalted station, since
the first mayor under the Stars and
Stripes essayed to apply to civic
government the principles asserted
in parliamentary debate and reas-
serted by force of arms when parli-
mentary debate proved unavailing;
principles SO closely associated with
every phase of the governmental life
of the nation that it is impossible to
imagine any public official who may
claim immunity from popular rebuke
and control during his term of office.
There is no especial provision by
which the mayor Of Los Angeles is ex-
empted from the restrictions which
hedge about the conduct of all the Of
ficials of this great land, and even if
Los Angeles were to adopt a special
charter provision declaring the mayor
atty to be dictatorship subject to the
overseeership of corporation agents,
the unconstitutionality of the provision
would be fatal to its validity, and it
would be ineffective and imperative
dead letter.
The proceedings which are being
taken in connection with the proposed
recall of the mayor of Los Angeles are
of national and international i'm
portance, and many millions of Amer
lean citizens and Of men who use the
language spoken by American citizens
are waiting to see what Los Angeles
will do in this important crisis, not only
of her own history, but of the general
history of municipal government all
over the English speaking world. If
it should be demonstrated that cleo
ton to an Office does not make an ir-
removable Cromwell of the incumbent,
lovers Of liberty will breathe freely
again. If on the contrary the various
agencies which by trick, Device shift
and subterfuge are seeking and plan
ming and plotting measures by which
the peoples will, even if expressed by
recall, maybe thwarted, good Amer
leans may well look to the liberties of
their country, for the negation of the
will of the people is essentially
demonstration in it's crudest form of
the primitive element of anti-popular
government which in it's final form and
fullest expression, becomes absolutism
or tyranny.
All citizens of Los Angeles who I'M
derstand the serious nature of this
crisis in the history of Los Angeles
and the municipal history Of the United
States will sign the recall petition,
Americanism is on trial. The recall is
not unfair, and it's opponents are mani
Testing fear Of its success when they
rake and scrape heaven and earth and
the city directory for material out of
which to construct buckram army OF
anti-recallers.
CAMET SWAT OWEDCo