Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-05
Never Before Such a Vote

~ III Wei NdS Sutll ii NblIt NdAh
/ former Mayor NJ P snyder. Il don't
see how any stronger or more final in
! dorsement of the consolidation COM
mittee's report could be asked than
that the people of Los Angeles in to-
days vote stood by it better than 80
to 1. What more can they ask down
at San Pedro?
IF San Pedro should so against con-
/ solidation-though | don't see how that
/ is possible--it will mean that the resi-
! dents will move over to Wilmington
and take their houses with them, and
/ then you will see the spectacle of a
town all corporations and no people.
| But l don't look for that.
/ "There was the strongest kind of talk
early in the day that the anti-consoli-
/ dationists had carried at Wilmington,
/ but l never for a moment believed it.
/ l had too much faith that those men
who have worked so hard for the har-
Dor down there knew just what they
were talking about when they said
consolidation would carry-and they
did"
Il am a property owner in Whining
ton and am mighty glad of it," said ..
E. Parish. Tomorrow morning my
| first act will be to mark its value up
| for the first of a series of % per cent
! raises. | had ample faith that the peo-
| pie of Wilmington would do the right
thing and now they will see their
| judgment confirmed by some tremen-
| dous benefits"
w. D. Stephens JubiIant
| William d. Stephens was one of the
| most jubilant men at the committees
/ headquarters. At a consolidation meet
! ing early in the campaign he had said:
1T will be the happiest day Of my life
when I can see this plan consummated
and consolidation effected as a step
toward the making of great seaport, %
and he confirmed this when he heard
the final votes. Now for the greatest
city on the coast" he said san Pc
dro will certainly join in; if she doesn't
she will be making tremendous mis-
| take and will lose her best citizenship
| by removal to Wilmington. 1t Is a
! splendid victory, not only for the two
cities Interested directly. but for all
Southern California. Even for the cor
| pOrations opposing it the result means
! greater prosperity than If there should
/ be no consolidation. Todays step
/ marks the beginning of a new growth
! that will make Los Angeles not less
! than half million i'm population in i've
/ years and a fun million in 1925
! 1T means more work for our office,
/ but We welcome it. said City Attorney
/ Hewitt. No election has ever been
/ held i'm Los Angeles anywhere ap-
/ preaching the emphatic proportion ia
/ Voring the issue involved, and that IS
/ a most encouraging feature and a guar
antee to the people at the harbor that
! the pledges made will he carried out.
None of the members Of the CONSOLE
/ dation committees was any happier
/ than Captain Fries. For more than a
week he has been suffering severely
from the effects OF the strain of three
/ years of constant work at Los Angeles,
and was hardly able to attend the con-
solidation meeting at Wilmington
/ Tuesday evening. But the news that
consolidation had carried made him
feel, he said, many years younger.
Captain Fries to Return
This is what | have been looking
forward to" he said, land | can leave
Los Angeles feeling that the harb0r
will be built on a comprehensive plan
measuring up to the opportunities Of
/ fered here. Now | shall wait until, if
the routine brings it about, ! can reach
the age for retirement and come back
to Los Angeles to live for the rest Of
| my life, l have some property here,
/ and you may be sure | shall hang on
/ 10 it as place ultimately for my resi-
dence. The victory for consolidation IS
certainly splendid thing for Southern
/ California;
Counting the votes after the polls
closed last night was an easy task, and
+ returns were received at the city hail
| quicker than at any previous election.
Precinct 10, which is al the city hall,
Wds the first to report, although it
pOlled more than 300 votes. The result
/ was most surprising, for the city hall
precinct is known as the knockers
nest" and with few exceptions goes
contrary to the best interests of good
. government. But there was only one
. knocker against consolidation at the
city hall precinct yesterday. Against
. the one knoCker 81 boosters cast their
. votes i'm favor of consolidation. When
il WAS known that the city hall precinct
gave a vote of 317 for to only l against,
there was no doubt of the result Of the
/ election in Los Angeles,
From the time the official returns
began coming in, at about $50 o'clock,
/ until SAB there was constant stream
of election officials bearing tally books
and ballot boxes. lined up in front OF
the counter in the city clerks office,
/ and Deputies Wilde, Carroll and Do
/ mingueZ had all they could do to stamp
/ and receipt for the returns.
At o'clock only three precincts re-
maincd to be heard from. They We're
consolidated precincts l6, 30 and 43, in
widely scattered parts of the city They
we're in before $50.
Mayor Spectator
! Mayor Alexander was an interested
! spectator in the clerks office last night
| and stayed until he was certain that
| consolidation would carry by an over
wheming majority, when he went
home, happy
Some election officials who served
Yesterday will find they gave their ser
vices for the good of the cause and not
for the So they expected to get. The
consolidation election was held under
new election law that provided for
only three election officials. COnse-
quently only three men were officially
notified to be in attendance at each
booth Ordinarily there are eight
election officials and they are usually
the same persons. In some cases yes
terday the five persons who had not
been officially notified to act on cleo
ton boards concluded they had been
overlooked inadvertently and acted in
their usual capacities all day. These
persons cannot be paid for their ser