Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-04
CITIZENS CALL FOR LESS
SL0VENLY METHODS
MOVEMENT FOR BETTER WORK
IN COUNTY CLERKS OFFICE
Machines Attempt to Check Register
ing Arouses Voters-Efforts Like
Iy Toward JaiIing Ballot Pros
titutes at the Primaries

much listlessness toward the rights of
voters desiring an opportunity to regis
ter was displayed at the county clerk 5
office that the Good Government organ
ization was importuned by number
of members to make q thorough inVes-
tigation and if possible to secure ade-
quate attention to registration rights
hereafter.
No attempt was made to anticipate
tht demand for registration in time for
the primary nominating election, al
though it's importance naturally indi-
Gated a rush to register. Nothing, in
fact, was done until The Herald eX-
posed the machine attitude taken at
the court house, and then only few
extra clerks were added, making long
lines necessary and necessarily prevent
ing many from registering.
A phase of fall election voting which
makes preparation for registration
especially important in Los Angeles is
in the unusual amount of moving fol-
lowing a summer vacation at the beach,
Many families settle for the winter
about October 1, and the male mem
bers who are compelled to register
naturally do not wish to go to the
court house until they know their new
addresses, thereby saving an additional
trip to the court house. Added to this
was the unusual interest displayed in
the coming election, which was charg-
ing the atmosphere everywhere outside
the court house and the rump conven-
tion held by the machine Republicans
The Republican machine apparently
in it's efforts to discredit the primary
law and charter provision as much as
possible decided that dissatisfaction
might be caused by ignoring it at the
county clerks office as well as in the
party plans. 1t was another case of
recoil, however, for the condemnation
of the registration methods has been
strong, even among machine Republi-
cans, and the county clerk and the ''in-
dorsed' ticket are getting the brunt
of the abuse, while the primary nom
mating election has not suffered.
An important feature of the county
clerks blunder has been to arouse Good
Government workers in all parts of the
city to insist that illegal voting be
made impossible in Los Angeles. eff
cannot vote for myself I can at least
put in the day working to compel an
honest ballot" said one man who made
several ineffectual attempts to register.
"I figure that if 1 can prevent half a
dozen push votes from being cast be-
cause they will have no right to vote
in another mans name, my inability to
vote will be compensated for. If the
Good Government organization will put
determined men and good lawyers at
the central polling places they can pre-
vent the casting of nearly 5000 fraud
ulent votes. They should land some
man behind the bars and see that
he gets the full penalty. If they
will only call for volunteers to protect
the honesty of the ballot they will find
plenty of men to help them"
Some such action will undoubtedly
be taken by the Good Government or
ganization, which is represented by
precinct clubs in practically all of the
worst precincts and has strong clubs
where the machine workers have fire.
quently boasted that no such organ
ization could find even one member.
1t appears to be the sentiment of
many workers that the executive COM
mittee should be prepared to secure
the arrest and conviction to the limit
of the law of the first men who at
tempt fraudulent voting on November
10, and that this course should be so
vigorously pursued that it will be
regarded as an extremely unhealthy
method of making money to vote in
another mans name.
Il am satisfied that there are plans
already made for considerable illegitf-
mate voting in the rooming house dis
trict, and an investigation has con-
WINGED 'me that there are about 1000
votes involved" said a real estate
man who is following the campaign
closely. eff nothing Is done these will
be put through for push candidates,
but if the voters who are away or
whose names are considered safe for
fraud because of other reasons are
carefully listed and the men who at
tempt to misuse these names are
promptly nabbed the effect will go
away beyond the present election. This
time, when we are attempting to
raise municipal politics above party
cussedness, is a propitious one to es-
tablsh an era of clean voting, and, to
my mind, the Good Government fund
cannot put money to a better use than
for a relentless and prompt prosecu-
tion of all ballot prostitutes"
In spite of efforts to stem the tide
the unusually heavy registration. ac-
complished by men who were willing
to stand patiently in line, is extremely
encouraging to the Good Government
organization. Their precinct reports
show that the determination to carry
the city for a decent and able govern
ment will be continued through the
election and that the vote will be
emphatically Good Government next
month.
C. w. Conway, one of the charter
members of the Los Angeles realty
board, is announced by his friends as
a candidate for the city council. Mr..
born on Admission day, September 8,
1850. He has had his real estate Of
flee in the Bradbury building nearly
fourteen years. Secretary Herbert
Burdett and other members of the
realty board have given his candidacy
a strong Endorsement. Mr. Conway
says if elected he will be ''just a plain,
honest, sensible, business councilman.
not allied with any political faction
and ready to do whot is right regard
less, of personal consequences"
Michael Roeder, a prominent Demo-
crat who is supporting his neighbor,
w. H. O'Connell, for the council, says
reports that he has become a Repub-
lican are untrue Nationally, I am
a strong Democrat" says Mr.. Roeder,
'but in city affairs 1 hold that the
city's business and not party politics
should control 1 am for Mr. O'Con-
nell. not because he is a Republican,
as has been alleged, but because |
have known him as my neighbor and
believe in him. 1 have no use for the
effort to drag in Roosevelt and Tart
and every sort of general partisan
politics into a city campaign, which
should deal only with affairs that con-
Germ the administration of the oity's
business"