Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-28
FRIES
FAvORS RECALL
CORRUPT OFFICIALS ENTAIL
MUCH MORE EXPENSE
POWER TO DEPoSE UNFAITHFUL
SERVANTS INVALUABLE
Expenditures of Los Angeles and Inn
portance of San Pedro Harbor
Justify Elaborate Precau-
tions Against Fraud

corrupt officials.
"By means of the recall any unfaith-
| FIJI official who has been elected to of
| flee may be dismissed by a majority
vote of the people" said Capt. Fries
| This, in my opinion, is most valuable
| law and should be even more far-reach-
| ing than it is, SO as not only to remove
| the unfaithful official elected by the
people, but any unworthy man whom
| the latter may have appointed to Of
| fee"
Capt Fries pointed out that first class
harbors are the worlds clearing houses
and that San Pedro has not only an
abundance of anchorage room, but also
space for almost twenty miles OF
wharves along government harbor lines,
not counting slips or the Long Beach
harbor.
Fine Approach to Harbor
| Continuing, he said:
1.-THE approach to the harbor, which
| is of vital Importance in railroad build
| ing, is one of the best in the country.
Going back up the valley of the Los
| Angeles and San Gabriel rivers, the
grade is but a few feet per mile, max
| ing railroad construction cheap and
maintenance easy.
'The harbor is the first commercial
center in the United States to be
| ICdCllSu ny SHIPS pdSOl1lS 1I1lO IIlC
| cif1c through the Panama canal. Its
| position is such that vessels passing
from the canal to the Hawaiian islands,
Japan, China or the Philippines need
| go but a short distance out of their
way to call
| cit is the first commercial center in
the United States to be reached by
vessels trading along the west coast of
| South America, and when the canal is
&,,se, ,0l l. I,,+ g.
| from the east coast of South America
than are the cities on the east coast of
the United States.
| "San Pedro harbor is also a strategic
center, considered from the naval and
military standpoint. The same rich
| country, easy approach to the harbor,
excellent railroad facilities, the near
| ness to mountain passes, and it's CEN
trail location with regard to other coast
points, make it a place of peculiar
| value for the support of our own army
and navy, and as a base from which
! to operate.
Likewise it would be one of the
most valuable points on the Pacific
coast for an enemy to use against the
| interior of the country and the rest of
the coast. At present it is entirely un-
fortified, but undoubtedly this will
soon be remedied
Now Owned by Oligarchy
"The control of the harbor at present
is in the hands of an oligarchy formed
into great transportation company,
and the problem now presented is how
to bring the controls back into the
hands of a majority of the people vi
tally interested in the harbor.''
| Captain Fries pointed out that the
logical way is to place it under the
control of the city of Los Angeles, in
which are joined, under one compact
municipal government, two-thirds of
the people south of the Tehachapi.
mot only does Los Angeles by her
large population deserve to control the
| harbor," he continued, 'but she has
laws far in advance of those of San
Pedro and Wilmington; laws which
insure that the control will remain in
the people. In her present charter (or
city constitution she has incorporated
three most excellent laws, the ini-
tlatlVe, the referendum and the recall
That is, the people may draw up laws
and have the same submitted for ap-
proval by getting certain number of
voters to sign a petition, or they can
have any law submitted to a referen-
I, DUN vote of the people in the same
manner, and by means of the recall
any unfalthful official who has been
| elected to office may be dismissed bv
majority vote of the people.
Charter Amendments
In addition, on February Q. Los
Angeles will vote on thirty-one charter
amendments, some of which are de-
! signed to safeguard the city's property.
and also by means of direct primary
nominations of nOn-partisan candidates
TO aid the people still more in getting
honest, efficient men into office.
These are all laws of the greatest
value, as they tend to put more fully
the control of public affairs in the
hands of the majority. No honest. up-
tflght man OF ability need ever fear any
one of them
"One of the usual objections to such
laws is the cost of holding special eIec-
tlons. Let us examine that subject
ana see II 1t is worthy of consideration
Los Angeles has voted $4,000 OOO
Tor bringing water into the city from
Owens river, 215 miles away. Suppose
corrupt or inefficient officials should
cause the city to pay for each dollars
worth of labor or material for the
aquedGCt only one cent-a single penny
more than it should pay.
DO you realize what that one cent
on each dollar would amount to? TWO
hundred and thirty thousand dollars
Enough to hold a special election
every three months for five years-the
! estimated time for completion of the
work-supposing, as is stated. that
each election will cost the city $4,000
| "But loss of cents, or 10 cents. or
even more, on each dollar, can easily
occur through incompetent or corrupt
officials, and instead of $3.50 600 the
i loss may easily amount to one or two
millions, enough to pay for a special
election every ten days during the en-
tire time of construction of the aoue-
duct, and still have money to spare.
Cost of Corruption
"And that is only about one-half of
the possibilities in Los Angeles. We
| are told the city raises and spends al
most four millions of dollars each wear
not counting the Owens river Assum !
only one cent loss on each dollar of
that and it will cost the taxpayer
| 100000 more in five years. and. as in
the case of the Owens river water. the
loss may easily be five or ten times as
much.
Every business man knows that he
can be successful only by holding to a
strict accountability every empIoye
under him, from the general manager
down to the poorest paid day Iaborer
He must be free to hire and free to
dismiss for cause.
'The city's business is the greatest
business in Southern California, and