Los Angeles herald., 1909-07-16
DANGERS OF BossIsM

AA the Calhoun trial to be forgotten.
It has been republished In pamphlet
form, and every voter in the United
States should have a copy of it. Par
ticularly worthy of being recalled and
repeated in all metropolitan communi-
ties are Mr.. Heney's words with regard
to the part played by the American
city in the affairs of the nation. and in
the determination of the national tone
and character.
The powerful cities of the United
States supply a political factor un-
known to our forefathers. America
still to great extent is a big farm
and we may be thankful for that. be-
cause rural influences will always be
morally and ethically superior to all
other. 1t is the truth, and we may
as we'll accept it. While there may be
poverty in rural regions. while there
may be degradation in rural regions
never will it be possible to find in ru-
raj regions conditions to match those
created by the immoral overcrowding
of the cities.
country shows the only serious menace
to American liberty and the perpetuity
of our institutions lies in the large
cities of the country. Everybody knows
that is due to the fact that there are
corrupt bosses. Most of the people are
in the habit of thinking the bosses ere
ate the evil conditions. They don't.
They merely take advantage of condi-
tions that have been created-by
whom? Two classes of people create
these conditions. Both classes want
special privileges.
One class is known as the tenderloin.
They want to be able to commit crime
and not be punished for it. The kind of
crime they want to commit is the kind
that merely enriches themselves. They
want to have opium joints, where peo-
pie addicted to the habit may spend
their money. They want to run dance
halls in connection with saloons, where
foolish men may squander their earn
ings on poor, abandoned women. They
wish conditions to be such that their
roustabouts may rob the drunken men
who come in there instead of waiting
for them to spend all their cash, and
not be arrested for the crime Of rob-
berry. They wish to have conditions
arranged so that the policeman on the
beat shall be blind in both eyes, so long
as murder or some heinous crime is not
committed.
This class was represented in Los
Angeles by the man Ballerino, who died
the other day. We hope Ballerino may
have no successor. But merely to hope
there will be no new tenderloin king
will not prevent the rise and coronation
of another unsavory monarch unless
we, the people, take enough interest in
the various conditions which made Ba-
llerino and tenderloins possible to see
that these conditions are corrected per-
manently.
But there is a second predatory class.
represented by respectable gentlemen
who would be most highly incensed if
you were to mention their dignified
names In the same breath with that OF
Ballerino. And Mr. Heney says-and
we agree with him-that they are more
dangerous to a community than the
out and out, frank and self-confessed
tenderloiners. They represent the in
terests that are continually on the still
hunt, or on the open hunt, on the proWl
or on the jump for plunder and prey,
and these interests are now growing
and licking their chops and shifting
around CONSOLIDATION. To outwit
the cunning of these schemers must be
the constant care of all good citizens
until Greater Los Angeles is safely es-
tablished, and after it is safely estab-
lished vigilance must be redoubled and
not relaxed, for the knave who should
manage to become the boss of Greater
Los Angeles would be a greater knaVe
and a more powerful boss than any
with whom the city has ever heretofore
had to do or to- deal.
In the words of Mr.. Heney; There
are powers that prey from above down
upon the people. They want special
privileges of a different kind from that
wanted by the tenderloin, but it goes
upon the same proposition of selfish
ness. But you don't mean to tell me
that gentlemen who are officials of pub
lie service corporations would join
hands to support a political boss the
tenderloin people want? Yes. That Is
exactly what l want to tell you. And
they do it with their eyes open. And
they do 1t for the purpose of having
the same kind of men put In office that
the tenderloin privilege holders want
put in office. They want their rates
fixed, and damn everything else!
They want money. So do the tender
Ioin people. They want special privi-
lege that gives them money to which
they are not justly entitled. So do the
tenderloin people. These conol-
tions make the political boss possible
Let the citizens Of Los Angeles Be
WARE OF THE CONDITIONS
WHICH MAKE THE POLITICAL
BOSS POSSIBLE. Let them beware OF
the willy corporationism which sees
in clean consolidation the political in
dependence of the people and an end OF
the crooked boss system. Corporation
schemes to defeat consolidation or to
interfere with it in any way must be
met with aggressive measures for the
protection of Greater Los Angeles,
which, when despite corporation mach
nations it is established and enthroned
queen of the long Pacific shore, must
- o,,I-- tba ross CITY OF THE
WEST, BUT A BOSSLESS CITY.