Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-09
CLOSE CANVASS
OF NAMES FOR
MAYORS RECALL
LISTS OF CIRCULATORS TO BE
TURNED IN
READY FOR CITY CLERK FEB. 16
is PRESENT PLAN
Date of Meeting to Consider Answer
Of w. D. Stephens Not Yet An
nounced-League Not Die
tating Nomination

III HE Municipal leagues executive
committee has directed the clos
ing of the canvass for names to
the recall petition, as the checking on
the great register has demonstrated
that more than enough qualified sigma
lures have been secured for several
days. All circuIators of petitions have
been asked to turn in their lists, and
the subcommittee will endeavor to have
the checking finished in time to turn
the petitions in to the city clerk next
Tuesday.
I'VE could get $4,000 Names" said ].
P. Steele yesterday. There is no doubt
of that, but the city clerk will stop
checking as soon as he finds the
requisite 1000 odd necessary to invoke
the recall. Nothing would actually be
gained by keeping up the canvass,
since We are certain we have enough
and the recall is assured and the more
time that can be saved the better
Hence we have closed the canvass and
shall now bend all our energies to
checking UP the signatures as quickly
as possible. / think there will be no
trouble in having the petitions ready to
turn in February Is, the date first set"
tt0t Pei GCSIfICS 10 OISn
A feature of the closing days canvass
yesterday was the request made of
Mayor Harper to sign a petition for his
own recall. A canvasser who was Sc
curing signatures, but who did not
know the mayor, accoSted him yester-
day and suggested that he sign the
petition, if a qualified elector Mayor
Harper took the matter good naturedly,
but said he did not care to sign.
IrTfI TrI--
nounced the date of the meeting to
consider the answer of William u.
Stephens to the invitation extended him
to become a candidate against Mayor
Harper.
''The Municipal league is not trying
to dictate the nomination of anybody
and is not seeking to name a man to
succeed, Mayor Harper" said a member
of the executive committee yesterday
AS far as it should go in this matter
is to receive from citizens suggestions
as to the most suitable man to be in
Vited to make the race, and this it will
be glad to do.
''The league has felt that conditions
which have existed in Los Angeles and
Which may be seen today require the
reaIl of the present city executive for
the sake of the good name of the city.
In initiating and starting this recall
movement it is going as far as it
should; citizens as citizens and not as
members Of any organization must
carry the work forward.
Matter of Principle
'''This matter is one of principle. a
defense of the city rather than any at
tack on person. 1t must be carried
out from that standpoint, and the eX-
ecutiVe committee has continually kept
that in view. Otherwise the purpose Of
the recall movement is defeated, and
the moral lesson which ought to prevail
for a long time in future is of no effect.
THE unprecedented manner in which
voters responded to the request for sig
natures shows how seriously the people
take this movement. There has never
been anything so prompt in the history
of direct legislation. Even when there
has been practically no opposition to a
movement the response has never in
California been so emphatic and favor
able.
Z take the election on the charter
amendments as a good test of the good
government feeling, and as having a
direct bearing on the recall of Mayor
Harper. But more significant is the re-
suit attained in the canvass for sigma
lures to recall petitions. If the people
were apathetic or generally opposed to
the movement it would have taken
three months to obtain the requisite
number Of signers. Enough names were
actually obtained in about a week S
time and without special supporting
Efforts other than the showing made
by The Herald and other papers who
asked the question, Is vice protected in
Los Angeles?' and, 1 think, thoroughly
answered it.
For Decent City
1.-THE petitions do more than to in
woke the recall, which it is certain they
will do. They also demonstrate most
clearly the temper of the citizenship of
Los Angeles. The recall election will
not only make for decent city, which
does not necessarily mean puritanical
place, but it will put on record the ulti-
matum of the voters that not even the
suspicion of any effort to lower the
standard of building and operating the
Owens river project or any other of
the big things of Los Angeles will
be tolerated for a minute.
'As to this, Mayor Harper has un-
fortunately put himself in the position
of a city executive who is not above
suspicion. This is a time when, as he
himself said in his first message as
mayor, the aqueduct work must be free
from even the slightest taint of sus-
picion. The time to prevent any Job
berry is not after it is done or while it is
being done, but before it starts and
oily 1ArACllAAOOO VI Ocb1lSS1 III IIldI OlIGC-
ton must be treated as a storm warn
ing. That is what is happening now
The number of names to be turned in
with the recall petitions has been
figured on a basis to make the recall
absolutely certain. The subcommittee
has taken the comparison with tho
great register, which had proceeded
yesterday far enough to afford a basis
for the entire number of signatures
and established a percentage of names
not qualified. The necessary number of
signatures to offset these names has
been multiplied by three. BY adding
this to the requisite number to invoke
the recall the committee has a figure
certain to make the number to make
the checking by the city clerks force
safe. The petitions have more than
this figure. More names than are al
ready on the petitions would only cost
additional money, and would not add
TO the strength of the petition.