Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-16
HARPER PROVED
TO BE AN ENEMY
OF LOS ANGELES
MAYOR VISITS SACRAMENTO IN
SLEEPS CLOTHING
TRIES TO DEFEAT CoNsOLIDA.
TON BY COMPROMISE
Scheme Betrayed by BIunder of Dock
weiIer-LegisIatiV Delegations
Amazed at Daring Effort.
Machine Defeated
1sneciaI to The Herald

NACRAMENTO Feb. 15.-That A. G.
Harper, mayor of Los Angeles,
~ came to the state capital for the
dual purpose of furthering his own
political interests in the recall election
and to aid the Southern Pacific ma
chine in it's anti consolidation tight,
was disclosed by the blunderlng utter
ances of Isidore Dockweiler this after
noon and by Harper's shameful plea
for ruinous compromise
Harper's meddlesome Intervention
nearly resulted in the defeat of Nc
Cartney's consolidation measure,
through a compromise amendment
which virtually would have AFFORDED
the ends desired by the Southern Pa
cific.
Loyal AngeIenos
Through the efforts of Leslie Hewitt,
E. d. Seward Albert M. Norton ana
few other friends of Los Angeles and
San Pedro who have been doing some
real fighting, the senate was brought
to a point where the passage of the Or
iginal Mccartney bill was assured.
For some reason the members OF the
Los Angeles delegation in the assembly
refused to lend a hand until this after
noon.
The votes of twenty-one senators mad
positively been pledged until Saturday.
At least two other men were about
ready to vote against the railroad
measure advocated by Senator Savage,
and these doubtless would have aligned
themselves with the friends of McCart-
ney. but by this time the vote was
Ralled.
Enter Harper
Everything was moving smootnly
when Mayor Harper, accompanied by
Ssidore Dockweiler, appeared upon the
scene with much ostentation, and an
aounced himself to be the bearer of a
compromise proposal.
1t is impossible to give a word pic
ture of the dismay which fairly over
whelmed the tireless but prospect1vely
successful workers in behalf OF the
measure which means life or death to
Los Angeles. With the battle against
the railroad already won, the prepos-
ferrous proposal Of Harper that com
promise should be onered dIIiloSI
stunned the victors.
Harper came in bearing the message,
which naturally was regarded by some
as official in character by reason Oh
the fact that it was presented by the
mayor Of Los Angeles. The message
was to the effect that so long as Los
Angeles could not get a law pernlltClng
consolidation by a majority vote, II
would be willing to meet the railroad
4
25 per cent petition, SIS per cent vote
and If the question was defeated 1t was
not to be raised again for two years.
Almost Defeats Bill
The moment this suggestion was
made several senators who had been
convinced that the Mccartney Dill
should pass without amendment, but
who wanted to avoid unnecessary IN
fraction of the ridiculous written law
of senatorial courtesy, thought lhey
saw a way out of the dilemma and at
once signified Willingness 70 suPpoLC
the Harper "compromise" and this IN
face of the fact that they already were
pledged to the original bill.
IF Harper were in the pay of the
railroads he could not have given us a
harder blow declared E. D. Seward.
At $3.50 o'clock p. m. a. conference
was held in Speaker Phil Stanton's
room. those present being Stanton,
Hewitt, Seward, Harper and Dock
weller.
Senator Savage was not invited, but
came without an invitation. Dock
weller pleaded with the San Pedro SEN
ator to agree to the mayors PROPOSE
tion.
Cat Drops from Bag
Now, see here, SENATOR begged
Dockweiler, you know Harper is in
the midst of the recall campaign and
it will be a tremendous help to him if
it be made known that he came up
here and succeeded in bringing about a
compromise of this character through
his own efforts"
And thus was the cat let out of the
bag This slip on the part of the
usually smooth Dockweiler tells the
whole story.
It was not Los Angeles that Harper
sought to help, but it was his own pO
litical ambitions.
Decides to Stand Pat
The Los Angeles delegation held
caucus at o'clock .. m. and it was
unanimously decided to stand by the
original Mccartney bill, Stanton hav-
ing emphatically declared in the ear
lier conference that the Los Angeles
members must stand by their conven-
tion pledges, which committed them to
q majority vote.
Unless some senator absents himself
tomorrow or goes back on his solemn
pledge the senate will stand by the
people as against the Southern Pacific
railroad and its catspaws
Long Beach Interested
Just why Long Beach should be so
interested in the consolidation fight
has not heretofore been divulged. That
town has been helping Savage and
CLOT6T III IuSlT ngnI 10 dul6nQ the MIC
Cartney-Leeds measure so that San
Pedro or any other city will have
most difficult task if they ever unite
with the metropolis. Among the aids
of Senator Savage are Stephen G.
Long, city attorney of Long Beach,
and DR.. L. A. Perce of the same city
These men are working hard to pre-
vent the passage of a reasonable bill,
and Long stated today his reason was
he wanted a two-thirds vote because
he was afraid his own city would
want to consolidate, and he was op-
posed to it,
Remarkable Statement
On the other hand Assemblyman
Barndollar Of Long Beach has come out
strong for a majority bill stating that
despite the fact the board of trustees