Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-22
PETITION FOR
MAYORS RECALL
READY MONDAY
MUNICIPAL LEAGUE ACTS DE-
LIBERATELY
KoEPFLI SHOWS STATEMENT OF
HARPER ABSURD
Says Organization Did Not Begin
Eight Years Ago to Keep Mem
bers to Pack Wednesdays
Meeting
& A N UNAssA1LABLE bill of par

&C N UNASSAILABLE bill of par
IN ticulars against the present
- mayor is the description given !
the petition which will be finished ITO
day to receive the signatures of cleo
| tors for the recall of Mayor Harper.
It was discussed yesterday by the ex-
! ecutive committee of the Municipal
league, and the consensus was that it |
should be made impregnable from the |
legal and all other material standpoints. |
For that reason the petition was not
rushed on the streets yesterday. 1t |
must, according to the charter, ''con-
tain general statement of the grounds
! for which the removal is sought" and
| that this statement shall be adequate
as we'll as general the executive COM
mittee is giving considerable time to
the preparation of the petition. To
! prevent filling the petitions with false
signatures and a consequent later
charge Of forgeries the circulators will
be carefully selected and thoroughly
instructed as to their duties.
Members of the committee could not
state yesterday whether the petitions
would be ready for circulation tomor-
row or Monday They feel that it is a
case of making haste slowly in order to
comply fully with the provisions of the
charter and to expedite the recall pro-
cedure. 1t seemed to be the general
opinion yesterday that the petitions1
would be ready for signatures Monday
afternoon.
Great Principle Involved
Il think it should be well under
stood,' said a man who is interested in
the movement yesterday, "that the pos
| sible length Of term of the man who
may be chosen as successor to Mr..
Harper is not the important thing. II
imagine that will be the main argu-
ment of his supporters. but it does not
have great bearing. Even if Mayor
Harper had less than a month to serve
| following the recall, it would be as
! important to go ahead, for the question
is one of vital Importance to Los An
geles for years to come. 1t should be
so emphatic that no mayor in future
| viii dare to go counter to the will of
the people and tamper in any way with
| the big enterprises which the city must
| put through.
'"The municipality must serve notice
| for all time TO come that vice must
not be made a source of personal reve-
nue. by officers of the city, and that
| men entrusted with the conduct of af- |
| fairs must not turn over to private in
| terests the aqueduct or anything of
like Importance which Los Angeles may
| undertake in future. For that reason |
| the length of term is not material. The
| principle is the same whether that time
! be long or short. If an executive dis !
graces city, those who would con-
tinue him in Office ask the city to in
dorse this disgrace. More than that, !
| they encourage future officials to ex-
pect leniency."
Charter on Recall
The charter section relative to the |
| recall is as follows:
| 1.-THE holder of any elective Office may |
be removed at any time by the electors |
/ qualified to vote for a successor of
| such incumbent. The procedure to eff |
| feet the removal of an incumbent of an |
ielective office shall be as follows: A |
petition signed by electors entitled to
vote for a successor to the incumbent |
| sought to be removed, equal to at least
| 25 per centum of the entire vote for all |
| candidates for the Office, the incumbent |
| of which is sought to be removed, cast |
] at the last preceding general municipal !
| S10CItOIi, an 6l6cI1On OF q |
| successor Of the person sought to be !
| removed, shall be filed with the city |
clerk; provided, that the petition sent
| to the council shall contain a general |
statement of the grounds for which the |
removal is sought"
! Mayor Harper's charge that the citi- |
Dens' meeting which demanded his re-
call was a packed gathering caused |
much amusement among member of |
| the Municipal league yesterday, almost
| as much as that made by a newspaper |
which stigmatiZed supporters of the re-
| call as windy agftators.' In answer
to the mayors assertion J. D. Koepf1i, |
president of the league, said:
Koepfli Answers Mayor
"AlI of the members of the Municipal
| league were invited to the meeting !
| The league has been increasing in |
membership for the last eight years, |
and now consists of a body of repre-
| sentative men who are patriotically in
| terested in the welfare of the city. Now
surely the mayor does not believe that
| we started eight years ago collecting a |
body of men with which to pack a
meeting to recall A. G. Harper.
''The executive committee also in |
| vited few who were not members of !
the league. In doing this it made an
earnest effort to pick representative
citizens, and the only discrimination |
was that it aimed not to include men
who were known to be either radically
! opposed to the mayor or radically in
| favor Of him."
Conversations on street cars, in Of
| fees and elsewhere yesterday showed !
a continuation Of the intense interest
| in the question of the recall. 1t was
said that the gambling places on Broad
way, Spring and other streets, which
had been figuring on a prosperous year
in 1909, have concluded that hard times
are ahead, and as a result most of
! them will close, at least until after the
recall question is settled.