Los Angeles herald., 1909-01-24

that fund administered honestly or we
VIII use, If necessary, the rope. CTre-
mendous cheering.)
Now l am not meaning to cast any
rehections on anybody by this state
ment. l am simply trying to impress
upon your mind as it Is impressed on
my mind how important it is that we
shall keep this transaction straight in
this town until. the last trowel of ce-
ment shall be placed in that long ditch
which we are proposing to build. Gap
plause.)
Sinister Influences at Work
Now we have two commissions One
Of them was erected or instituted before
the owens river was thought of, called
the water commission. The other one
was part Of the polity of the new char
ter, by which there was commission
called the board Of public works
created Now it is known, and 1 do not
speak of any present official in this OBJ
SerVatton, 1t Is known that hardly had
these commissions been authorized by
law before sinister influences began to
operate upon who should be the ap-
pointees in those commissions.
The water commission was filed
perhaps with an exception or two, with
nigh class men, with whom we could
very well afford to entrust the bust
ness of this city in respect of it's water
or anything else, but when the other
committee or commission which should
have the active control Of the con-
struction work, the board Of public
works, came to be appointed there was
nothing doing. The mayor and the
common council could not agree
NOW If they had all been right men
they ought to have agreed within an
hour. The personnel of that committee
OF course was an important matter.
But II they had had a common intent,
common purpose to get the best men
or as good as the best, because there
are so many good men you could not
tell whether you had the best or not
unless you had hundred thousand or
ten thousand or some such number as
that to appoint, they could have got
the best. You can plenty easy enough
get three good men-almoSt blindfold
You can hardly miss 1t If you go to the
right quarters and not the wrong quar-
ters.
They could not agree at all, and
there had to be an advisory committee
created from the civic bodies for the
purpose of helping them out They
took the matter III hand. I am not a
great hand to throw bouquets, but 1t Is
agreed this committee suggested a trio
of gentlemen who were accepted by the
common council and mayor and that
were satisfactory, men who made good.
(Applause).
Men Worthy Of Office
There was a universal feeling, and 1t
was feeling that ought to have been
respected that these men ought to have
been continued in office at least for the
present. / do not believe in anybody
being continued in office forever and a
day. 1 am not believer in long con-
tinuance in office by anybody. But
~
was a case where having three men
who had initiated the work, had made it |
their duty to understand it's ins and
outs and that everybody knew were
honest and were conducting the affairs
Of that enterprise honestly. They ought
to have been kept then.
That was the feeling that was uni |
versal among the people who have not
any ak to grind and were not seeking
self-interest or to help somebody for
whom they wanted to get a place. Then
there came time when there was tol
be a vacancy filled. We all know how
that vacancy was filed. It happened
to be filed we'll enough. I know little
about the occupant, but 1t was said 1t
was filled well enough, and that Gen.
Chaffee, who occupies the place that
Mr.. Anderson vacated, is a good and
competent man. Being a regular army
officer, one can very wellnigh bank on
his honesty, integrity and good faith In
whatever he might do. He might not
be any harder to fool than some other
people, however. l don't want you to
forget that.
Resent Mayors Stand
Just how that appointment came
about 1 don't know. There have been
some things said about it, 1 don't care
as to that. The appointment was made |
and 1t has been accepted with fair
grace by the public. But there is not
withstanding that still feeling Of re-
sentiment that the mayor should refuse
a reasonable thing which the whole !
people, practically all the registry of
the town, asked him to do, and which
he could have done without stuItifying
himself, because the man that they
asked him to continue in place was a |
Democrat, and always had been, so |
that he could make no protest to the
effect that he had wanted to appoint
PARTISAN; for he had one there, and
everybody was willing he should stay
there xcepting-somebody.
We'll, then there came another va
cancy. 1t is said he had wanted to |
appoint Mr.. Kern to the first vacancy, |
but finally it was believed had surren-
dered his personal choice in that re-
spect. But there came the second. Now
we know what happened then-or, II
should say, we know historically what
happened then. We do not know what
happened behind the scenes. But those
things that happened within the light
of day we can see. We know that not
withstanding the protest from the pee
pie Of this town was wellnigh univer-
sal, the mayor def1ed 1t all and ap-
pointed Kern to the place.
Kern's Police Behavior
Nov Kern has been with his suf-
ference, if not by his appointment or
procuration, chief of police. I do not
know that will have time to say any
thing about that" (Cries of GO
Kern had justified his appointment to
the public works board by his behavior |
as chief of police has been reading his |
news upside down. (Laughter.) For
If the truth has been told about the |
situation-the moral aspect Of our ad-
ministration here-it could hardly be |
worse, absolutely could hardly be |
worse. But that is not the thing about |
which the public was so indignant"
'Only few years ago this same man
had been a member Of the city council |
and he had voted to give away to a |
man of straw or an unknown corpora
tion-or a known corporation-I don't |
know which, a million dollars worth of |
the most valuable property the city of |
Los Angeles owns today without a dol |
lar, without any consideration accruing |
to the city. He and his confreres voted /
once, and then, after there was an ur-
heaval as if from the depths of all |
the hells among the people here, he |
voted again to give that franchise away
to man of straw or to some corpora |
tion. Of course the lawyers who looked |
into it, and I was one of them at that |
time, knew that they could not do it, |
but that does not excuse them. They
L.