Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-19
NEW STATE
is DEMAND
OF SOUTH
Division Plan Applauded
by City Club
FORMER SENATOR BULLA OUT
LINES THE SITUATION
LAW GIVES AMPLE CHANCE FOR
SEPARATION FROM NORTH
Inclusion Of Inyo County Urged Be-
cause of the Interests Of Los
Angeles In Aqueduct
Line
LAW GIVES AMPLE CHANCE FOR
SEPARATION FROM NORTH

THAT state division is a pop
ular subject among the men
Il of Southern California who
think and who, after thinking,
act, was shown clearly yesterday
when, with the thermometer flirt-
ing with the hundred mark, big
crowd of members of the City
club gathered in the banquet
room of the Westminster hotel
and heard former Senator Robert
N. Bulla discuss the matter. Mr..
Bulla read a paper that he de-
livered about two years ago be-
fore the Sunset club, making
such amendments as the lapse OF
time made necessary.
The applause that greeted Mr..
Bulla's every period and the
deep interest his audience showed
in his address, although their
collars were whiting to nothing
ness, easily demonstrated the
clubs feeling in the matter.
When Mr. Bulla had concluded
his address, President Works
cautioned the club to be deliberate
in any action it took. He said
whatever action is taken should
be based on the principle of right
and Justice and should not be in
A,,arced NV the acts of unfaithful
public servants.
State Division Discussed
Mr.. Bulla's address, in part,
was as follows:
The subject of the division of the
state of California may be fully
considered in the answers to three
questions. viz:
(a) Can the state be divided?
(b) Should the state be divided?
(c) Will the state be divided?
The question is by no means a
new one in California. Indeed, one
of the most hotly contested subjects
discussed in the constitutional con-
yention of 1S49 was that with rel
erence to the proposed boundaries
of the new state. Among many 9TH
ers a proposition was submitted
which would have included prac-
tically all of the territory now con-
stituting California, Nevada, Utah
and Arizona the proponents main<
tanning that this immense territory
could afterward be subdivided into
several states. After very bitter
controversy this proposition was
actually adopted by a vote of twen-
ty-four to twenty-five, hut the an
nouncement of the vote resulted IN
such excitement and confusion that
q motion for reconsideration was
finally carried and the whole sub
1ect was threshed over again, the
result being that the present boun-
daries of the state were finally
adopted by a vote of 80 to Z.
In the year 1850 a delegation of
Mormons from the state Of Deseret
submitted to the state of California
a proposition that new constitu-
tional convention be called so that
the Salt Lake region might be in
cluded "for the time being" within
the boundaries of the state of Cali
fornia. At the same time they at
tached, as a condition, that line
might be agreed upon which was
ultimately to separate California
and Deseret, when the latter had
attained a greater population.
Problem an Old One
This communication as presented
to the legislature was accompanied
by special message from Peter H.
Burnett the governor, giving rea-
sons why the proposition should not
be accepted, and upon the reading
of this message the legislative body
promptly declined to consider the
advances made by their Mormon
neighbors and the proposition was
respectfully laid on the table,"
When the question of the admis-
sion of California as a state came
before congress even there efforts
were made to divide the territory
included in the boundaries as
adopted. One member proposed
that all south of latitude 36 de-
grees 80 minutes north (Which
would have been a line some dis
tance north of the present north
erly line of San Luis Obispo, Kern
and San Bernardino counties)
should be cut off and a territorial
government to be created therein,
to be known as Southern Califor-
mia, and to be admitted as a state,
when willing and able to perform
the functions of a state. Another
moved to amend by changing the
name of the territory to Colorado.
Efforts to change the original
proposition were not successful, and
on September 8, 1850 President
Fillmore signed the bill, and the
great and Incompatible state of
California was finally established.
Met with Opposition
AS stated, however, its admis-
sion. as at present constituted, was
not accomplished without the most
bitter opposition, proving that even
at that time very large percentage
of the state and national legislative
bodies favored the creation OF two
separate governments for the terri
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