Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-08
PRIMARY LAW.
EXPLAINED BY
CITY ATTORNEY
Mr.. HEWITT CLEARS UP I'M
PORTANT QUESTIONS
CANDIDATE ALSO EXPLAINS HIS
STAND ON ENDORSEMENT
Outlines the Purpose of the Change
to Be Tried "Wednesday for
the First Time In Los
Angeles

An address which has a most i'm
portant bearing on the coming election
was that of City Attorney Hewitt at
the weekly meeting of the Good Gov
ernment organization at Symphony hall
Saturday evening, in which Mr.. Hewitt
answered numerous questions about
the direct primary, which he indorsed
unequiyocally.
Mr.. Hewitt said: II would like to
say, first, by way of general remarks,
that ii Is a significant thing, not only
in the history of this city-this city
being illustrative of what may be done
elsewhere, and what 1 think in the
very near future will be done else
where-that the people have deter
mined to nominate their own candi-
dates for office, and that we have here
an Illustration of that thing, to be
applied for the first time, so far as L
arn advised, on a large scale on q
purely non-partisan basis:
Three years ago l was candidate
for the office of city attorney and was
presented by a non-partisan commit
tee. 1t is true that 1 received the in
dorsement of the Democratic party at
that election, but / was chosen, so far
as 1 know, by the people of this city
because of my non-partisan indorse-
ment, and as purely an officer elected
to perform the business functions OF
IndI OIHCb lot llO CITY VI A]po al
geles. Los Angeles has had great
deal of business to do Speaking OF
corporations, the city of Los Angeles
today is the largest, and the I'M
portance of its business is the greatest
of any single going corporation in the.
state of California.
Unchanged by Endorsement
Coming back to the present time, If
YOU remember, l have been presented
as a candidate for re-election-and II
was somewhat against my will, In GER
tain respects-a candidate Tor re-
election nominated by a petition signed
by 100 electors of this city ana, as
three years ago | was indorsed by the
Democratic convention, / am informed
I was indorsed this time by the So
called Republican convention. Now,
wish to say that that Endorsement this
time, as we'll as the Endorsement that
I received three years ago from the
ether party makes no possible change
I'm my convictions. or my views, or my
platform. (Applause.) As / took the
office at the hands of the people at that
time-elected by the people without re-
gard to party pledge or party affilia-
tion-at this time 1t will be solely and
entirely because of the belief, which Is
expressed in a non-partisan way, that
a business office such as that has no
proper function to perform in con-
nection with partisan politics what-
ever, so far as a general view, with
reference to municipal affairs In gem
eral and particularly in reference to
the office which / hold.
''You know that by an effort of
great many persons who were particu-
larly concerned with reference to I'M
proving municipal conditions both
political and otherwise, an amendment
In. ln oil ~ a n
viding for the primary nominating
election. So far as general rules of
election law are concerned, they are the
same in the new primary election as
for the general election.
Changes Pointed Out
1.-THE changes take place particular
ly with reference to the modes of nomi-
nation. Before your polling places
opened at G in the morning and they
closed at o'clock in the evening, and
this applies Wednesday. The qualif-
cations for registration, that person
must have been on the register forty
DAYS before election and can obtain
transfer only twenty five days before,
are the same as in the general cleo
tion.
"A question was asked me regarding
the transfer or change of residence OF
voters. The law provides that per-
son may transfer his registration at
anv time within twenty-five days be-
fore the election, but no change of resi-
dence except that which is recognized
as a formal change of registration will
be accepted and recognized upon cleo
tion day. If person moves oh the
twenty-sixth day before election and
obtains his transfer that day or the
next, he can vote in the precinct to
which he intends moving. If he moves
and neglects to take out his transfer
he cannot vote in either the precinct
in which he has been living or the one
in which he intends movingt The