Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-09
ROUT OF MACHINE COMPLETE;
REFORM PARTY SWEEPS FIELD
SContinued from Page One,

precinct There never is any Volun-
teer work done for a machine.
Balanced against the machine slush
fund was the comparatively small sum
expended by the Good Government Or
ganization. Practically every worker
was volunteer, and at least fifty au-
tomobiles were furnished by believers
in good government without receiving
or expecting to receive single penny
This shows the difference in the char
acter of those supporting machlne ana
anti-maChine candidates.
Healy and Lyon might have been
elected to the city council had they
not fallen out. Each was at the throat
of the other all during the campaign,
and the day before election the two
candidates sent out orders to their
friends to "single shot" that is, vote
for but one councilman. This defeated
each man and took from the machine
its only hope of being represented in
the administration during the next two
years.
Healys defeat was probably the most
spectacular feature of the entire cleo
ton. The Ruggedly Honest Gentle
man from the Eighth has ever been
known as an ally of the Southern Pa
Cifc and other interests. In the pri-
maries he received 11,629 votes, being
second only to Judge John ID. Works
in the matter of ballots. Tuesday he
received 1857 votes, or just enough to
make his defeat certain.
Healy's defeat more than any other
feature of the election shows that the
people of Los Angeles do not want any
Southern Pacific henchmen handling
aoueduct funds or framing laws which
will affect the san Pedro harbor. Lyon
also has worn the Southern Pacific col
lar for a good many years. His rec
ord in the present council was enough
to defeat him, declare Good Govern
ment leaders.
San Pedro on Right Side
san Pedro, giving as it did a hand
some majority to the entire ticket OF
Good Government candidates, was a
genuine surprise to the machine lead
ers. They reckoned san Pedro and
Wilmington as safe because of the
strong hold the Southern Pacific has
there. Here, again, the people showed
their independence. Every watcher,
Judge, worker and other person in any
way connected with election affairs in
san Pedro and named by the machine,
was a Southern Pacific employe. Even
this was not enough to overcome the
desire Of the people of san Pedro for
decent government. They realized we'll
that their safety lay in electing good
men to office, so they voted against the
machine.
After the primaries the leaders of the
machine played a game of who's tt?'
Somebody bungled and there was a
great scurrying to learn just who
the responsible man was. Nobody was
read out of the party after the pri-
maries, so it was generally believed
that the who" was never discovered.
When the results were first made
known yesterday and the machine men
were convinced at last that they were
hopelessly defeated, they started that
same little game of who's it?' 1t
did not take long to learn this time,
however. 1t was Mr.. Voter, the man
of the hour on election day and for 1864
days following. The machine did not
seem to reckon with the voter as such.
In every election there is a "sllent
vote" Tuesdays election was no eX-
ception to the rule. The silent voter,
however, was not very silent when he
got to the polls, as results show plain
ly. He voted his sentiments in such an
effective way that it probably will be
a lesson to all machine leaders for
all time to come.
Smith Forces Disappointed
In sections of the city where the
machine counted on great strength
Smith received a light vote. An effort
was made to hold back some of the
returns so that If the result appeared
to be close there might be changes
made. However, the Good Government
organization kept such a careful water
that the plot Of the machine was not
r,riod ont