Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-16
ALEXANDER WILL
VETO BURLESQUE
UTILITY MEASURE
MAYOR ASKS FOR ASBESTOS
PAPER FOR REMARKS
JOSEPH SCOTT REFUSES TO BE
MEMBER OF COMMISSION
President of Board of Education POSI-
lively Declines to Have Any
Connection with Farce
Ordinance
,kOH! Let me get a crack at it,"

kkN II! Let me get crack at 1t!
exclaimed Mayor Alexander
" eagerly when the Dromgold
imitation public utilities ordinance was
handed to him yesterday afternoon
after it's certification by the city clerk
Then the mayor ordered his secre-
tary, Frank Henderson, to put in a
requisition for some asbestos paper to
use when he writes what he has to
say about the measure. The mayor
will not only veto the ordinance, but
he will make a few choice remarks IN
saying why he does not approve 1t
that ought to make the six little fiXers
curl up and blow away.
Furthermore, Dromgold knew before
his ordinance was passed that the
mayor would veto it as soon as it came
to him, for the mayor has expressed
himself in terms that could not be
misunderstood. This fact of the ad-
vance knowledge of the mayors action
gives rise to interesting speculation.
1t is presumed that Dromgold also
knew there would be six votes for his
ordinance, for Dromgold is not the
sort of a politician to go into strug-
gle of that kind without knowing just
what his strength is to be. That he
did know his strength was shown py
the fact that Lyon voted with him,
although heretofore Lyon has been
But six votes were necessary to pass
the measure, so Lyon capitulated.
Scott Refuses Place
Then knowing his strength was just
sufficient to get the ordinance through
the council, and knowing the mayor
would veto it as soon as it came to
him, and that he could not muster
strength enough to pass it over the
mayors veto did Dromgold shrewdly
foresee that there would not even be
his poor little makeshift for pubic
utilities commission and that the pub
lie service corporations would have
nothing to annoy them at all? II
Dromgold figured this way he left out
of his calculations the interest of the
Municipal league as a factor and for
got the initiative clause of the city
charter.
And then there is another ground for
speculation. Dromgold inserted, as the
last clause of his ordinance, the names
of five men who we're to form his pub
lie utilities commission. One Of these
men was Joseph Scott, president OF the
! board Of education, and as soon as Mr..
| Scott learned from the morning papers
that he had been legislated into office
| he wrote a letter to the mayor pos
itively refusing to accept the position.
AS he is a part of the ordinance, mis-
WllLulc Oh AAANeAAiSAS'N0S
measure.
Did Dromgold know that Mr.. Scott
and possibly one or two others whose
names he proposed would refuse to ac-
cept the positions rendered and that
as result his little secondhand brain
throb would not be worth the paper
on which it was written?
Hewitt Wlthho6s Approval
Did Dromgold also know that in the
form in which the ordinance was
passed by the council it was probably
no good anyhow and that the cor
porations would not be bothered even
| to the little extent that his valueless
measure might threaten them?
Whether he knew it or not, the city
attorney did, and refused to approve
the ordinance as to form.
Mr.. Hewitt positively declined to
give it his approval, even on the mat
| ter of the form of the ordinance, shy-
| ing at the clause that appointed the
commission with the passage of the
ordinance The council has a rule
that it will pass no ordinances that
have not the city attorneys approval
as to FORM but six members or the
council f1agrantly violated this rule
when their masters, the public service
corporations, cracked the whips ana
while Whip Crackers Sam Hasklns ana
H. ]. Goudge were looking on.
The ordinance that was certified oy
the city clerk as having passed the
city council was one of the crudest
things that ever left City Clerk Le-
| lande's hands. and he eyed it with dis
gust when it was presented to him Tor
! his signature. 1t was chopped to pieces
and the clause appointing the COM
mission was pasted to the ordinance
on a piece OF yellow scratch paper
Looks Like Patchwork
It's appearance is that of woetul
patchwork. But there was no help for
! it. It was the exact ordinance tnat
passed the city council and the city
attorney refused to rewrite 1t or nave
anything to do with 1t.
AS the passage of the cute little or
dinance Thursday afternoon was such
an involved matter, D. NJ. carroll
minute clerk of the council, has kept
his records with the utmost nicely.
There is one clause in the minutes OF
this transaction that may not be ap-
proved by the council, at least 1t prop
ably will not be by Councilman Drom-
gold This is a reference to the fact
| that Dromgold told the minute clerk
it was not necessary to read the COM
muuication of the Municipal league
calling attention to the differences in
| the two ordinances.
Councilman Henry Lyon expressed
surprise yesterday when told that 70
seph Scott had refused to serve on the
commission.
"If that is the case" said Mr.. Lyon
ST have been misled, for l was as
sured before I voted for this ordinance
that the men named would serve on
the commission, and l concluded it was
about as good a commission as coulu
| he sapurad -