Los Angeles herald., 1909-05-18
Club News
+ OS ANGELES and Southern Cali
n 5.1.--, 49,. =. f1,o Oh 10 ,,,aaf.

T OS ANGELES and Southern Cali
fornia delegates to the state meet
IA ing which opens tonight in Del
Monte. are leaving this morning over
the coast line in private car.
The Los Angeles delegation go unin-
structed, and as one of their number
said yesterday, 1--WE go to surprise and
to be surprised"
Every one is querylng about the pro-
gram, but-there is no official pro-
gram. At least if there is, none has
been sent south. Why this delay has
been allowed to occur seems to be an
unanswerable problem.
Among the delegates from Los An
geles who will be present are Mrs. Jo-
siah E. CoWles, Mrs o. Shepard Bar
mum, Mrs. r. w. Phelps, Mrs L. e.
True, Miss Elizabeth Bittman, Mrs. w.
B. Ames, Mrs. T. B. Marshall, Mrs. F.
w. Taylor, Mrs. Carolyn Bond and Mrs.
Ward Winchell from the Friday Morn
ing club.
Ebell representatives will be Mrs.
John w. Holder, Mrs. Robert Probasco,
Mrs. S. C. Bogart, Mrs. B. c. Baum
gardt, Mrs. M. j. Monnette, Mrs. H.
L. Story Miss Myrtle LaTOuohe'
The auditorium of the Ebell club
house rang with applause yesterday
afternoon, when G. A. Ballreich, an at
torney from Pueblo, Colo, said in the
course of an address on the commits
sion form of government, mo honest
citizen can be against the recall"
The women of the Ebell club ap-
peared to be of one mind on that por-
tion of Mr. Ballreich's address, although
the audience was as house divided
against itself later, when the speaker
devoted his attention to the question
of equal suffrage.
Mr.. Ballreich is an enthusiastic advo-
cate of the commission form of gov
eInment. and ably upheld his point of
view with citation of the wonders per-
formed by that system in Galveston,
Houston and other cities where this
plan has been tried out.
Houston's charter, adopted in 1906,
substituted four aldermen elected from
the city at large in the place of twelve
from wards or subdivisions of the city
aldermen elected from the body of citi-
zens by vote of all the citizens in the
same manner as the mayor was elected.
The mayor and the four aldermen
constitute the city council or legisla-
tive department of the city government.
The executive power is vested in the
mayor, but by an ordinance for the ad-
ministration of the city's affairs large
portion of the executive or administra-
tive power is subdivided into four diff
ferent departments, and one of the four
aldermen, nominated by the mayor, Is
constituted a commission to conduct
the affairs of that department and is
known as the active chairman the
mayor and all four aldermen constitut-
ing the membership of the commission.
The active chairman works under the
direction of the mayor, who in the last
analysis is head of each commission
and is the person in whom the eXecu-
tive power of the municipality rests.
Each alderman is elected by the whole
city, represents the entire city and is
responsible to the city at large for
faithful performance of his duties.
An executive session Is held previous
| to each meeting of the city council, at
which most matters that are to come
before the council are discussed and
determined.
One admirable feature of the system
appears to be that there is no need
of petition to the city council, as the
citizen or citizens call at the mayors s
office and have his or her matters
promptly adjusted. A patient hearing
is accorded each one, and the matter
is decided in the presence of the appli-
cant.
Mr. Ballreich claimed that the COM
mission form of government has done
IIl0 IOllOWlIlS lOI I1OuSLclis EnIlISly Op-
liberated politics from the public
schools; wiped out public gambling
obliterated the pool room; forced sa-
looms to obey the laws of Texas, prin-
cipally in regard to Sunday closing;
abolished variety theaters; regulated
the terms of municipal franchises and
the rates for public utilities.
In 1905 the city had a floating in
debtedness of over 100000 and an
empty treasury. By strict economy
$306,202.47 of the floating Indebtedness
was redeemed In the first eight months,
and the monthly bills promptly paid
In three years Houston was out of
debt and had secured permanent i'm
provements of school buildings, streets,
sewers, engine houses and sites, water
improvements and new streets, which,
with a sinking fund of $63,522 Is, was
valued lat SOL. .626.74
Equal suffrage, Mr.. Ballreich de-
clared, he is not convert to, neither
is he against it-in fact he would vote
for it. The results. he feels have
been some bad and some good in the
state of Colorado. In his opinion.
women are just as likely as men to
vote the straight party ticket, and
he thinks that the good women would
stay away from the polls, while the
unintellectual and dissolute classes
would rally to the interests of the
gambler and the saloon