Los Angeles herald., 1910-10-14
THE coUNTY's SHAME

I
! A that any way can be found to
IA stop the orgie of extravaganza on
the part Of the county super 5ors in
the hall of records furniture deal. The
courts have been appealed to, but are
powerless to interference because the
thing is not scandalous but because
the solid three have kept within the
letter of the law which gives them
large powers. The press Of the county
is overwhelmingly opposed to the
transaction, and not a single news
paper, so far as we have seen, has been
shameless enough to defend it. The
honest minority of the board, Mr.. Prid-
ham and Mr.. Manning, have de-
nounced and fought it at every step
of its brazen way through that body,
/ all to no avail.
The solid three-Eldridge, McCabe
and Nellis-have from the first been
determined that the bid of the COM
pany approximating a quarter of a
million dollars should be accepted, in
spite Of anything and everything and
! everybody. This is close to 100000
higher than the lowest bid, and this
100000 therefore represents just so
much, without justification, taken out
of the county treasury and put into
private pockets.
It is as if the supervisorial ring had
said to the furniture company-and
perhaps they did, "Name any price
you please and we win put it through"
or as if the company had said: "You
discard all other bids and accept ours
and we'll attend to the rest"
In a word, the solid three, in defiance
of the universal American practice in
public and private business and the
principles upon which every successful
business is founded, to make the best
possible bargain, has given furniture
company carte blanche to the extent
Of quarter of million dollars to
take money out Of the public treasury
and give what it pleased therefor.
The manager of a private corpora
tion who should do such thing would
be discharged by the board of directors
Gf they were honest) the minute they
heard of it.
The trustee Of a private estate show
ing such wanton recklessness in the
handling of funds in his care would be
denounced by the court and removed,
and perhaps prosecuted.
Once in Philadelphia and again in
Chicago, when all appeals and threats
failed to halt city councils in similarly
high-handed course in the disposal Of
public property, citizens marched on
the city hall with ropes in their hands
and determination in their eyes, and
only in this way succeeded in stopping
the spoliatiOn of the common property.
We should regret to see such thing
done here, even to the extent of
threat, and yet it is the simple truth
that the Chicago and Philadelphia citi-
zens were justified in their wrath, and
their act taught wholesome lesson to
all grafters-a lesson that was not for
fotten for many years.
We don't know where the wasted
100000 of good money, deposited in the
tax office by citizens and home owners,
is finally going to find its way but any
citizen who paid in his share is war
ranted in entertaining suspicious.
If we had a district attorney worth
his weight in salt he would long ere
this have had proceedings under way
to find out the secret reasons behind
this shameful waste of a fortune in
one lump. He is sworn to attend to
such matters. He took an oath to look
out for the interests Of the public, but
it is impossible to recall a single in
stance in which he has stopped the
waste of a dollar by the most extrava-
CANT, and defantly extravagant, su-
pervisors that ever held office in Los
Angeles county.
A large proportion of the money
paid into the county tax office is taken
there by people who are pinching and
economizing and denying themselves
needfuls to meet their obligations in
accommodating homes and preventing
their property from getting away.
Some of them don't succeed in do
ing it.
II 10 lIlulloSS AlOIlI SlASll pCOP4C bAleb1
Eldridge, McCabe and NelIis are spend
ing like riotous sailors on shore leave
"a quarter Of a million dollars-and
more than a third of it absolutely
wasted-to furnish the hall Of records
like a palace, against even the protests
Of some of the occupants at the ex-
travaganCe.
The annals of municipal misgovern-
ment in this country has no more
shameful chapter in it than is being
written there by Eldridge, McCabe and
Nellis by their conduct Of the build
ing and furnishing of the hall of rec
ords, and by John D. Fredericks, a dis
trict attorney sworn to protect the
public funds from loot who has time to
devote to private practice, but none to
devote to the malfeasance Of the solid
and defiant three supervisors.
EnTTD ETNTUH DDTZEC