Los Angeles herald., 1910-07-24


and men of the Harper Houghton-
Mcdonald stripe, but the members of
the club, after a memorable fight, sue
ceeded in getting the push leaders
out and in wrestling away from these
bosses the control of the organization,
with the result that it is now pow
erful good government Democratic or
ganization, representing the highest
elements of Democracy. Mcdonald,
however, Is one of the holdoVers Of
the former regime, and as such has
been allowed to retain his position as
secretary of the club. Several weeks
ago, however, Mcdonald was requested
by the club to resign and promised to
do so Immediately after the primaries.
Later he endeavored to misconstrue
his promise and was bitterly de-
nounced by II. c. Dillon, president of
the Jefferson club, in public letter.
Mr. Dillon demanded that his promise
be kept, and stated that the matter
again would be taken up with the eX-
eCutiVe committee and his resignation
demanded.
To-day | received a copy of letter
sent out by Mcdonald to all of the
400 Democratic county central com
mitteemen in which Mcdonald informs
them that new county organization
and a new chairman are necessary,
implying that he is after my scalp be
| cause i have helped to expose him.
| Mcdonald in this letter states that the
delegates to the county convention
| August 27 are to be elected at the pri-
mares August 16, and that they should
| select delegates to bring about the re-
| organization OF the committee. This
| plan to overthrow the central commit
| tee is in line with al of his other work
| in New York and Los Angeles.
Mcdonald made a pernicious at
| tempt to prevent the Democrats from
nominating a representative candidate
in the Thirty eighth senatorial dis
| trict He tried by every means pos
! Bekins from the primary ballot going
so far as to take it into the state su-
| preme court, where a decision was
rendered against him today.
Mcdonald attempted to buy UP all
the Democratic signatures in the
! Thirty eighth district in order to pre-
vent Bekins from securing the mini
mum number demanded by the direct
primary law, and he paid considerable
money to secure these names.
I'm supplementary proceedings in a
Los Angeles court during that period
Mcdonald testified that all he had in
the world was SLIP, yet ne paid about
$500 to defeat Bekins and hired an
attorney, Sidney Van Wyek Of San
II
preme court at Sacramento. That cost
him probably $3.50 or $780, Question:
Where does Mcdonald, q poor man,
secure this money?
Il don't care whether Mcdonald
considers himself a Democrat or not;
he has never been considered Demo-
crat by any of the Democrats OF Los
Angeles who know him, and he has
been so criticised and denounced by
| the Democratic leaders of Los An
geles that his candidacy as a Demo-
crat for the nomination to the state
senate is nothing more nor less than a
rank imposition and a political Joke. .
Mr. Norton produced the minutes Of
the Democratic league at this juncture.
which are herewith published for the
first time showing the discredit into
which Mcdonald had fallen before the
league dismissed him. Following are
verbatim copies Of the leagues min
utes of that date:
On motion of Mr.. Morton, duly
seconded by Mr.. Burke, the follow
ing letter addressed to Henry NJ.
Mcdonald. secretary of the league,
by the secretary pro tenn, in ac-
cordance with instructions of the
| board of directors as recorded in
the minutes of the meeting of date
of November 2S, 1908, was ordered
spread ON the minutes of this met
ing, viz:
Los Angeles, December a. 1908.
"Mr. Henry NJ. Mcdonald, Pasadena,
Cal.
Dear sir: am instructed by the
board of directors of the Demo-
cratic league of Los Angeles coun-
ty to communicate with you as fol-
lows:
"On September To- 1908, the DEM
ocratic league of Los Angeles
county, having won it's fight for
the control of the Democratic party
in this county, and the party be-
ing controlled by the county CEN
trail committee in harmony with
the league, and there being no Sc
rious work for the league to do
during the campaign under the
circumstances, you were elected
secretary of the league pursuant to
a proposition in writing by your
self that you would secure funds
to meet the runnig expenses of the
league, including an Indebtedness
amounting to about $S5. You
agreed In your proposition to ad
vance at once the sum of $50 to
meet certain pressing obligations.
You also agreed to secure by the
18th of October sufficient money
from subscription and membership
to meet the running expenses of
the league and to settle all It's IN
debtedneSs UP to the sum of $S5
or thereabOuts, as aforesaid. You
were to see, according to your own
proposition, that the league head
quarters were kept open from 8
o'clock a. m. until o'clock p. m.
You concluded with the statement
that you should at all times in the
discharge of your duties as secre-
tary consider yourself subject to
the directions of the board of di-
rectors. On the same day that you
made this proposition 70 the board
of directors, the following resolu-
tion was passed by the board:
Resolved, that no officer of this
league shall have authority to in
cur any Indebtedness or liability
exceeding $40 without approval and
authorization of the board of di-
rectors, and that no Indebtedness
for less than $40 be incurred except
by the joint action of the secre-
tary and treasurer
"Mr Plant, the then secretary
treasurer, then rendered his resig-
nation as secretary of the league,
retaining his office as treasurer. On
motion the following resolution was
| adopted:
"'Resolved, that the above prop
osition of H. NJ Mcdonald be ac-
cepted and that Mr.. Mcdonald be
and is hereby elected secretary of
this league to serve without COM
pensation until further order of
the board of directors
"At a meeting of the board of
directors on the 14th of November
last the board was startled by the
information that in place of the
| ,r.o,,iyotiop hovinp~ clean hill of