Los Angeles herald., 1910-09-30
MERGER OF CITY
AND COUNTY IS
SPEAKERS SLOGAN
Judge Works and T. E. Gibbon
Discuss Vital Features
of Consolidation
VAST INTERESTS AT STAKE
Enthusiastic Gathering in Council
Chamber Cheers References
to Owens River Project

City and county consolidation was
the keynote of the meeting in the
council chamber last night, when the
disposition of the $4,000 inches Of sur
plus water from the Owens river was
discussed. This feature was especially
dwelt on by Judge ]. D. Works and T.
e. Gibbon, who represented the City
club. Judge Works brought up GER
tain legal phases and declared that
the way to solve them without diff
Guilty was to consolidate the city ana
county governments. Mr.. Gibbon FOL
lowed him and the entire theme OF his
address was city and county consol-
idation.
w. B. Mathews, attorney for the
aQueduct, led the discussion.
"Certain things seem to be agreed
on, from the remarks l have heard
at previous meetings" said Mr..
Mathews, land one of these Is that
the title to this water shall remain
with us unimpaired.
"In providing for water supply 1t Is
usual to provide for a reserve, and
this surplus shall be our reserve. But
while we have this reserve for our
future needs we may at the same time
put 1t to use, adding to the wealth OF
our community.
'Mr. Mulholland's proposal is along
the lines of what this community
would indorse. The essential principle
of his proposition Is that the lands TO
be supplied with water should be sucn
as are located so they can be taken
into the city. The aesthetic sense may
guide us some in this. We should
have a care as to the shape of our
future city, its length and its breadth.
SAFEGUARDING CTTY's TITLE
1.-THE interests of the city and the
territory surrounding it. are common
The mere fact that an imaginary line
divides us politically does not make
any special difference in our common
interests. It happens that the water
supply can only be provided by the
city because the city is organized and
has the credit and wealth to carry out
the project. 1t would seem but a mat
ter of Justice, considering the immense
mortgage the city has placed on ITSELF
that the neighbors who are to snare
the water should share the expense
and that some such system as the
bonuses suggested by Mr.. Mulholland
would be the proper method. l see no
legal difficulty in getting bonus W1th>
out compromising title to the water
Not a drop should be turned over ex-
guard the citys title. The people OF
this city should look to 1t that this Is
done. and / believe they can rest as
sured 1t will be DONE"
A. w. Redmond was to have repre-
sented the Merchants and Manufac-
ttrers association, but IL he was pres
ent he did not respond to the demand
of Mayor Alexander that he make an
address. Philo ]. Beveridge represent
oI,o Ioy Nf ftOT a
member of the Owens river committee
of that organization, but said that the
chamber had no special suggestions to
offer.
SPEECH OF JUDGE WORKS
Judge Works followed Mr.. Beveridge
as representative of the City club. He
brought up several legal phases of the
"In order to talk intelligently it
would be necessary to know what title
the city has to this water" said Judge
Works. "It may own 1T for its own
citizens, and in that case 1t could do
anything with 1t that 1t chooses. But
1t may only hold the water as trustee
and then it's powers are limited. If
the city had condemned the water 1t
could take only such an amount as it
needed. One way to solve all these
difficulties and remove all doubts is,
to consolidate the government of the
city and county"
T. e. Gibbon, who also represented
the City club, followed Judge Works.
At want to say that whatever scheme
is decided on, the city can depend on
its officials to get the best bargain
possible" said Mr. Gibbon. anyone
who has given any thought to the
matter must have come to the conclu-
sion that one way to remove all legal
difficulties in connection with this wat
er is to consolidate our city and county
government. We are contributing
two-thirds of the cost Of one part of
our dual government, the county @nd
all the cost of the other part, the city.
eff we use this water as we should,
we can succeed in getting all the ter
ritory we need t. enable us to abolish
this double government. What we
would save in the expense of running
the government would pay all the costs
of the aqueduct. We should decide
on the territory we want in our con-
solidated government, and say to each
division of that territory, come In with
us We have the loadstone in our hands
that will draw to us all the territory
necessary to abolish this double sys-
tenn of government. And If we do it
we will save enough in twenty years
to wipe out all this debt"
APPLAUSE FOR CONSOLIDATION
The applause that greeted every ref
erence to consolidation from either
speaker showed that there was strong
sympathy in the audience for the plan
they proposed.
There were representatives from 9TH
,er organizations present, but nearly all
declared they were not prepared to
discuss the project. j. A. Anderson
represented the Municipal league, J.
e. Timmons, CentralN Labor council;
Garner Curren and d. O. Loucks, Fed
Grated Improvement associations; G..
C. Slocomb, Single Tax club. Samuel
Rees made a short talk.
There will be no meeting next Tues
day night as there was this week, but
one will be held next Thursday night
and the bankers association has been
invited to send speakers. Other speak,
ers may be arranged for before the
night of the meeting.