Los Angeles herald., 1910-12-04
CONSOLIDATION IS
KEENLY DEBATED
Leslie Hewitt Approves PROPOSE
ton, Lee Gates Attacks 1t,
Before City Club

Gates on the question '0nttll the CitJ
and County Governments of Los An
geies be Consolidated?" yesterday
brought out one of the largest crowds
that has ever attended a weekly lunch
con of the City club, and at the con-
clusion of the debate the members
were convinced that both had pro-
duced good arguments.
Senator Hewitt had the affirmative
and opened the debate. He advanced
his reasons why consolidation Is neces-
sary for the future of Los Angeles,
especially in the distribution of water
and power. In part he said:
consolidation has been in the minds
of MANY of our people for years, but
no decided public opinion has been ex-
pressed on that question. But re-
Gently it has become q sort of issue
and a paramount public matter.
''The immediate occasion for the talk
of consolidation has been the out
growth of recent conferences held in
the council chamber in which the dis
tribution of surplus water and power
were discussed. Some grave legal
questions were brought UP in those
conferences, and the solution of these
troubles appeared to be the city's exer-
else of political control over the ter
ritory to be served by the water and
power.
"Here is the great county Of Los An
geles and within it is the great city
of Los Angeles and other thriving
communities. We are now the I'M
perial county of the state, and give
US ten years more and we will be the
imperial city.
ECONOMY is URGED
''There is not only no necessity for
the dual city and county government
under which we live, but it is an OBJ
stacIe to the economical administra-
ton of our public affairs. The flnan-
cial side of the question is only cne
phase of the matter, but 1t is worth
considering. In this city we pay three
sets of taXes-city, county and state.
In San Francisco, where consolidation
has existed for fifty years, they pay
one tax for the city and county and
another for the state. have not been
able to acquire all the figures 1 would
like, but those I have show sui
f1ciently startling discrepancy in the
cost of government of san FRANCISCO
and Los Angeles"
Mr.. Hewitt then quoted from figures
he had to show that the city plus the
county taxes in Los Angeles were
twice what they are in San Francisco
and he significantly added:
"And no one viii say that San Fran
cisco is more economical in It's pubic
moneys than Los Angeles, and San
Francfscos bonded indebtedness is
twice that of Los Angeles.
"By comparison with the San Fran
cisco figures 1 believe taxpayers In the
city of Los Angeles paid $1,15O,OOO ad-
ditional tax levy for enjoying the ben
efits of being a part Of Los Angeles
county. We would save very material
ly in the consolidation of offices.
CHARTER PERMITS MAKEsHIFT
"It is true the charter permits us to
delegate the powers of the assessor,
but this at best is only makeshitt
and will not settle such great puohc
question 1t is a violation of the fun
damental principle OF polltlcs that
city of 300, 900 or 100000 should dele
gate it's powers to officials 1t does not
itself elect and over which 1t does not
exercise the power of recall.
"Los Angeles county is much too
large. The counties of Southern Cali
fornia were laid out by arbitrary INES
without consideration for community
of interest. That is why we have An
telope valley as a part of this county.
This is a vast tract of land 10 the
north and separated from this part
by mountain range.
"PoWer and water in southern Call
fornia are utilities of utmost impor-
tance. The city of Los Angeles has a
large supply of both these and the re-
sponsibility rests on this city to dis
tribute them to the best advantage.
The legal questions involved in the dis
fTihItlOn
difficult, if not absolutely insurmount-
able unless the territory to enjoy these
benefits is under the city's control.
'In presenting this question of con-
solidation we do not intend to do Vio-
lence to any community If they want
to come in with us as partners in these
great enterprises we VIII get along To-
gether very we'll.
SENATOR GATES REPLIES
fnr
"F;yery argument that Mr.. Hewitt
has advanced is not in support of con-
solidation, but annexation. Consolida-
ton means a division Of this county
for you surely do not dream of taking
all the territory within the present
county boundaries into your new city.
What name will you give to this new
CITY and county? If you cut yourselves
off from Los Angeles county you are
seeding and taking on new Juris-
diction and a new county and the name
Los Angeles will belong to the older
county.
'The matter of economy is the only
argument Mr.. Hewitt has advanced for
consolidation. The charter provides
perfect machinery for the consolida-
ton of offices and 1t is not necessary
to secure Legislative enactment. 1t can
be done by the mere passage Of an
ordinance and if the work Of admins
tering the citys affairs is not properly
conducted by the county officials the
repeal of the ordinance recalls the
powers delegated to the county Off
cials Mr. Hewitt will be engaged in
the laudable work Of introducing the
recall provision for county officials
when he gets into the state legislature
this winter.
WHAT THE LAW ALLOWS
GAS to the distribution Of the water
and power. Today we have a surplus
of $4,000 inches of water, but the sur
plus Of today is not the surplus of to-
morrow. This water will supply 100000
people and the time will come within
fifty years when every drop Of 1t will
be needed.
zone of the amendments to the state
constitution adopted November pro-
yided that any new counties formed
should extend for five miles from the
slimits of the county seat. That extern
sion would bring thirteen Incorporated
cities within the limits OF Los Angeles.
They would be Glendale Pasadena,
South Pasadena, Alhambra, Hunting
ton Park, Vernon, Long Beach and all
the cities on the west coast. Do you
think Long Beach would consent to
becorne "a part of Los Angeles? That
city has expressed itself forcibly on
that matter in the past. But if one
of these cities in tho fiYe-mile zone re-
fused to come into Los Angeles you
would have to amend the constitution