Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-24

In one of the most stirring speeches
ever delivered in a municipal campaign,
Guy Eddie. city prosecutor, last night
denounced the gas and electric com
panies of Los Angeles for their threats
to retard the development of Los An
geles, and made an impasstoned appeal
for the voters of this city to resent
their intimidation by electing the Good
Government candidates to the city
council
Eddie unsparingly denounced Hough-
ton and Eealy, the councilmanic candi-
dates backed by the public utility cor
porations and combines, and told OF
the great interest that is being mani
tested throughout the east in the pres
ent struggle in Los Angeles.
AS a climax to the meeting, which
was held at Woods hall, 5729 Pasadena
avenue the crowd was treated to
surprise in the nature of a speech by
Citv Tax Collector Clarence M. Taggart,
who was not on the program, but who
was called on to explain the provisions
of the new business license ordinance,
which will be voted on by the people at
the pending councilman1c and referen-
dunn election June 30.
Taggart made one of the most in
teresting speeches of the campaign,
sustaining the charges made by CITY
Prosecutor Eddie against the lighting
corporations.
REPEATED CHARGES
Taggart not only repeated these
charges. but gave the audience SOME
sensational facts and figures to prove
his claim. He was greeted with round
after round of applause.
1.-THE threat of the lighting corpora
tions to check the growth of Los An
geles. is not to be seriously considered"
he said. "These corporations have in
the past retarded the suburban develop
ment of Los Angeles all that they could
possibly do, when their city council,
practically controlled by Champ Vance,
the corporation political boss, tried to
shut out the Lowe Gas company and
successfully prevented the establish
ment in this city of any gas or electric
plant intended to supply these com
modities to suburban tracts or isolated
communities.
''rhat city council, composed of just
such men as Healy and Houghton and
dominated by these interests, adopted
an ordinance whereby all gas plants
have to pay to the city license of $1O0
a month, or $1,000 a year. By this law
they retarded the development OF many
outer tracts. AS an example of this
have only to call attention to the situa-
ton in the Manchester Avenue tract,
where a large improvement association
endeaYored to have gas put in, and the
big corporations referred their appeal
to the Domestic Gas company, which
wanted a bonus of $4,000 before it
could comply with the request, claim
ing it would require almost this amount
to put in the pipes and make the con-
nections.
COULD NOT PAY BONUS
"The improvement association could
not pay this bonus, and it's officers set
about to build their own plant to sup
ply gas for this tract, when they ran
up against the ordinance adopted by q
Champ Vance council, which compelled
them to pay license of $100 a month
to manufacture gas for a small area,
SO the Improvement association again
was stalled, and the people of that sec
tion were compelled to go without
their gas.
I'm dozens of instances this same
thing has happened. Even to buy
dynamo and engine and manufacture
small amount of electricity it is neces-
sary to pay this license of $100 month
if the plant does a business of $50 a
month or over.
81 personally know of scores of in
stances in which these corporations
have refused to furnish electricity to
new tracts until poles and wires and
other equipments were put in by the
owners of the tracts, or the residents
therein"