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Show THE "RECALL" PEOPLE'S WEAPON I m To Punish Unfaithful Public Servants How It Works Where It Started j Examples in the United States Why Ogden and Utah Would Profit by It. ' f 4 j We fully explained the Initiative two weeks ago today and the referendum one week ago today and now wc take up the "Recall." The boss politicians saj the Recall is a most vicious measure, they say it Is cruel, unfair and unjust, and yet no honest man need fear it. The word Recall is an American word and is onlj a few years old as applied to poll-tics' poll-tics' In Switzerland it Is called tho "Imperative Mandate," meaning, when an officer Is recalled by his constituents. constitu-ents. It Ib a "mandate" he dare not refuse to obey. The word "Recall" Is a better word as everybody understands under-stands It, and even a "child kno.s what It meens to be "recalled." The exorcise of this mandate or "recall" gives the people the power to vacate any publla office at their will That sounds harsh, some poo-plo poo-plo say Yet If the people, by their power, place a man In offlce, why should not the creating power be 'able to undo that which they have done? Almost every state In the union allows a majority or two-thirds of the stockholders stock-holders to unseat a Board of directors direc-tors of a corporation If that Is good for a private corporation, why not for a public or municipal corporation9 Of course the Recall can be made vlc-Ioub vlc-Ioub by permitting a recall for trivial or minor affairs which should not be permitted. Some people think that because people generally sign petitions In order to get rid of those carrying the i petitions, that the people also would quite generally sign a "Recall" petition, but the reverse Is true Tho records show that up tp date no worthy wor-thy officer haa been Recalled. In fact the records show that the people quite generally refuse to sign a petition for Recall unless the chargo of unfaithful service is first proven Tho first officer recalled In the United Unit-ed States was J. P. Davenport, a member mem-ber of the. cjty council for the Sixth Ward In Los Angeles, Calif., was ordered or-dered to retire In August, 1MM. The charges aganst Mr. Davenport were as follows; First" He voted to give the Los Angeles Timps $10,000 moro than the next highest bid, and $20,000 more than the lowest bid fot a contract of cltv printing. Second: That by his vote and action ho showed he was the spoclal champion cham-pion of tho liquor and saloon Interests Inter-ests and wa serving them Instead of the people. Third: That he received money for his voto In permitting nn offensive slaughter house to bo built in a residence resi-dence district. The papers thoroughly discussed these charges, and, from the evidence the papers published, it was generallj believed that Davenport was guilty. At the election Mr Davenport was defeated almost 2 to 1. A remarkable incident in connection with the flrat Recall was that five other oth-er cohncllmen voted with Mr Davenport Daven-port hi giving the Times the extra $10,-000 $10,-000 for the city printing, yet the people peo-ple would not sign a petition to Recall Re-call any of the other five councllmen. It was said that the Tlmea really had a much larger circulation than any other paper and It actually charged more than the other papers for Its advertising and the people believed the other five councllmen might hon-vStlj hon-vStlj have believed that the Times advertising was worth $10,00Q more than that of any other paper, and as there wero no charges oi unfaithful service against tho other five council men, not even one per cent of the people would sign a petition of Recall. Re-call. Here, then, Is tho keen discriminating discrim-inating Judgment of a fair people. Tho people of Los Angeles knew who the crooked councilman vas and the people peo-ple fell over themselves to sign tho petition for the Recall of Davenport, but refused to Recall a sorvant who had made but one error. This is proof that the people aro willing to forgive minor or trivial errors er-rors and that there will bo no Recall because a man prefers a ginger alo high-ball to silver fizz. The next Recall took place In March, 1909 That also was In Los Angeles. Mayor Harper was Invited to step down and out Pie was invited to quit Los Angeles by the municipal league, composed of the leading business men of Los Angeles. The mayor was charged with joining his chief of police po-lice in a campaign of graft. The grand jury submitted a report strongly censuring Mayor Harper and his chlo'f of police. The grand jury, however, found no Indictments against tho mayor may-or and, feeling that he had got through the police scandal with his hide, tue mayor promptly appointed his then chief of police as a member of the public works which was to spend $30,-000,000 $30,-000,000 in building the now waterworks. water-works. The public believed the chief of police to bo a grafter and to give such a man $30,000,000 to spend wag more thnn Los Angeles could stand and In less than two weeks one-fourth of all the votors In Los Angeles had signed the petition to Recall the mayor. may-or. That was not all. Those who had not signed the petition believed the papers and begged permission to add their names Mayor Harper did not wait for the vote His chief of po- lice resigned from the public worla ! and police department and the rhaor r confessed his wrong doings by re signing three weeks before tho Recall election was to be held and left the 3 city without a mayor. He took his family, boarded a train and bade Los Angeles good- e w Who will saj the Recall was vicious 1 I In Los Angeles9 .f Jj The Recall Is the latest of the three ifi i great progressive measures that are t S destined, to give the "common" people j h their own Lob Angeles, It appears, it was the first city In the United i States that has made tho "Recall" a j; part of Its city charter and when the j: people of the other California cities J: saw the Sixth Ward In Los Angeles I, "Recall" an unfaithful servant with L g little expense and within slxty,days, ', T It set them all to thinking and they demanded the Recall and In 1905. 190G 'J and 1907 the following California clt- I ies, py big majorities, placed the "Re- i F. call'' In their respective cltv char- , ters; " J San Bernardino. Pasadena, Fresno, j Alairieda, Long Beach, Vallejo, Santa 11 f. Monica, Riverside, San Francisco and t? San Diego, also tho cities of Everett s 1 jjj and Seattle, Washington, and Blnce i; j. 1907 upward of 100 other cities have li .. adopted the three progressive meas- i uros. but the cities named above are y. b considered the pioneers In the Recall ; j- movement ; ? The records show that the fact that l tho Recall mav be enforced, has caus- t ed less seeking of offlce by the grafter ,: fa and better selection by the people, ft ft The records show that a better class of men are becoming tho office hold- ItH ers and that less money is required -t j for elections. The fact that a man y j may be Recalled seems to prevent the p grnfter from seeking office and it acts like a sword over the head of those ' In office?- The offlce holder under tho '. Recall Is sare In his office only so ? (Z long' as he Is faithful and honest. K The net and last Recall In the f5 United States was this spring in Seat- iijU tie, wheie the mayor mado his own MJS platform nnd was elected by a big M? majorltv, but. lustend of trjlng to -i H make good his promises, he reversed f( himself and gave the people just the ?5 opposite to what he promised and he f Q was promptly Recalled by a larger ma- ' Jority than he recolvcd at his election, q 5 The Recall Is a contract with the ,ijl people that tho officer will use his ' 9 best' efforts to carry out his pledges. 91 or resign. If he falls to resign the 3 people claim the right to Recall him. , i Ogden and Utah ought to have the -; Ji """ ' ft |