ports of the Pacific Ocean, made a statement, which I think is so applicable to the harbor of Long Beach, that you will excuse me for reading it. "It will become a great port, not because nature made it so, but because her own people have said so. Its future harbor will be almost wholly artificial but it will be a great harbor nevertheless, and will stand all the more to the credit of its people because of the sacrifices which they have made to obtain it." I thank you. (Applause.)

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: I will ask if there are any questions of Colonel Johnson?

MR. KIERNAN: I would like to ask Colonel Johnson how most of his dredging is being done, by the shovel dredger or the suction dredger?

was correct. If that was intended as a report of the Committee, it is in my possession. The Committee audited the books and found them correct, and found that the cash on hand agreed with the money in the bank.

MR. KIERNAN: I move that the report of the Auditing Committee be adopted.

(The motion was seconded and carried.) THE VICE-PRESIDENT: I think that it would be in order that the subject matter of these two communications referred to by Mr. Bacon, that even the committee have not had time to consider, be referred to the Legislative Committee. So ordered.

MR. BECK: It seems to me that our By-laws ought to be amended so that, when a delegate comes to the Conven

it is being done with suction dredges.

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: Any other questions? If not, we certainly appreciate the courtesy shown by the city of Long Beach. These topics are not only interesting and entertaining, but they are exceedingly instructive as well. There are several California cities to the north that are now engaged in similar work.

I believe the next thing in our order of business is the report of the Auditing Committee. If they are not ready we will have the report of the Committee on Resolutions. (The report of the Committee on Resolutions has already been published.)

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: I will again ask if the Auditing Committee is ready to report?

MR. MASON: The only report given by the Chairman of the Auditing Committee was an endorsement on the face of my ledger that the Treasurer's report

Credentials Committee, he registers, and the roll is called and he answers "here." And, if necessary, the Clerk of the Convention can send back to that city that his representative attended so so many meetings. I think that is a pretty good thing for us to do. It does not seem right to have delegates sent here, at considerable cost to their city, and then have them registering in a neighboring city and only come down here just once. I do not think that is right at all.

MR. KIERNAN: I was at a Convention where we had a real sergeant-at-arms. He was a fine fellow, and good natured until you crossed him, and then he was big and he was not so good natured. The system they used at that convention was that every morning each one of us had to drop a card with our name on it in our own handwriting in a box. They had just one entrance to the convention hall, and you entered there and the card went into the box, and they had a ticket taker look at those cards and the date.

MAYOR EDWARDS (Watts): Ladies and gentlemen: I am certainly glad of this opportunity to meet with so many representative people who represent such important functions in the state of California. I come from a very small, inconsequential sixth class city, but I have something on my mind that I would like to leave with you. We have, on our statute books, some very bad laws, and we have one in particular that affects the small weaker cities to a considerable extent, but you representatives who are here from the larger cities are interested to the extent that you are interested in co-operating with the people of the smaller communities. There are many fifth and sixth class cities in the state of California, and they are represented by a handful of men, but the total population represented in those cities is something enormous, and they are worth some considerable consideration. We hope to be able to join hands with you people in any laudable undertaking. I refer, more particularly now, to the recall election laws that we have on our statute books, which need some amending, and need it awful bad. I come from a city where they are contemplating changing the name of the town to "Recall City." We have in this room at present an old Civil War veteran who sat on the Board of that city for six different years and during that time he sat with eighteen different Boards and 36 different men. The law I refer to, in its inception, was not made for the purpose of crippling or embarrassing these small communities. It was made for the purpose of removing from office men who were corrupt. Now, that law needs amending to this extent. That it should be necessary for you to go into a court

of competent jurisdiction and prove that a man is corrupt before you go to recalling him. (Applause.)

Now, the damage is not alone of a monetary nature. During this period that I spoke of, when this man served so ably, it probably was because of the fact that he was a Civil War veteran that he was not removed during that time. The damage that was done, during that time, was the loss of several thousand dollars of the tax payer's money that was not misused by the majority will but by a mere 25 per cent. And there is another feature of that law that ought to be amended. You should make it necessary to go out and get a majority petition in order to hold a recall election, or any other kind of an election. As I understand, the fundamental principles of our Government, it was organized along such lines as made it necessary that a majority should rule and not a mere minority. Now, as I stated, the damage is not only in money, dollars and cents, but it is much greater than that, it is the damage that is irreparable, almost incalculable, the amount of slander and vilification that is used frequently in those recall elections. It matters not what class of people you have representing you. It is of little importance how I came to be a member of the Board, how long I shall be there, but it is of vital importance to the community whether your community is being bound together with the spirit of helpfulness and co-operation rather than being torn asunder all of the time with slander and vilification which follows and attends recall elections. Now, the only way we can get any redress from this thing is to have the reform come from people like you, who have a legislative body, with

a state wide influence, and get them to help reform this matter. And I would be pleased to see this matter turned over to the proper committee for consideration at least. And I know that there are many cities that are in as bad a state as we are with reference to our recall elections. The city of Venice over here has had a recall election. Every time one of those recall elections comes along it dissipates a certain amount of money. For instance, in our own little town we have had, during the past twelve months, four recall elections, and the complexion of the Board stands today as it did then, but there has been dissipated almost four thousand dollars of the taxpayers' money. Now people generally, even many people who have grown up and live in the larger cities, do not know anything about the limits that we have to the amount of money that can be raised in these little sixth class cities. We have, primarily, only one source of revenue for our little cities, and that is one per cent of the assessed value. You take the average little city of six or seven thousand people where you have only a total assessment roll of two million dollars, and your total income is twenty thousand dollars a year. Out of that you have got to do innumerable things. If you have to take out of that four thousand dollars for recall elections in one year, you have not got much left, and you are pretty badly crippled. I only ask that you people give us your help. (Applause.)

MR. BECK: I want to say that I heartily approve of what the gentleman has just said and I really think there ought to be something done about it. My thought is now when there is a recall election there ought to be a counter petition. At the present time we have provided, in our charter, that people must go to the City Hall to sign the recall petition. But I would say that along

with that recall petition, there should. be a counter petition for those people who are not in favor of the recall, and find out if the people want to go to the expense of having a recall election and spending the taxpayer's money. I move you that the gentleman who has just spoken be appointed a committee of one from this body to confer with the legislative body of this Assembly, to bring before the Legislature, if they deem wise, such a reform of that part of the recall law as will be in harmony with what has been suggested here this afternoon.

MR. KIERNAN: I second the motion. THE VICE-PRESIDENT: Any remarks upon the motion?

MR. SINSHEIMER: Is it to be understood that the decision of the Legislative Committee is the decision of this body?

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: I will say that this body will meet again before the Legislature meets, and the matter will

come up.

MR. SINSHEIMER: You are opening a very large and a very wide subject, and does the League of California Municipalities, assembled here, wish to delegate that authority to someone else, or do they want an open discussion of the whole matter and its decision by a regular vote of the League itself, yea or nay?

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: We have another meeting before the Legislature meets, and they cannot do any damage. anyway before that time. In my many years' experience I will say that it has not been the habit of the Legislative Committee of the League of California Municipalities to go off half cocked on new things which the entire organization would not approve of.

MR. LOCKE: I feel, especially in view of the fact that we have a moment or two to spare, that I would be recreant to my trust if I did not say a word or two on this matter. But I desire to address

my remarks particularly to the gentleman who spoke from Watts. About ten years ago, the Legislative Committee of the League did have a measure prepared designed to modify the recall law, so as to provide that the man sought to be recalled would have the same right of petition as those who proposed his recall. As it now stands, we must all admit that it is a one sided affair. A group of individuals, desiring to get rid of some official, simply go out and circulate a petition, and like all other petitions, they have no difficulty in getting a lot of names attached, and the first thing we know the man is put on the defensive. Not only that, but the man sought to be recalled must receive a majority vote, whereas those running against him only have to receive a plurality vote, and that is another very serious matter for our consideration. The proposition, as submitted on the ballot, is, "Shall John Smith be recalled, yes or no"? One thousand people say will go to the polls. If 501 vote "yes" he is recalled automatically. Say there are five people running against him, and the highest of those five gets 220 affirmative votes he will be elected, despite the fact that 499 voters vote to retain the man against whom the recall election is held. There are lots of defects in the law at the present time. We tried to get a bill over in the Legis

lature in 1915 but we were unsuccessful.

And perhaps we will be unsuccessful until we get somebody in Sacramento that has more sympathy with what we are trying to do. There must be delegated, to the Legislative Committee, authority to represent this body. We will have another meeting before the Legislature convenes, but when the Legislature does convene, and you have your committee at Sacramento representing you, that committee must have the power and the authority to speak for you. It

cannot be any other way. (Applause.) The motion is carried.

MR. DU REE (Reedley): Mr. Chairman and delegates: I have a matter that I wish to call to your attention, and that is the matter of Municipal air ports. We are desirous of getting an ordinance passed which will cover all cities, as soon as possible. The ordinance we are preparing at the present time, regulating flying over cities and over congested districts, is along the lines recommended by the United States Government, and Colonel Moulthrop of the Los Angeles

field has recommended it also. Santa Monica has passed it. Each city of course will have to change the ordinance. to meet local conditions, in some respects. We should have a unified ordinance so that, unlike the present automobile ordinances, every time a flyer goes into a town he will not be subject to an entirely different law. If you are thinking of passing such an ordinance in your city, please consult with our office here, the recreation department has charge of it, and I will be glad to send you a copy of the ordinance now before the City Council, so that the same ordinance will apply, as much as possible, throughout the state. It will make it much better and promote aviation, to a certain extent. MR. KIERNAN: I make a motion to refer Mr. Beck's proposition in regard to attendance of the delegates to the executive committee.

MR. BECK: I want to second that motion.

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: It will be so referred. Has the Health Officers' Section any report to make to the convention at large?

A DELEGATE: No report to make.

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: We will at this time take up the report of the Nominating Committee.

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: This is the signed report of the Nominating Committee. It is not necessary to adopt this report, as I stated at first. The rules of the Convention are that, while this is the report of the Committee, that nominations may be open, and that the entire Convention may have the selection, if they so desire. They recommend, for President for the ensuing year, Mr. H. L. Moody, the auditor and assessor of San Diego. Are there any further nominations? (Moved, seconded and carried that the nominations be closed.)

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: Secretary Treasurer Mr. H. A. Mason. Are there any further nominations? If not a motion is now in order to declare elected Mr. H. A. Mason.

The motion is made, seconded and carried amid applause.

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: The Executive Secretary, Mr. William J. Locke. Any further nominations?

It is moved, seconded and carried that the nominations be closed. (Applause.)

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: Mr. Moody, at the close of this Convention, assumes the office of President of this Association.

(At this point amid applause Mr. Moody is escorted to the platform.)

THE VICE-PRESIDENT: Ladies and gentlemen of the Convention, the office of President of this Association is no light task. There is real work ahead for any man who accepts this position. I feel quite sure that the gentleman whom you have honored with this election will do his best to fulfill the duties of the office as well as those who have preceded

PRESIDENT ELECT MOODY: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen of the League: Your Vice-President has well stated that the honor you have conferred upon me today is no light one. I shall endeavor to fulfill the duties of this office to the best of my ability, so help me God. I realize, gentlemen and ladies, that I may come very short of your expectations in attempting to fulfill the duties of this office. My shortcomings I hope you will overlook, and I trust that you will cooperate in every way to make this League of California Municipalities a real power for good in the state of California. I believe that our organization represents a very vital element in our society. I believe that all workers in human society must begin at the bottom and work up. If we are able to govern ourselves in our cities first, we may be able to govern ourselves in our counties and nation. But the responsibility rests with you and me as to how we govern ourselves in our respective communities. I want to pledge myself to the fulfillment of this ideal in our city government. I want to pledge myself to a better enforcement of constituted authority. I believe, if there is one element in our social affairs today that is of a dangerous nature, it is that idea, that is so prevalent among the people of our state and nation, and that is a disrespect for constituted authority, a growing disrespect for authority. And I want to pledge you, my friends, every effort on my part to bring about a revival of the fundamental principle of enforcement of the laws on our statute books. The best way in the world to get rid of a