The table above set forth shows the 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice votes received for the various subjects. There were a number of ballots upon which no choice was expressed and they were counted as second choice votes. Counting each first choice vote as one, each second choice vote as one-half, and the third choice votes as onethird, the result is as follows: The program will be arranged so far as possible to devote the time of the convention to the above named subjects in the order set forth. Fortunately, the department of city attorneys, appointed a committee at the Long Beach meeting on a model zone ordinance for small cities. That committee has concluded its work and will submit their report at the convention. The committee is now in conference with a like committee of the California Realtor's Association for the purpose of obtaining the views of that organization and securing their indorsement to the work. It is proposed to hold regional meetings in Los Angeles and San Francisco within the next two weeks to select speakers and arrange the final details. Read carefully the information on Yosemite, the site of the next Convention-Then make your plans to be there and be there crowds into the high mountains. Formerly these parts of Yosemite, known as the back country and considered by many as the best sections of the park, were available only to those who could afford to hire guides and rent pack trains. Nowadays it is different. At intervals of approximately ten miles through the famous back country, the Yosemite Park and Curry Company maintains what is known as High Sierra Camps. These camps are an easy day's hike or horseback ride from each other. They form a circuit through the high country, including the more famous of the High Sierra Peaks, glaciers, lakes, canyons, streams, meadows and forests. The camper who chooses to take this trip need carry nothing with him but his camera and such clothes as he cares to The first is the dyed-in-the-wool garden variety of camper who loads his tent, his bed, his cooking utensils and other equip-have for a change. At the end of each ment on his auto until the poor old machine can hardly be recognized from a moving van. This type of camper is at home anywhere he chooses to stop. Another variety of camper is the one who does not like to bother with too much luggage on the automobile and who prefers to stop at the housekeeping camps in Yosemite Valley. Scores of campers are taking advantage of this new and inexpensive service in Yosemite. The housekeeping camps service is maintained under Government supervision to rent to the camper a tent, bed and such other equipment as the camper may care to have, all set up and ready for occupancy. This service is offered at very reasonable terms and is so popular that campers are obliged to make their reservations far in advance. A third variety of camper is the man or woman who likes to get far away from the day's journey he finds himself in a camp where his cook has already prepared him a plain but ample meal and where a cot cost ing but $1.00 a night awaits him. Each of the High Sierra camps is located in a strategic place from which side trips over trails can be taken to fine fishing, lakes or streams, or mountain peaks, or other points of interest. It is possible to spend two weeks' vacation on this High Sierra Camp circuit without duplicating a single day's adventures. It used to be that the average city person thought he was achieving something great merely to reach the 4,000 foot level above the sea, at which is located Yosemite Valley. Those days are gone forever. The average camper likes to get up more than a mile high. At one of the Yosemite High Sierra Camps-Booth Lake, he can be almost two miles above sea level. the mecca for motorists not only from California but from practically every state in the Union. YOSEMITE, THE MECCA OF THE MOTORIST ing recent years Yosemite has become More than 100,000 visitors came into Yosemite National Park during the last season by automobile, and park officials expect that this number will be greatly exceeded during the 1926 season. Dur To the three major routes into Yosemite (Continued on page 193) Some Tips on Motoring to Yosemite No doubt many of the delegates to the convention of the League of Pacific Municipalities will want to motor in their own cars to Yosemite and back. This is one of California's finest mountain motor trips. Last year more than 100,000 Californians motored to Yosemite Valley. Some suggestions for those who have not already been over the routes may be pertinent here. There are three main motor routes into Yosemite. The Wawona route enters Yosemite Valley from the south. Motorists will find good roads from Fresno, Madera, or Merced, leading from the San Joaquin Valley highway to Wawona. At Wawona they converge into one road entering Yosemite Valley. From San Francisco and the north the main route is the big oak flat road, with connections at Stockton, Manteca, Escalon and Modesto. Another route is the Tioga Pass trip, connecting at Mono Lake with the road from Lake Tahoe to Bishop and points south. Road maps describing these routes are available from automobile associations or from the Yosemite Park and Curry Co. offices. Take time to enjoy the drive into Yosemite. The roads to Yosemite are lined with many beautiful views, interesting geological formations, beautiful dells and many other attractions that are missed by the motorist who is in a hurry. Your trip will be doubly enjoyable if you arrange to start the drive from the San Joaquin Valley into Yosemite early in the morning and take all day to reach Yosemite. In this way you may have time to catch a mess of fish on the way, or to get a snapshot of a deer or a bear in his favorite haunt. Every motorist knows that it is wise to have the old car oiled and greased and all tuned up before starting to the mountains. For those who have trouble on the Wawona or the big oak flat roads, there are automobile club repair cars and stations. The Yosemite Park and Curry Company maintains a service car on the Tioga road. Phone to Yosemite if you need help. Don't be afraid to use low gear in climbing the Sierras. It's no disgrace because everybody has to do it. Practically all accidents on the grades are due to the fact that motorists forget to use their low gears. That is what they are for. Try them out and be safe. Yosemite's climate is somewhat cooler than that of the lower valleys, but it is not cold except at night. In the evenings you will want sweaters and at night plenty of blankets. Rough hiking trousers, and shoes, are enjoyed by men and women alike. In Yosemite Valley the Yosemite Transportation System maintains an excellent garage which offers the best of service at prices that are approximately those in effect at city garages. Cars can also be stored either at this garage or at the Camp Curry garage while the owners are on hikes or on fishing expeditions into the back country. Motorists who are camping out should register at the Superintendent's office at Yosemite Valley as soon as they arrive. They will be assigned a camping site in localities where the Government has provided running water and sanitary facili ties. The fee charged motorists upon their arrival at the Yosemite Park boundaries is $2.00. A ranger at the checking station near where the road crosses the boundary of the park will take your name and number and report your arrival to the ranger at the next station. This is for your own safety. The rangers will be glad to give you information and to help you find camping (Continued on page 191) The League of California Municipalities How, When, Where and Why It Came to be Organized, Under the old constitution a city or town could not be incorporated except by a direct act of the legislature. The new constitution, which went into effect in 1880, provided that hereafter cities or towns could only be incorporated under general laws, and the legislature of 1883 passed what is known as the "Municipal Corporation Act," which not only provided the general law for incorporating cities and towns but also provided for dividing cities into six different classes according to population, and set forth six different charters for their government. When a city or town is first incorporated it automatically becomes a city of the sixth class. According to the last annual report of the state controller, there remains but four cities which are governed under a direct act of the Legislature passed prior to the adoption of the new Constitution. They are Alviso, Gilroy, Nevada City and Santa Clara. There are four cities of the fifth class, under the act of 1883; they are Oroville, Ventura, Santa Ana and Woodland. Of the remainder, thirty-nine cities are governed under freeholder charters, and 217 are cities of the sixth class. There have been three or four new towns incorporated since the state controller's report was issued, so that now there are about 220 sixth class cities. The constitution provides that any city of 3500 population may frame a charter for its own government by electing fifteen freeholders for that purpose, providing such charter is afterwards approved by majority vote of the electors of such city and ratified by the legislature. It may be said in passing that the legislature has never refused its ratification to any charter which has received the approval of the people. On April 12, 1926, all the cities of the sixth class in California held a general municipal election, as the result of which many new trustees and administrative officers had the experience of finding themselves inducted into public office for the first time. Practically all the cities of the state belonged to the League of California Municipalities and it is therefore not only fitting but proper that these new officials should be informed of the objects and purposes of the league and the reasons for its existence. In the early history of our country municipal government did not take a position of very great importance because of the fact that the population was mostly rural instead of urban and the large cities of the country were quite limited in number. With the development of machinery, however, and the economy of massed production, people began to drift from the country to the city, and the problems of municipal government grew rapidly in number and importance. It was found that the plans which had been devised for the government of our cities, while fairly satisfactory when their population was small, did not work out at all as they increased in size. Things grew from bad to worse and apparently reached a climax about thirty years ago, when bossism, corruption and inefficiency appeared to prevail in nearly all the large cities of the country. These conditions aroused the anxiety of our statesmen and national leaders, and a cry was raised. throughout the land for reform in the government of our cities. Among the suggestions made was one involving an organization of municipalities, with the idea that the city officials themselves should get together periodically and discuss their problems and plans for their solution. The idea appealed favorably to those interested in municipal government in California with the result that one day in December, 1898, a handful of men assembled in San Francisco and formed the organization which has since proved to be such a factor in the growth and development of the cities and towns of California. Prior to the formation of the League of California Municipalities no record was kept of municipal work and improvement. Each city or town was completely in the dark as to what the others were doing and the methods they were employing. Besides, there was no particular incentive to do very much. With the organization of the league all this was changed. Meetings of the city officials were held annually in some city of the state, alternating usually between the |