Resolution No. 168B,, 4 1 '
I
} R E S 0 1 U T 1 0 N
rj ! IAJ REAS, a movement has been started by a certain news-
`,, paper interest in the City of Los Angeles which has given to
some public officials in the City of Los Angeles and such of
the public as may read the papers of that rartdcular interest,
an erroneous, false a-,j.d unfounde_ opinion as to the conditions
existing in the City of Vernon and the government thereof, par-
ticularly as to the liquor business in the City of Vernon; and
MREAS, some organizations in the City of Los Angeles of
good repute, co_.posed of individuals of good motives have been
misled b; the publications aforesaid, aU to the true facts,and
have wired despatches to officials in the City of Washington
saying; in 7ood faith, but without foundation in fact, that con-
ditions in the City of Vernon are de-?lorable and a menace to
the men of the army and navy; and
7"IMR.EA3, some of the: publications, and one of the tele-
grams, we are informed, have stated in substance and incorrect-
ly, that it has been necessary for the government to place an
armed guard of 50 soldiers in the City of Vernon; and
,iMIPEAS, the false staten.ents that are being published
and telegraphed are workinp, a detriment to the City of Vernon,
and the millions of dollars of capital investe�, in the ir�ustries
and enterr.rises of the City of Vernon, and are causing annoyance
and chagrin to the citizens and families of the City of Vernon
who are as decent, law-abiding and God-fearing as those who re-
side in the City of Los .;ngeles, or in any other city of the
United States, and which false publications and false despatches
involve the honesty, integrity and .7ood faith of the officials
of the City of V_;rnon; and
� RE
AS, the City of Vernon is a city into which
there has come, and in which there is now thriving, industrial
erLterprises valued at tens of millions of dollars; and
hh'RREAS, the active responsible heads of practical:.y every
industry in the City of Vernon are satisfied with the present
government of the City of Vernon and the conditJons as they now
exist in the City of Vernon; and
7HERE7S, many of the corporations and individuals interest-
ed financial'y and otherwise in the City of Vernon,have tele-
graphed Nashington officials in substance that there is nothing
deplorabie in the City of Vernon, and nothing that is a menace
to the army or navy. Among those who have telegraphed being
the f ollowinm:
General Petroleum Company,
F. L. Bliss, '1'rcprietor of the California
Dressed Beef Company,
A. I. Thitehead, District Agent for the
Southern California Edison Company,
re-rnholtz Manufacturing Company,
Bole Company,
Newmarket Company,
Jordan Oil Company,
Standard Packing Company,
L. _S. Paving Company; and
VIIM E S, the Reverend Deenahan, a resident of the City of
Vernon and pastor of a church in the City of Vernon, has tele-
graphed as follows:
"I am the pastor of a church within the
City of Vernon. I have personal know -
lee of the liquor conditicns as they
exist. 71hile I do n c . ap or ove of the
saloon business generally, I believe _
the saloons of the City- oY' Vernon are
at least as well regulated as they are
in any place."
and
i�� ZEAS, the Reverend J. �ih.itcomb Brougher, pastor of a
church in the Ciu of Uos Angeles, with a large congregation,
2
I. -
in a sermon delivered Sunday, May 5th, said of Mr. J. J.
Doyle, proprietor of the largest liquor business in the
City of Vernon, and the liquor establishment which has been
most frequently attached in the interested newspaper publi-
cations aforesaid:
_ "Jack Doyle is regarded as perhaps the
cleanest man in all this country in the
saloon business.''
and
OEETU, the Reverend J. Thitcomb Brougher, aforesaid,
in the sermon last mentioned, also said in part, after a per-
scnal investigation at the City of Vernon:
"I want to say to you people that there
is no use spending gasoline if you are
curious to mo down there (Vernon) and
see anything special. Just a Preat
big saloon doing an enormous business.
It is altogether probable
that no man is more careful Or. Doyle)
about having soldiers get liquor there."
arc.
VE EREAS, Lieutenant Levis in charge of the 5rry Intelli-
Bence 3ureau at Los Angeles, is quoted in the public press --
not that portion of it interested in the attack upon Vernon --
as follows:
"I must say that no evidence of a SINGLE
instance of sale of liquor to soldiers
at Vernon has been introduced into this
office."
and
EEREAS, at no time has it been necessary to place an
armed guard of any description in the City of Vernon; and
+EREAS, the only guard that has been in the City of
Vernon has been a provost guard consisting of one officer and
VWW 4 privates which was placed there after a request made by the
acting Chief of Pblice of the City of Vernon, which request
was not made of necessity hat merely as an adjed precaution
and as a matter of good faith; and
THER AS, the United States District ittorney of this
District has been quoted in the public ,press -- not that portion
intereste: in the attack upon the City of Vernon --
"It was found that on last Saturday and
Sunday a Non-commissioned officer and
4 privates acting as a provost guard were
at Vernon. There was nothing unnaual in
this. * 9-
and
WHEREAS, the City of Vernon is an incorporated city of the
sixth class, a Troximately twenty miles distant from the nearest
army cantonment or naval base; and
WEEREkS, we believe that all of the false statements with
regard to an armed guard of 50 men in the City of Vernon, and all
of the false statements wherein the interested newspaper publica-
tions aforesaid have tries to depict conditions at the City of
Vernon as a menace to the army and navy are merely an attenpt to misuse
the name of the army and navy as a mere subterfuge in order to
arouse a storm of indignation that would justly come from a pat-
riotic people who would resent anything in the nature of a real
menace to the array or navy; and
WHEREAS, the Los Angeles Herald, a newspaper of high -standing,
good repute and extraordinarily large circulation, caused one of
its reporters to ma'_e an investigation of the City of Vernon and to
print hove the "real Vernon seems"; and
HIREAS, such an investigation was made and in a published
article in the Los Angeles Herald, among other things, it was said
by the reporter aforesaid:
0
"in conclusion I can-7,ot say that I saw
one person who was very much under the
influence of liquor in all Vernon. * *
I did not see a woman within five bloc !Ts
of a saloon."
and
=REAS, the City of Vernon, during its 13 years of
existence has been absolu-16ely free from gambling and. rr os tit::a-
tion and with practically no history of serious crime; and
`I'=R11AS, the City of Vernon is not a city in which the
majority of its electors believe in the principle of prhhibi-
ti3n, and in this respect are no different than the majority
of electors in the Cities of San vieg,o, San Francisco, New
York, Chi.capo, and many of the largest and finest cities of
these United States; and
rHEREA3, v,e, the responsible, governin)- body of the City
of Vernon believe and know that the conditions in the City of
Vernon are as well, if not better, regulated than are the
conditions of any ot., r city of the United. States therein
liquor is sold;
"ITOr THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by unanimous vote of the
Board of Trustees of the City of Vernon that the Board by this
resolution ex�Dresses its indignation on behalf of the Citizens
of Vernon for the false and unfounded misrepri-sentations con-
cerning a city that can justly boast of being both prosperous
and law-abiding. ,
BE IT FURTH- R RESOLVED, that this -resolution be spread
upon the minutes of this meeting of the Board of trustees of
the City of Vernon and a copy of this resolution be sent to
the following 7entlemen:
J,,:'SE'pH T. TU-MULTY, Soo2etary to the President,
1 ,711TOIT L. BA R, Sec��etary of War,
J0STT'HUS DANIELS, Secretary of the Navy,
J.,77S B. PHELAN, Senator,
HIRZ11 JOIfINSON, Senator,
H. Z. CSBOF IE, Congressman.
�° 5