he placed eighth and was elected. He was re-elected in June 1919. In 1921 he was opposed by the Los Angeles Examiner but editorially endorsed by the Times, and he thereupon placed second in the general election, after Robert Stewart Sparks. In his 1923 campaign, Criswell was fourth among the nine successful candidates. 1924, 1926 In both 1924 and 1926 Criswell was a candidate for the Republican nomination for U.S. Congress on a platform heavily directed toward completion of a dam in Boulder Canyon, Arizona, to bring water to Southern California. Criswell was criticized in 1924 for using a city automobile — a Peerless — with a city driver, while campaigning. He was beaten in 1924 by incumbent John D. Fredericks and in 1926 by Joe Crail, 68,513 votes to 27,040. 1925 A new city charter effective in 1925 changed the method of election, and Criswell campaigned for the first seat in the new 7th District. The district was bounded on the north by Jefferson Boulevard, on the south by Slauson Boulevard, on the west by Vermont Avenue and on the east by South Park Avenue. He beat Howard W. Davis in the final election by a vote of 3,477 to 2,768. 1927 The Boulder Dam project was brought up once again when Criswell ran for City Council re-election in 1927, the Times claiming that "Criswell has lost ground . . . and was absent in Washington for several months lobbying for the Power Bureau." Criswell lost in the May primary, 2,468 votes to Howard W. Davis's 3,305. City Council City Working Conditions Criswell was "credited with the successful passage of the ordinance whereby the unimportant city employee share equally with the 'white collar job holder in holidays and vacation privileges." In July 1917 he introduced a proposal to pay union scale to city-employed "mechanics and laborers," but the plan was not adopted. Racial equality At Criswell's urging and with his vigorous support, the City Council unanimously adopted a resolution in April 1919 opposing what it said would be a "covenant for 'racial equality' that it had been "credibly informed" would be considered by the World War I peace conference then meeting in Paris. The Criswell resolution claimed that the covenant would "grant oriental countries free immigration, naturalization, the elective franchise, the privilege to own agricultural and other lands and the right of intermarriage. . . . these privileges cannot