Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-02-28
TIE sITUlT1oN IN SAN FRANCISCO.

It is very evident that the state of al
fairs now existing in n Francisco cannot
be endured much longer, and cannot pro-
coed much further without an explosion.
The community has been for full three
years exposed to attacks upon It's credit, It's
civilization, It's capabilities OF self-defense,
sufficient to have ruined city not singu-
lady replete with vital force. Kearneyism
has given the place a bad name all over the
world has injured the standing Of all Cal
ifornia enterprises abroad has confirmed
the prevailing belief in Our semi barbarous
condition; has given cause for scoffing at
the impotence and inadequacy OF American
institutions; has brought about a chronic
business depression and has in direct and
indirect ways produced more real harm and
injury than a three years drought could
have caused. From the beginning until
now the Kearneyite agitation has been a
false and a misehievous one. 1t was based
upon sham grievances at the start. 1t rep
resented the innate impatience OF law and
order. steady industry and patient thrift,
natural to men removed but a little
way from barbarism. and incapable
of understanding and approaching the
fallness of the opportunities which
the American governmental system
offers to those who have muscles to
work withal, and clear brains to guide
their muscles. 1t has been an emphati-
cally un-American agitation from the first.
It's spirit, its methods, its tendencies, have
been alike alien. Tt has been as d sedition
of Vandals in the midst of Rome, rather
than as a legitimate movement of Amerl-
can citizens acting i'll accordance with the
principles OF their governmental system.
Partly because OF its foreign character it
has been proof against all appeals to the
American doctrine of popular agitation,
with which it has had little or nothing in
common. Throughout il has been distin-
gushed by barbarous disposition to OBJ
tain by brute force, and by as brutal
threats, that which could not be obtained
by argument, or by recourse to the lawful
agencies provided by the Constitution As
a factor in the politics of an American city
this movement has been phenomenal, but
it has shown that however audacious and
however outrageous a scheme may be in
vented, American demagogues will be
found ready to pander to it, and to foster
it for their own selfish and sinister pur-
poses. If it was amazing that kearneYism
should find a soil in San Francisco IN
which to take root, it was shameful that 1T
should find aid and comfort from Ameri-
can journalists and politicians who, to feed
mean and contemplate business jeatousles,
or to advance paltry personal ambitions,
were only too willing to jeopardlze the
safety, honor and stability of the whole
community. In fact the worst features OF
this humihating case cannot be SAID TO
consist in the blusterings and brutalltleS
of the sand-lot mob. The most that can
be said of that is, that it is the result OF
ignorance and bad training. The men not
actually in sympathy with Kearneyism who
have sought to use the movement as an
agency of private revenge, or for purposes
of black-mail, or to secure Office by appeal
ing to the most dangerous heresles and
preiudices, are really the men who have
done the most to bring disgrace and diff
Guilty upon San Francisco. They are
traitors and public enemies, and some day
the people they have tried to sell will
realize the infamy of their conduct.