Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-10-10
ALAS FOR SWIFT!
How He Slashed Around in
Fresno.
From the Expositor, Oct. 4.


by our Republican brethren as a red let
ter day on which to make grand hur.
rah in honor of Joh1 L. Swift ct al de-
PENDANTS, in the present campaign. 1t
had been announced in all our daily pa.
pers in big type: with a spread-eagle at
the top of it that the Swift lnvincible
Flambeau Club would parade and aston
ish the town. About s o'clock the band
turned the corner of X street, wheeled
into Mariposa. and squeezing itself in
between the Sidewalks, moved down to l
street. Behind came the serried ranks
in solid phalanx of the 'Swift Iuvincible
Flambeau Club in white shirts and red
fezzes, bearing flashing fambeaux. Side
walks and balconies were crowded with
enthusiastic spectators-on they came!
rank after rank, in perfect order, and
marching with military precision worthy
of q better cause, with not break in the
line anywhere, ever and anon at pre-
concerted signal flashing the oxidated
benzoline heavenward. While we may
not approve the political tenets of many
of our good citiz ms, our loyalty to Fresno
is such that we delight i'll anything that
presents to visiting notables sample of
the Hurculean energy of our wonder
town, that shall impress their minds that
rything we do is on the square. That
parade was principally on the square, es-
pecally so when marching in files of four.
1t was then four men wide and four men
deep, with an additional small boy as a
guide marker. When the "Swift Irwin.
chile Flambeau Club" wheeled from
Mariposa into j street at the Pos,ofiice,
it took them three quarters of a-sccond
to pass a given point according to Marke-
wiiz' clock in the cupola of the Hutehin.
son block, aud when the head OF the
column reached the 'front.' wheel Of Pack.
ards dray the tail of the procession was
whisking into the axle grease of the hub
of the hiud wheel. The only thing that
we saw commensurate with the grand
Eloquent title of the IS. |. +. c." was
that azure expanse of necktie which
"Moses" Rhodes sweltered under, and
managed to tote from X street to the
Opera House without calling on the grand
old party to help hold up his hands. We
do not know what Mr.. Swift thought of
the rs. 1. F. c., but we thought from
the glitter in his eye that he was pos
sessed of deep, soul .yearniug desire to
pack the club clear away from both
rivers and drown it in a. slough, as he
would purblind canine.
In was doubtless this desire, ranking,
as it must have been, in his soul, that
prevented him from making credilab!e
speech. However, the IS. l. +. c."
fell into line, marched like O band of
ducks hunting water, and escorted the
81, I,x 20 ha npara IL II,
DR.. Pedlar introduced Mr.. Swift, and
he proceeded with the argument for the
defense. He, like many another one,
began by complimenting Fresno on its
growth of ten years, and dwelt upon
what we have achieved in the face of
factitious opposition in the legislatures
and an unsympathetic Supreme Court.
He was delighted to knew that wo had
achieved an Eden; was in favor of keep.
ing it so, but didn't know Just what
ought to be done to perpetuate this re-
demption of the desert. His ideas upon
this matter, further than that he wished
to say something to catch irrigators'
votes, was decidedly nebulous and very
crude.
He went into long defense of his
Spring Valley water fee of S25,0O0, and
convinced the audience that he got the
fee whether he carmel it or not. He did
not, however, explain anything about
his relations to his fathers estate, nor
why he made his recent payment of a
claim that he had refused to admit the
validity of. He stated that Democrats
had been wanting to look at the books
for several years, and that when the
money was counted it was within five
cents of what ths books stated the
amount to be--therefore this proved the
Republicans were honest--but he failed
to state that an examination of the books
to see whether the entries were correct
has already developed the fact that sew.
eral millions have been stolen and false
entries made to make the books balance.
He then took a trip to China, and
gave the sudience lesson concerning
the geographical location of Cashgar and
its relations to the literature Of the Ar.
ab!an Nights. He was sent to Chi to
secure certain treaty. The govern
ment had sent two other gentlemen--of
the college professor brand of statesmen,
as mere form--to fill out the commit.
tee, and he knew that ne had all the
work to do. so he Just told the Emperor
of China that he had been sent over af-
ter that treaty, and that if they didn't
have it ready by certain day that he
would get real mad and go bone, and
that the United States would get mad
too. This was too much--the wrath of
the United States and the "cold bluff"
OF John Z. Swift-and the Emperor trot.
ted out that troaty in no time at all,
begged Swift to accept it and take it
home with him.
He next explained how he put up the
Dolly Warden tick ct, all by himself, ana
picked honest men that the people had
confidence in to break up ring. He
said, 81 put Washington Bartlett at the
head of the ticket and myself at the tail,
and. from the tone of his speech and the
way he floundered into the depths when
trying to explain his record, it would
appear that they bore about the same
relative positions, OF Bartlett at the
head and Swift at the tail, " in the pres
ent campaign, and that thus far no dis
position had been manifested of trying to
turn around and back Swift in ahead of
Bartlett.
He wanted the people not to vote for
Bartlett, but for Swift, and if they
wouldn't do that, then please vote for DR..
O'Donnell. With this touching appeal
he gave way for Oregon Sanders OF vi.
salia, the gentleman who tried to get the
Los Angeles Convention to adopt the
American platform, but did not succeed
He appealed for votes for Swift, and then
paid his respects to the American party,
and said no exigency existed warranting
such move; that it was impossible to
stop immigration. Armies nor treaties
could rot prevent it.
1t would seem that Mr.. Sanders has
experienced change of heart since he
was advocating opposite principles at Los
Angeles. His speech was short and only
helped to emph lsize the fact that it was
the final founderings of candidate
whose record drags him down, and who
stares the cold fact in the face that the