The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-02-26
THE PosIoFrICE SITE.

.:.'*f Nj ellison is as acute as q special
aeens # The treasury ought to be he must
..lrtais time have made up his mind that
tie ElissI5n-s.reet job ought to be killed.
Tie witnesses whom he has heard belong
t.. tao classes: people who unTeseryedly
.Elrdemu the site parity On account Of its
-.deiBs made ground ami partly OF the eXor-
tatant.Hr.Ce asked for it-these are an over
" i4lmiHE majority; and people who think
.tl6tsite and price are equally unOblection-
..ah.a-tless are an iufnjte5imal minority.
IF tie case is TO be decided as lawsuits
gre by the prep0nderanCe Of testimony,
= tire D is already dead.
-. Hht Nj Gibson viii discover, II he brings
10 bear On tie controversy q little shrewd-
mess, that the witnesses who approve the
=: size are al. or nearly all, either owners Of
. CI Interested in adjacent property, and are
=Ee8ly disqualified, by their interest, from
afpeariug as witnesses at all. These who
are. not So disqualified are friends or de-
u ehdeuts Of the parties who are trying to
engineer this JOB There are not many im-
.-uartal citizens Of Sau Francisco who be-
- seye q at the Government ought to pay
81 G4o,C-O for the corner Of Seventh and
Mission streets for public building. MI
. Gibson should have no difficulty in discOv-
: 'eIing the names Of the parties who are
81 u6iaE behind pseudOnym. Everybody
Here knows who they are and what is their
..postafice address. The appearance at the
= reasuTy Department as counsel for the
r ste Of Judge Harvey Brown. who ought to
.4Gat'ead.Dg to his duties at Fourth and
q: dHnsend streets, furnished a cleW which
q it.Was easy to follow. The dispatch to the
-: Jfeasury Department signed by a lumber
:: cdnFaEy, Endorsing the assurances Of the
:, ijileyduN members Of the company, sup
: .fJiD1 another clew; and the action Of the
!: Board Of Supervisors, Offering to donate one
Of 1be streets Of the city in order that the
35. should be c0nsummated, supplied a
.-:firifi, which did not need the personal evil
Ienca ri Supervisor Taber to make it yalu-
gable. Nj Gibson cannot complain Of want
sof liEHt for his investigation.
: The truth IS that while the citizens Of
;every other city in the country bestirred
=. Themselves 10 procure for the Government
't%ie Best possible site at the lowest possible
price, for public building, certain citizens
6ES3u Francisco saw in the appropriation a
: chance Of making a fine stake out If the
funds Of. the United States; that they
: formed alliances with persons Of influence
-atWashingt0n. and having a fund Of half a
. miliion or so to work with, retained people
I. to.indarSe their project, and to make 1t ap-
:Upsr that the people at large were back If
them They were so far successful that
: tie selection Of the commissioners, which
under ordinary circumstances would have
been promptly rejected when evidence of
the disproi ortion between the price de-
nlanded and the real value OF the site
reached Washington, was held for further
Consideration; the parties concerned seem
to have had an ally behind the throne who
was potent enough to delay the course of
!. Justice. But their success has not been
p. .c6mplete. nor can it be. if Agent Gibson re-
potts that which ho sees and hears in this
city
-. San Francisco wants no postofice that is
secured at the cost Of the reputation
OF her people for honesty. She cannot
dispense with her fair fame. nor incur the
reDuke that her people are so greedy that
:: even in the case Of q public building which
would be an honor to the city. she could not
refrain from rillagjng the treasury of the
United States.