The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-02-11
SEAWELL WAIVERS
He Discovers a Regard for
BeCkman.
A PUBLIC CAUSE IN DANGER.
The Railroad Commissioners Likely to
Be Saved Through the Squeam-
ishness of the Senator.
Special to THE MORNING CALL

Monday UtAi- II Si6dt SUI pAtoS 70 a. SUN
for the people in this matter, unless Sena-
tor Seawell changes bis mind between now
and Monday.
TIE complete committee is as follows:
MCGOWAN, Mahoney, Seawell, Seymour,
Goucher. Earl and OStrom.
When these men were selected, 1t was
understood that four of them would sign
majority report in accordance with the evil
dence. which has been that the Commits
s'ouers have been guilty Of gross deIellctlon
Of duty.
The men who were relied upon for this
report were MCGOWAN. Earl, Ostrom and
SeaWell. Unfortunately, however, the lat
Ter gentleman has experienced sudden
change Of heart. and said to-day that he
wants to save Beckman, and, as a matter
If fact, Beckman was the last one OF the
Commissioners to be examined. and before
he was half through with his testimony
Seawen excused himself from the commit
tee
Why the Senator should have 50 sud
denly become inspired with this fond and
tender feeling for the Commissioner no one
about the Capitol is quite abe to IN
derstand 1t is true the railroad lobby
has been particularly conspicuous on the
floor If the Senate to-day. but that should
cat no figure in Seawel'S changed purpose.
for be is relied upon by his constituents to
fall i'm line against the railroad.
II Seawen persists ID saving Beckman,
the result will be that the wishes Of the
people vii be defeated aud the three
Railroad Commissioners will remain in Of
Zee Tor the balance of their terms. One of
them cannot be saved without saving all
three. although II the men could be segre-
gated one or two more votes could be OBJ
tanned To throw Rea out than could be re-
lied up0n to be cast to remove them all.
Bailey Of Santa Clara would no doubt take
great pleasure in voting to Gust his enemy.
Jim Rea but his fealty to the railroad CON-
pany, who owns him body and SOU, would
not permit him 10 sacrifice more than one Of
their three TOOLS.
MCGOWAN is IN favor of expelling Rea for
derelicjon of duty, but if he could, with
safety temper the severity of the resolu-
ton in its bearing upon The other two, he
would 10 SO. He would Ike to add the
scathiDg clause that Li'cbfeld and Beck
man are righthearted, but are incompetent
ard should be removed for incompeteucy.
Senator Gesford's bill, which takes away
]
cases and provides for other reforms
which viii tend to benefit both the
creditor and the insolvent debtor, came
up on final passage in the Senate this
afternoon. For days past the most active
lobbying has been going on for the defeat
If tbs measure. Sheriff McDade Of San
Francisco has been here all the week. and
has been assisted by a number Of his
friends
The fight came to an issue to-day. how
ever and GesfoTd, the author. took the floor
in its support He said: The scheme TO
defeat tbs bill is headed BY Sheriff McDade
and backed By Sullivan & Sullivan. MS at
t0rneys. One of the fist men who came to
NE on the floor of the Senate and asked ne
10 withdraw this bill was the notorious ex-
political boss and sal0On-keeper. Jack Man
nix. who is now a deputy in McDade's
Office. Sullivan and MCDade have been
posing as re formers and puTists. and now is
one Of the most opportune times for them
to show their good faith to the people and
redeem their pledges. But they don't show
disposition to improve upon the Old meth
DDS Of politics that have been in operation
so long"
The Senator then read a lengthy petition
from leading merchants Of San Francisco
who were unanimously in favor Of the pas
sage Of the bill. Continuing, Senator Ges-
ford remarked that under the statutes
# 1891 il Sheriff McDade, or any other
Sheriff, collected fees from insOlvents he
would lie committing theft pure and simple.
'When he ran for Office he was supposed
to know that such was the law. N0twith-
standing that he told me that his election
had cost him $4,000, l don't consider that
it is proper or right that the creditor class
in San Francisco should put up for it,"
Senator Ostrom said he should vote
against the bill upon the principle that he
believed when man had been elected to
an Office he should have all the emOluments
Of that Office until his term expires.
The bill was defeated by a vote Of 10 to
Is, whereupon Gesf0rd Immediately moved
for a reconsideration. The vote was as
follows:
Noes-A rms, Berry. Biggy, Broderick.
Campbell, Everett, Fay, Flint. Harp, Hart,
Maher, Mitchell, OStrom. Ragsdale, Sey-
m0ur, Shippee, Simpson, StreeteT, VIII
liams-19
Ayes-Bailey. Burke, Ford, GesIord,
H0yt, McAllister, McGOwaD. Mah0ney.
Orr. Seawell. VOORHEES,, Whitehurst and
Wilson-13
Gesford changed his vote when he moved
for the reconsideration, and the vote was
announced as 20 to y. This looked like de-
feat for time, but Since the vote was taken
developments have come to light which give
a promise that when the vote is Teconsidered
the bill viii be passed. Senators Arms and
Bggy will vote for a reconsideration and
for the bill. They so expressed themselves
to your correspondent this afternoon.
Senator Biggy said that he voted as he
did as q personal compliment to Sheriff Nc
Dade, man whom be esteems very highly.
He says that he has faith in McDade and
does not believe that he would accept fees
that did not legally belong to him. Then
again, John P. Dunn had told only fifteen
minutes before the bill was voted for that
he was in favor OF an amendment providing
that the bill should not go into effect until
1896, when McDade's term Of Office had ex-
PRED.
The statement that Dunn had so ex-
pressed himself was considered somewhat
surprising, and later on. when that gentle
man was seen in conversation with Senator
Arms, your correspondent asked him if
what Senator Biggy had said was correct.
lie replied that he had not favored such an
amendment, except in the event of it being
demon strated that the bill would otherwise
be killed. In order that the bill would be-
come a law some time he would be willing
to date it as far ahead as 1897.
Ten minutes afterward, when Arms and
Dunn had separated, Arms stated that al
the very moment of the interruption Dunn
was struggling with him to try to induce
him to favor the 1895 amendment rather
than to vote for the bill in its original form.
Arms refused to make any such promise.
Senator Arms has introduced a constitu-
tional amendment which. If it is adopted
by the people, will make it possible for the
city and county OF San Francisco to adopt a
new charter without being compelled to
have two Boards Of Supervisors. The pro-
posed change in the law makes it optional
with the trainers Of the charter to provide