The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-10-08
ALAS, WHAT HAS BEFALLEN :?
The Bohemian Club Said to Be
Getting Exclusive.
DO MEMBERS FIX THE BOARDa
A Director Advises His Friend to
Withdraw His Application to
Avoid the BlackbalI.

What shall be said about it when San
Francisco's Bohemia lifts its chin in the
air ana refuses to recognize a fellow be-
cause he happened to be born a German
or. peIchance. Jew?
But that very thing is said to have hap
pened so often in the Bohemian Club of
late that it has come to be a fixed haoit.
1t is an old, old. old story-that of class
against class, dating so far back of Selig-
man and the Saratoga hotel that it was
repeated in the days of the Scribes and
PhariSees.
But to Bohemia. the delightful land of
Bohemia. it is wholly new. and the novelty
reserved for exclusive use in San Francisco.
That Jew cannot getint0 the Bohemian
Club San FrancScans have been slow to
believe, but the story has been so often
reported, with here and there practical
illustration to make it good, that belief.
like the greatness of some men, is thrust
upon them.
To be sure. there are a great many Jews
on the mem bership list OF the club, some
of San Francisco's most prominent citi-
zens-Raphael Well, for instance, and the
Sloss brothers and many others that
might be named; but that is not the story.
The story Chat is called fact( is that no
Jew ''can become" member OF the Bohe-
milan Club.
The difference is material and should be
observed. Those that are in are all right,
duly appreciated and all of them popular.
But the bars are up.
New members are admitted TO the Bohe-
milan Club by vote of the directors. The
directors are II. G. Platt, president; A.
G.. Halves, vice-president; John Lathrop,
secretary Horace Hellman, treasurer, and
John Stanton, Robert Fletcher, W. G.
Curtis, Van Stow, A. Ii. Small, Charles
Josseiyn, W. Z. Davis and q. II. Wheaton.
OF course the club is not a unit on the
subject, and therefore there is split of
considerable dimensions, and good deal
of feeling is manifested about the matter.
The opposition Is in the majority, no wv
ever, and it takes excellent care to keep a
sufficient number on the board to fulfill its
wishes in the matter
The club is in need of members just
now, because of the awkward position in
which its withdrawal from lis new club
house contract has placed 1t, the WITH
draWal requiring tha payment of large
sum of money as forfeit. New members,
of course, means increased income. but the
desire for them has not caused the with
drawal OF the prescription. The chin is
still in the air.
The desire tor them has, however, led
to number of applications, and the grad
ual crystaliZa ion of the rumor of few
months go into a fact of to-day-that the
Jew is barred.
The confirmation comes from member
of the board OF directors itself. One after
another of well-known men about town
were denied admission for co other reason
than that they were Hebrews, until he
came to understand that it was fixed law,
though unwTitten, with sufficiency of the
board to blackball. The name of friend
of bis of the Hebrew persuasion was upon
the board waiting its turn for cOnslGera-
ton. He went to and advised him 10 es-
cape the humiliation of the blackball by
Withdrawing his name. His fate was
certain, he said, however desirable mem
Der he might be on general Bohemian or
genteel principles.
Horace Holman, a member of the board,
was asked about the matter last night but
declined to discuss it, saving that the
clubs affairs were the clubs own affairs,
and the public had no interest or at least
o right to an interest in them. However
he thought the president might talk if he
wished, and 50 called him.
President 81. G. Plat denied that any
such prejudice existed in the club He
said: This Is question as old as the
hills and that comes up one time or another
in the history of every club on earth.
There is nothing TO it so far as the Bohe-
mian is concerned. Some of our most pop
ular and desirable members are Jews. We
wouldn't lose one of them so long as we
can help 1t. The Bohemian is the most
popular club in town and has moro appl-
cants for membership right along than all
the other clubs combined, [ believe. am
membe or two other clubs and | know
we have more applicants than both the
Others A greater proportion therefore are
refused admission here, perhaps, than at
others. But no more Jews are turned
away in that proportion than are Germans,
Americans. English or any other people.
But they are in the number. OF course, and
that has occasioned this talk no doubt.
Whenever a Jew is blackballed in any
club it is Immediately spread that no Jews
are admitted. On the other hand when
ever Jew is admitted there are those in
the club who raise the cry that it is be-
coming Jews club. And there you are.
No class is barred in the Bohemian Club.
The lines are drawn only against people
who are undesirable Tor reasons other than
their birth"