The record-union., 1896-04-19
ARTHUR McEWEN TALKS
ABOUT
POLITICS AT THE BAY.
San Francisco as Quiet Town
Business Men Do Not Appreciate 1t.
Especial Correspondence Of Record-Union.)


SAN FRANCISCO, April 17.-About
all we have of politics hereabout is
Guarreling. Stuffed for the Lust of
Stuffing," was the heading given by Mr..
Spreckels newspaper to it's report of the
kelly-Mahoney Republican primary
Generous Rivalry at the Polls" was it's
description of Mr.. Spreckels' primary.
TO people in general it makes little real
difference whether neither heading was
true, OF both true, or correct if trans
posed. The utter insignificance of Cali
fCrnia politics this year in both parties
impresses everybody who takes interest
in public affairs and cares nothing for
the contentious of gentlemen who con-
found their own small personal ambi-
tions with the welfare of the State. In
nest element which thinks that the free
coinage of silver should be made the
master issue, but either party in the
mass will accept any platform the Ma
tional Convention may adopt. Earnest
ness for silver has not reached the bolt
ing stage in California, or earnestness
for gold either. This being so, party
warfare is naturally tepid and largely
bogus. The great question of whether
or not General Spreckels shall be boss
fails to stir the blood of the average
citizen. That Martin Kelly and Sena-
tor Jerry Mahoney should have got up a
primary of their own in the Fourth Con-
gressional District and caused an enor-
nous vote to be counted if not cast eX-
cites nobody who is not a Spreckelsette.
Everybody understands that the pri-
mary was simply an advertisement of
the fact that Kelly and Mahoney desire
to make employment for themselves
and only by showing that they can be
trublesome can they do that. A condi-
tion Of things which renders it possible
for such persons as Martin Kelly and
Jerry Mahoney to take hand in public
affairs is a condition Of things that
sends the protecting hand to decencys
nose. Martin and Jerry are really no
worse than great many other states
men, but they have the misfortune to be
known as they are, and their disreputa-
bility could not be deeper. That they
are doing politics" instead of being in
Jail gives every convict in the peni
tentiaries Of California the right
to plead fair play as a reason for being
let out. They are perfectly frank and
good-natured rogues, and quite as
clever as most of their betters, but the
saloon is life's drawing room to them,
and the sight Of a ballot-box suggests
to them nothing save crime. The fail
ure Of Colonel Dan Burns to return from
his mines in Mexico and organize the
opposition to Spreckels around a rival
barrel has left Jerry and Martin out in
the cold, and they are proceeding in
eral the expediency Of employing them.
When he shall do SO no shock will be
given the moral sensiblities of the party
in San Francisco.
General Spreckels' prospects for be-
coming the master Of the Republican
party in California are not bright. His
chief apparent difficulty at present is
that he isunder contract oboom Allison
for the Presidency, whereas most other
Republicans seem to be on fire for Nc
Kinley, But, aside from this temporary
disadvantage, General Spreckels has to
struggle under permanent and heavy
handicap. His brains are not of the
kind that can be used best in politics;
neither is the quantity of them great,
and he is SO unfortunate as not to be
aware of this. Moreover, his vanity as
serts itself in way that interferes with
success. His principal lieutenants are
the Shortridges, and even had they the
capacity to make up for their patrons
deficiencies they could not, with due
regard for their own interests, exert it.
Were they to win triumphs for him,
they could not escape the credit for
their prowess, and, as the General wants
whatever credit is going, he would not
like that. The General, in short, is a
perfectly commonplace, rather dull, and
entirely self-satisfied young man, with
all the jealousy that goes with such
characteristics. To be the political ad-
jutant of a Spreckels is like being a
General or an Admiral to the Emperor
Of China Gain battles, and you arouse
his ranking and powerful envy; lose
them, and suicide is preferable to the
resources Of his disfavor. So the Gen
erals career as a large statesman does
not give promise Of being either long or
brilliant Intellectually, he is no match
for Martin Kelly or Jerry Mahoney and
though in fairness he cannot be sus-
pected of greater scrupulousness than
those publicists, he knows much less
than they do of the art and mystery of
practical politics. His most striking
point Of superiority to them, and the
whole horde of men who cluster round
him, or array themselves against him,
is the size Of his pile.
An instance of that despotic folly
which does so much to excite hostility to
trades unions has just occurred. The
newspapers of course, have let it pass
with as little mention as may be, for the
newspapers pay wage-earners the COM
pliment of considering them malignant
fools who will resent just criticism as
hotly as they would the assaults of en-
nifty. To discuss in print anything re-
lating to the trades unions is deemed in
newspaper offices as profitless and dan
gerous as to meddle editorially with the
war between the A. P. A. and the Cath
olic Church. The first care of the San
Francisco journalist is for his papers
subscription list, and on business prin-
ciples he is justified. August Hinrichs,
the leade, Of the Baldwin Theater's or
chestra, an accomplished musician, had
a pupil on the violin whose talent he re-
spected and whose progress he desired.
So he gave this pupil a chair in the or
chestra and let him play gratuitously
for practice. No one was displaced and
no one was prevented from getting en-
ployment, but for the, offense Mr.. Hin
richs has been suspended for six months
by the Musicians Union. He has laid
down his baton and must take an en-
e. f.x1 L
At the very worst, his breach of union
x,,or ,,rfpfapfinno1 onI faol,pioa1