The record-union., 1896-04-12

the Board of Supervisors ana l0St tndt
body to his backer though the General
had regarded it as his property. Ofn-
Gals in general, who had reason to be-
lieve themselves to be solid with the
Spreckels interest, were incensed at be-
ing taken across the Calls knee and
spanked in public. Hence severing or
ties all round. On the whole, the Call
has played the deuce with the polltlcal
plans Of its owners, but, on the other
hand, it's success as a newspaper has
equally surprised and pleased them.
While the EXAMINER" and "Chronicle"
roll around in a perennial rough-and-
tumble fight, the Cali minds it's own
business and gathers in their subscrib-
ers. General Spreckels, therefore, has
in the paper a profound consolation In
his many political disappointments,
and it is not unlikely that he will ul-
timately develop into a journalist who
loves journalism for it's own sake
rather than as an aid to schemes.
Speaking of politics, no campaign
ever opened more languidly here than
this one. Spreckels has had his way
locally. Colonel Burns has grieved all
the elements Of opposition by staying
in Mexico and keeping his gold bricks
there with him. Even were he and ms
war-bags to arrive now it would be too
late to accomplish anything except to
give happiness to the Democracy.
Everybody that ought to know says an
unpledged delegation will go to the Re-
publican National Convention, and that
will mean in reality a Mckinley delega-
ton. General Spreckels is for Allison
first, but he has no volunteer following
in that regard. Depew found no echo to
the words he spoke for Morton. Nearly
all San Francisco Republicans who have
been heard from are for Mckinley.
AS for the Democracy, the Junta is
supreme locally and there is no interest
manifested in the Presidency. The
party is sad hereabout and cares more
for the city offices than national affairs.
Neither party has any longer fight of
respectable size on it's hands, and the
outlook for continued peace is so good
that the politicians on both sides are
yawning and in sheer WEAKNESS take to
drink
A member of the once famous Bour-
bon Club passed me on Montgomery
his step was feeble and his eyes had a
dazed look. Though barely forty, his
hair is white and he is an old man. He
recalled the other members. One goes
on crutches, and is scarcely able to
speak, paralysis having laid its numb
ing finger on his tongue. He is, or was,
journalist, and the burden Of his sup
port falls on his friends. Another,
1ow L. e.
have disappeared behind two little
straight lines in his face, and he takes
carriage to go two blocks. Still an
other. a doctor, is a beautiful thing in
notifies and has a body that weighs
over 300 pounds. He has lost his prac-
tice- and takes drinks as fees for side
walk consultations. Two others were
clerks and now are loafers. A dozen
years ago the Bourbon Club, which had
also a Judge and poet in it, was
famed in dissipated circles as a band
of scientific workers who had devised a
system for successfully standing off
John Barleycorn. They rose at in
the morning, met at an agreed point in
the Western Addition, carried short
sticks, wore flannel shirts and stout
shoes and tramped at the speed Of pro-
fessional pedestrians out to the Cliff
House and back; then home, a shower
bath and breakfast. The club was
under oath to drink nothing before 3
o'clock in the afternoon. and to take no
medicines except those prescribed by
the medical member, who, as a matter
Of friendship, attended to. their livers
as well as his own. At 3 they met at
their chosen saloon, drank till dinner
time, drank at dinner, drank after din
ner. and tumbled into bed in the COM
Portable assurance that whatever harm
alcohol might work other men their sys-
tenn was an infallible protection The
lives of all were ordered with reference
to the drinking part of the day; they
existed for that, and as they guzzled
were firm in the belief that nowhere was
such company as their own to be
found in the sordid city-no such gall
| liant company Of wits, viveurs and
brilliant bohemians. Some are dead,
some had better be, and the poet es-
capped only by getting his leg broken
and taking the Kelley cure. The club
disbanded long ago, the morning walks
being too fatiguing, but the drinking
part has been kept up, though the rule
as to hours has been suspended And
John Barleycorn, as he tackles the new
generation, smiles. AS ever, the most
fatal of his weapons is the illusion
which he inspires that the habit of
drinking is, sign of the possession of
all the talents. OF the twenty odd mem
bers of the Bourbon Club there was not
one who did not suspect himself of being
genius, and in all but one instance
the only proof given of it was drunken
ness The exception was the lawyer.
and he has nearly drowned his ability.
The others, especially the newspaper
members. had no reputation for talent
outside the club but scorned sober and
successful journalists as plodders or
base and crafty plotters. I know a man,
| a clerk in a Front-street house, who
never wrote sentence for print and
never uttered one worth printing, who
has been puddled every night of his life
for ten years, and because of that and
association with artists and writer's of
the smaller sort, who tolerate him be-
| cause he spends his salary on them in
stead of on his family. is regarded in
mercantile circles as fellow who has
been spoiled for business because of his
genius for art and letters. He is sin
| cerely of that opinion himself, and is
proud of it. 1t is an awful thought
what would become of Bohemia IL the
bottle were removed from it?
Frank Mayo has given to the stage
new and charming play, You must
| see "Puddin'head Wilson" when he
comes your way. It is more than a
dramatization of Mark Twain's story
Mayo is a man OF varied talents, for he
writes as well as he acts His play,