The record-union., 1896-04-05

they not fond of money, it's rather alb
surd to credit them with a habit of
giving bribes for the fun of it. Why
shouldn't we desire an honest press
and honest government? 1t would cost
us nothing, whereas the sort OF gov
ernment and press we now have is ex-
pensive enough to make a prudent
mans head swim.
Things have reached such a pass
that legislator or an editor who speaks
in behalf of any of our interests at
once places himself under suspicion of
being bought, and if a Judge decides in
our favor he is Immediately classified
as one who ought to be beaten at the
next election. And the people are not
to be blamed. So many newspapers and
legislators and Supervisors and Judges
have been bought that it requires cour-
age for AN honest man TO do what he
thinks is right if we are the parties in
interest. That's our punishment. What
we have done in self-defense has helped
to create conditions under which we
are the greatest sufferers. Nobody is
sorry for us; we are hardly entitled to
feel sorry for ourselves. l am in favor
of concerted move on the Legislature
the press; that will make this everlast-
ins bleeding punishable.
And I'm also in favor of organized
resistance to blackmail of every kind.
We would have lot of trouble at first,
but in the end it would cost us less to
be honest than it does to be what we
are. l believe the public would stand
by us. OF course, l understand the
nf nr-iXu 70 MT
and the difficulty of getting the corpo-
rations and the other victims of this
blackmail system to stand together. 1t
won't be done until conditions force it,
but that can't be far away The out
slider has really no idea how pervasive
the notion is that a wealthy corpora
ton should be made to pay for what is
public service but incidentally bene-
fits the corporation. l have the press
in mind. Let me give you an instance"
AS the instance was given in conf
6ence 1 can't reveal it, 1t was just
about as bad as the Examiners" S30-
GOO levy on the Southern Pacific. There
is this inevitable consequence of a COR
rupt transaction: 1t is never kept quite
secret. The briber has for the bribed
the same loathing aversion that man
he bought the other experiences a sense
of superiority to him that soothes self
esteem.
The woman who shot down her hus-
band in the City Hall on Monday will
not be punished. He was unkind to
her, and the law in California, as es-
tablished by the verdicts of juries, and
a hanging record without one female
in it, is that the life of a bad husband
is forfeit to the wife whenever she
cares to take it. Even unmarried
ladies may slay gentlemen of whom
they do not approve, and suffer moth
ing but the annoyance of Imprisonment
until they can be brought into court
and acquitted. This Martin shooting
is noteworthy only because of the light
it throws on San Francisco's moral
conditions, as exemplified in it's politics.
Mr.. Martin when he met his bride was
barkeeper in the Bella Union dead
fall, where she was a song and dance
fairy. Later Mr.. Martin, having a
turn for craftsmanship, induced his
party to believe he had done it service.
and was rewarded with a job as driver
of the police patrol wagon. He was
not mere ordinary voter but one of
the men who give active help toward
governing the country. This Bella
Union barkeeper, who would be deemed
by the average respectable citizens to
be an outcast and under just suspicion
of intimacy with the criminal classes,
secured nomination to the State
Senate. He was beaten, but that ex-
preston of public opinion as to his
worth did not impair the esteem in
which he was held by the gentlemen
who offices the Republican party and
direct it's aims
MI Martin became member of the
State Committee, and Mr.. Spreckels
whose laudable ambition it is to purify
our politics, exerted the influence ne
cessary to procure him a deputyship
in the City Hall. The ex-barkeeper of
the Bella Union, ex-patrol wagon
driver, ex-candidate for the Senate and
incumbent of seat in the Republican
State Committee, was in the service of
the city government when his Wife's
pistol brought him down and removed
him from participation in the work of
ruling the people of California. And
Mr.. Martin is not exceptional. There
are plenty more like him in political
life IN this metropolis. Indeed. so little
shocking is it to the public sense of
propriety that such a man should be an
accepted and prosperous member of the
dominant class in a great party. that
l have neither heard nor seen a single
comment upon this aspect of the shoot
ing Mr.. Martin, at this writing. is
not dead, but should he expire it is onlv
reasonable to expect that Mr. Spreckels
Will see to it that his funeral is all If
should be, and that the Republican
State Committee will attend in a bodv.
The woman suffrage amendment that
is to be voted on at the next election ha c
brought the AmaZOnS to California from
the four quarters of the earth. Miss
susan Is. Anthony and the Rev. Miss
Anna Shaw and Mrs. Clara Foltz are
vocal already, and the State is to he
covered with eloquent ladies famed
throughout the country And all the
local strong minded will, of course
mount the platform. I can't but think
that this feminine campaign in behalf of
the amendment will be fatal to it, There
are plenty of men here who are
not hostile to the proposition, standing
by itself. that women should have the
ballot If they want it-that since orr
industrial civilization is shouldering on
to the women the burdens of their own
support, it is merely fair that thew
should be accorded every advantage
equally with the other sex Such men
feel that 1T is poor kind of chivaIry
which would impose artificial weights
on woman who has to do her own
lighting in the struggle for existence.