The record-union., 1896-06-28

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26-If Cali
fornia is not at the moment rich in ma
terial prosperity, at least she is opu-
lent in great men. Philosophical stu
dents of institutions generally hold that
democracy, owing to it's tendencyto re-
duce everything to a dead level, is Pc
culiarly unfavorable to the rise OF en-
inent individuals. Theory, however,
cannot stand against experience.
Among us great men are as plentiful as
mushrooms-not men who are merely
locally great, but whose greatness is
recognized by the stranger Regard
General de Young, for instance. Ana
then there is General Spreckels. AT
home here we are not given unduly TO
holding them in awe, and therefore sur
prise was prevalent when we saw how
they loomed at st. Louis. This ap-
plies more particularly to General de
Young. 1t is his good fortune to be
better known. When General Spreck-
els has been as long in journalism and
1s as ripe in craftsmanship, he, TOO,
will doubtless be as greatly esteemed
by his fellow-countrymen when he
makes an occasional appearance on the
stage of the theater of national affairs.
1t is reasonable to expect this, for in
natural ability there is no marked diff
ference between the men, and in the mi
nor detail of education General Spreck-
els has the advantage. The considera-
tion paid to General de Young at st.
Louis ought to be a lesson to US. In
spite of our California habit of boast
Ing, we are really at heart timidly con-
ecious of our provincialism. We look
up to and admire De Young, yet when
we beheld the great men of New York
and Texas and Pennsylvania accord
ing him the footing of peer, there
were few Of US who did not undergo a
shock Of delighted astonishment. Were
we not provincial we should not ex-
perience this joyous excitement simply
because our judgment has been con-
firmed by people unknown to us, and
whose sole claim to our reverence is
that they live a good way off. IT, when
the great men of the whole land are as
sembled and our own great men do not
evoke wonder and mirth, we may be
assured that they size up very well, in
tellectually and in breeding, with the
great elsewhere This ought to be a
dence in our capacity to identify great
men when they appear among us, and
strengthen our hope in the Republic S
future.
Speaking Of great men, there is no
patriotic heart that has not been
wounded by the misfortune which be-
fell Colonel Samuel Shortridge at st.
Louis. In ousting him from his seat as
a delegate the nvention-unknowing
ly, Of course-infiicted a loss upon the
nation. The convention deprived itself
and the United States of a great speech.
I have not seen the speech myself, but
I am told that it is great. Many, pre-
vious to the ColonePs departure for st.
Louis, were privileged to peruse the
manuscript. These report that the ex-
ordium is one of the most elaborately
beautiful pieces Of oratorical compo-
sition that ever came from a Pacific
Coast pen; that Mr.. Delnlas, the Colo
nels law partner, was deeply affected
by il, and had nothing to suggest for
its Improvement. The peroration, they
say, also deeply affected Mr.. Delmas.
The memory Of Mr.. Delmas is so excel
lent that he has the most beautiful por-
tions of Colonel Shortridge's undeliv-
cred speech by heart, and has made
the enviable Pacific Union Club almost
as familiar with them as he is him
self.
San Francisco has but three orators
of the first class-General w. H. l.
Barnes, Major George A. Knight and
Colonel Shortridge The General being
ri in iS n
upon his fame, but there is rivalry be-
tween the other two, who are ambitious
ard young, neither being yet fifty. Ir
mere voice there is no question of the
Majors superiority. He can be heard
for miles. But in the graces of the ora
tors art; in the power of infinite ampli-
fication, the deft subordination of sense
to sound and the harmonious wedding
of word and gesture, the Colonel sur
passes the Major. There is about the
ColoneFs style something so solemn, So
funebrious, so majestic, that he ha:
been happily called the "Tolling Bell o.
the Platform" It was his announced
purpose to settle forever at ST. Loui:
the issue of primacy between himsel
and Knight II will make a speech,
said the Colonel to his friends-and whc
is not the Colonel's friend?-"I will
make a speech He would say M
more The speech was to be one placing
Allison in nomination, but the them
was to be incidental merely, a pretext
as ii were, for the grandest effort of tht
Colonel's life And the convention
missed it ALT
There is mighty little magnanimitl
In human nature When mans dowi
tho avarace foot cannot keen itSel
away from him. Surely the spectacle
of Colonel Shortridge, unseated AM
wandering around ST. Louis charged t
the nuzzle, so to speak, and denied tn
relief of firing himself off, should hav'
had In it enough pathos to appeal t.
any generous spirit. Nevertheless, / saw
his tall figure pictured in a New Yorl
journal by the hand of a heartless carlo
aturist In reality, the Colonel wa
standing on the sidewalk in a fit of alb
straction, thinking of his speech am
Knight in the convention, seated, hon
ored and vociferous. But the bowelles
artist made it appear that the Colone
was struggling to comprehend finan
cfaI transaction-that only a. few mo
ments previous a young man whom h
had never seen before had approaches
the orator and briskly inquired: Say
can you let me have two tens for
fve?" What though the Colonel did lie
the stranger have two tens for five
Instead of being matter for ridicule
the artist should have respected a dis
position so obliging. a grief so absorb
ing that for the time being it had over
cast a splendid mind and deprived it o
its natural acuteness.
49, &c ,af,f