The record-union., 1896-01-20

A reporter of the Record Union"
attended the convention which met in
Metropolitan Hall, San Francisco, Sat-
urday afternoon, for the alleged pur-
pose of voicing the sentiment of the
people of California on the question
now before Congress of refunding the
debt of the Central Pacific Railroad
to the Government. Every effort was
put forth by Mayor Sutro and parties
interested with him to secure large
assemblage one which, by force Of
numbers, would demonstrate that the
conspicuous position he had taken in
the matter was warranted and would be
indorsed by the public. The press Of
San Francisco, or a large and infiuen-
tial part of IT, had done all that is
known to recent metropolitan journal
ism in the art of agitation to boom the
movement The result of it all was
A COMPLETE FIZZLE,
Although the Examiner" and Cali
of Sunday morning, unless carefully
read, will give the impression that the
meeting was an entire success. The
Chronicle" says "the attendance was
not large" But the Examiner" AYERS
that leading men from every part OF
the State gathered in answer to the
call" The Cali says: "The entire
State was well represented and united
on one platform" An editor from each
Of these two papers was on the roll-call
Of delegates. 1t is noticeable that they
did not attend. One Of them, Mr.. Short
ridge, sent in an eloquent letter of re-
grets. The other, Mr.. Hamilton, fulmi-
mated only editorially.
The fact is that Mr.. Sutro's conven-
ton was not in any sense a body enti-
tied to act for the State of California,
either as regards numbers or the char
acter of the delegates. Not but that
there were some honest minded, intel
1igent men among them, but even these,
taken to be as accredited, could speak
for only very small constituency. 1t
was patent to any one familiar with
the personnel of the members and the
circumstances that brought them to-
gether, that the convention was pri-
vate scheme and could not in any way
voice the sober views of the people of
California.
DELEGATES PRESENT.
The list Of delegates present and the
counties represented is as follows:
AIameda-B. C. Brown, Green Ma
jors, Charles E. Naylor E. M. Gibson,
]. NJ Bassett, T. ]. Roberts, ]. F. w.
Sohst, F. R. Girard, Ben Morgan, John
Gelder H McKinnon, Eugene Hough.
Amador-A Caminetti.
Fresno-D. F. Fowler, George A.
Nourse.
Humboldt-Robert Burns.
Sacramento-Robert Brown.
Solano-E. NJ. Billings.
Sonoma-J. c. Sines, D. E. McKinlay,
w P. Ink.
Tulare-Ben. M Maddox.
Ventura-Marion Cannon.
Yolo-D. A Ostrom.
San Francisco oseph Britton, Jas.
H Barry, Colonel Thomas F. Barry, E.
S. Barney, w. J. Biggy, DR.. C. D. Cleve-
land, E. A. Denicke, Joseph /. Dimond,
Henry L. Davis, ]. T. Doyle, George K.
Fitch, NJ. Greenblat, Henry E. Highton,
]. c. Jordan, A. B. Kinne, Joseph Leg
gett, Stewart Menzies, Gavin McNab,
E. w. McKinstry, B. McKinne, j. H.
Moore, NJ McGlynn, Max Pepper, Tay-
lor Rogers, Charles Wesley Reed, Col
one1 JONES F. Smith. Mark Sheldon, F.
J. Sullivan, l. J. Truman, Isaac Upham,
P n. Wellin.
This list shows thirty-one delegates
from San Francisco, twelve from Ala
media County and twelve all told from
the following counties: Amador, Fres-
no, Humboldt, Sacramento, Solano, So
noma, Tulare, Ventura and Yolo, an
aggregate of fifty-five.
Outside of San Francisco and Ala
media Counties twelve men assumed to
formulate opinions for fifty-five of the
counties of California. To say the best
that could be said for the movement,
eleven counties participated in it,
though feebly, but
FORTY-SIx COUNTIES WE'RE ST.
LENT.
They sent no delegates. In other
words, less than 9 per cent. of the
counties of California had any voice
in the proceedings of Mr.. Sutro's con-
vention. 1t is no wonder that, after
waiting for the best part of an hour,
Metropolitan Hall, which has seating
capacity of over 1000, had an empty
and tired look. Notwithstanding the
vigorous work of the band in alluring
passers-by on Fifth street, the dele
gates, who had reserved the lower
floor for themselves, were greatly COM
forted when Mr.. Sutro's Secretary in
vited the visitors, who were scattered
around in the gallery, to come down
stairs and be near. 1t was so apparent
that the people of the State were not
interested in the few that were gath
cred together that the leaders went
aside and taking counsel decided to
have an adjourned meeting. And his
honor submitted the question of doing
so. but the the discussion started q, lit
tie breeze. Courage sprang up in the
breasts of several of the more sanguine
and in a short time it had been deter
mined that the meeting was represent
ative and would be a success. Ben
Morgan did not think so and he said
what welled up in him and would not
be suppressed. DR.. Robert Brown, a
Sacramento doctor, and the sole rep
resentative of this county, undertook
the job and appealed to the reporters
to eliminate the private ideas of Nor
gan, but Ben's words had gone forth
Il am surprised after so many days OF
much labor and inconvenience to my
self. The issue is pressing. have beer
scowled at for years. There is no in
terest here. Why, San Francisco alone
could fill this hall in FIVE minutes
Where are the delegates? How is thi:
empty house possible? am
DISGUSTED, DISGUSTED, DIS
GUSTEDps
DR.. Brown fell before this blast. but
reaction set in and the Mayor helped
it on by reading a dispatch from w r
Hearst in which he said things looked
blue at Washington, but he was going
TO bring Homer Davenport over witt
his pencil or words TO that effect. Wha-
the Examiner and Mr.. Sutro failed