The San Francisco call., 1896-02-18
The Junta Has a White Elephant
and a Battle in the
Forty.fourth.
TRYING TO KEEP SAM DOWN.
Chris Buckley Has a Months Sickness
and His Followers Want New
Headquarters.


leaders in control (Messrs. Sullivan, Pop
| Rainey is now the chief topic of interest
| in Democratic circles where practical cur
| rent politics is kept track of.
The question is, Can Sam Rainey be kept
in the obscurity to which he belongs? 1t
is an important question to the Junta.
When the anti-Buckley revolutionary
| movement started the influence and the
votes in the general committee possessed
by Sam Rainey and John Daggett were of
vital necessity. These partners were able
| to control about 125 votes in the old gen.
eral committee out of $50, and without
them A. A. Watkins could not have been
elected chairman in October and the rev.
olutionists given chance to claim ma
jority.
Rainey was then used for a purpose
McNab and others said, but now, on the
eve of primary election for the choosing
OF new general committee the leaders at
the helm are fearful that Rainey may Sc
cure power in the organization too dan
gerously near controlling one, and they
are engaged in the interesting and i'm
portant operation of suppressing Rainey.
Ralney wants to elect as many delegates
to the new general committee as possible
and Messrs. Sullivan Pepper ct al. want
to keep his strength down. 1t is not
alone Rainey's direct power in the anti
buckley organization that is feared.
Rainey is sort of white elephant TO the
organization while IL is crying political
purity because the presence of Rainey
among them looks bad while Buckley is
being cried down and anti-bossism is be-
ing cried up.
A clean-cut issue is being fought on these
lines in the Forty-fourth District and the
fight there is taken to be typical of the
general fight in the organization between
the Ralney and the anti-Rainey elements.
The result of the fight there will have its
effect on the whole machine. That dis
trict is one of Rainey's stronghoIds. His
forces there are led, as they have been for
many years, by George Maxwell, secretary
OF the Fire Commission. Maxwell controls
the district, but opposed to him in the
antl-Buckley organization are Otto Koe
per, Senator Fay and l.. Y. Merle and
their followers in that district. The
factional fight has been on since the
start OF the Junta organization. From the
beginning TO the present time the Keeper
faction has protested against any recogni-
ton whatever of the Maxwell faction, as
sertlng that they would eventually run
things in the interest OF Buckley. During
the time for registration the Keeper people
refused to register, declaring bitterly that
would win anyhow by the e-honored
methods of Buckley primaries" The
Maxwell people registered all right, and
now, according to The books they are
about the only people entitled to vote at the
primary on the Oath inst.
If the regular Democratic principle of
the majority ruling were allowed to work
at the coming primary, Rainey would elect
the whole twenty-five delegates TO the gen
eral committee, run the district and in
crease his strength II the general commit
tee. Chairman Sullivan has stepped in,
however. and ruled that the Maxwell fac
tion may name but twelve of the twenty
five delegates, and that ruling is an ulti-
matum. 1t is a sort of military necessity
if Rainey is to be kept down where he be-
longs.
So there is fierce war in the Forty-fourth
and the battle extends to the whole field
to certain extent. Maxwell has declared
that If the majority is not given at least
fair show, according to Democratic prin-
ciples, he will jump the traces and that
will mean that Sam Rainey has declared
war.
Chairman Sullivan, Max Pepper, Samuel
Braunhart and their supporters say, well,
let them get out if they want to. We will
really be better off without any body who
knows Sam Rainey.'
But Ralney and the Fire Department
| people and John Daggett are not likely to
| get huffy and get out on short notice, be-
| cause there is no other good place for
them to go at the present moment
| There will be a conference tonight at
| Junta headquarters in the Flood building,
| at which efforts to arrive at a settlement
will be made. The result of that confer
| ence and the result of the primary will
| clearly indicate Sam Rainey's degree of
| influence in the anti-Buckley organiza-
! ton. This is the widest of the schisms in
the Junta organization just now.
| The Buckley organization is not kicking
up much political excitement at present
| Chris Buckley has not been in town for
month. He has been severely sick at
Raveuswood q good deal of the time, as
| the result of an internal swelling in his
ear. He is out of bed now, and drove to
| Livermore yesterday. He will be in town
! before things warm up again and need his
! sage political advice"
The Buckley organization, which claims
| to be the regular" local Democratic ma
chine, is going to have a new feature in an
executive committee of either seventy-two
| or ninety memb bers, chosen from the rep
resentatives of the various districts in the
general committee. This executive COM
mittee will be. in fact, the County Com
mittee, and will run things to suit itself,
| few and far between. This is following
| the Tammany Hall plan of organization.
| which Buckley greatly admires.
| This will be the most important mea-
sure which will be recommended to the
general committee by the committee on
revision of the constitution which Chair
man Rothschild has just appointed The
committee is as follows: A. T. SPOTS,
| chairman; M. ]. Donovan Richard Barry,
| Frank ]. Fallon, J. G. Nealon, William
| Humphreys.
| The presidents of the district clubs of
the Buckley faction meet frequently at
| the Occidental Club to keep track OF the
good OF the party. At the last meeting it
was decided to open attractive and ade-
quate headquarters on Market street for
| the campaign and committee is now
| searching for satisfactory downtown head
quarters.