The San Francisco call., 1897-12-06
Supervisor Rottanzi Wakes In
dignant and Will De-
clare Himself.
He Saws he Is on the Side of
Christianity, Morality and
Other Good Things.

won until the last gun is fired" he said
Yesterday, and in spite of the protesta-
tions of those in high places he reverend
representative of the Paulists is seeing to
1t that the battle is carried on in earnest.
Supervisor Rottanzi is bubbling and
boiling over with indignation. Rottanzi
is the man who has proved the most for
midable obstacle to the elimination of
the desires of the people of St. Mary's
parish. Rottanzi favored delay when
Father O'iS urged action, and the meth
DDS advocated by the Paulist met with the
criticism of the doctor. A morning paper
yes terday stated that DR.. Rottanzi's OBJ
ject in cOurting delay was TO protect a
friend who owned property in the district.
And at this the doctors ire arose.
Il will make my statement in the Board
OF Supervisors tomorrow morning" he
said in an interview yesterday afternoon.
81 will speak from the standpoint of Chris
tianity; l Will speak from the standpoint
of moral ty; l will speak from a sanitary
stand point. l favor localizaiion, restric-
tion and inspection of the evil. l always
favored that. Months before this matter
came up l spoke to Chief Lees about
placing gates at the ends of these alleys.
The statement that l wished to protect a
friend who was property-owner is inia-
nous and it Is untrue. l don't know a
single man who owns property in that
immediate vicinity. l will have my say
to-morrow-or perhaps L will write let
ter"
George D. Shad burne, legal adviser to
Father Otis in the present agitation, and
! himself much interested in the bolltion
of the pest spots, says that Supervisor
Rottanzrs position is an enigma TO him.
"Dr. RottanZi has The reputation of being
an upright Christian gentleman" he said,
nd I nf nm 4 md hth 1
favor this open Haunting of vice. | ex-
planned 10 him the evil effects OF the pres
ent condition and the legal anomaly of
attempting to restrict such an offense to
decency. l thought from his actions he
was convinced, but at the first oppor-
tunity ne attempted to cause delay. The
plan advocated by RottanZl would be a
tub to the great medlca. whale of which
be is part"
Mr.. Shadburne said it was not the
owners, but the sub-lessees, whom the ad-
vocates of decency would have to fight.
The presence of vice, he contended, so
deprecated real estate values that 1t was
obviously to the interest of the property
owners to have 1t eradicated. He cited as
an instance a house on Pine street, below
| Quincy, which cost $40, 900 few wear, ago
and could now be purchased for $4,000. Al
! one time the building rented for $75; now
between long intervals of vacancy the
| place rents for $45.
The enormous rents reported to be OBJ
tanned from these places" he SAID, "are
all thr gain of the sub-lessee. The owner
gets little if any more than be could get
for the place for purposes of decency
while his property is deteriorated in
value and his improvements are de-
strOyed."
Mr.. Shadburne expresses the opinion
/ that when the ordnance declared by
Judge Campbell to be unconstltution al
| comes mp in the Superior Court this week
/ 1t will undo btedly be upheld. Should he
be disappointed in this, however, the
arrests recently made under the State law
/ will be relied upon.
1--WE intend to win this fight if it takes
| forty year, ne declared.
Father Otis is equally determined in his
! efforts to clear the moral atmosphere that
/ surrounds st. Mary's. The reverend iather
has little faith in the police, though he
admits, with smile, that Chief Lees is
apparently with him now. Three wears
| ago next month l commenced an actiye
war on IN Sc immoral Places" said Father
| Gus. Then we were endeayoring to have
! Dupont street closed. In that hight we
received no aid from the police until after
we had appealed to the Com mmissioners.
| Then they did partially remedy the evil.
| This Is more important matter that
we now have on hand and it Is attracting
more attention from the public and from
! the press than did our agi alton for the
suppression of Dupont-street evils. | be.
lieve we will be successful, but we will
keep ou ig ghting hard until success Is as
sured."
From the reception-room of the Paulist
parish house both thoroughfares of vice
are in unobstructed view. Streams O
| loafers poured IN and out of the narrow
alleyways. The tenderloin was wide open
"BAhW said a we'll known attorney
whose office is on Montgomery street
when spoken to yesterday by a CALL rep
resentatlve.
at is nauseating to dwell on this sub
lect. There was no necessity for an ordi
| nance from the Supervisors. The State
law is ample to cover the ground.
''This thing of the police fitting abou
in citizens clothes getting names of tn,
unfortunate inmates is all play TO tn,
'pu- h.
II recollect when Dupont street wa,
cleansed OF similar evil. There wer,
no arrests. Again, when Morton stree
underwent similar process, ther,
were no arrests. Once more, few
months ago when the Christian ladie
| in Chinatown discovered young whit,
girls consorting with Cinnamon, the den.
were closed in SIX hours AMI without on,
single arrest. Still later, since Fathe
Otis drew public attention TO Quincy ant
st. Mary streets an order was issued ou
OF the California-street police station t
have the dens closed.
1T just took thirty minutes to hav
every shade drawn and light extin
guished. But an appeal to the Centra
station al The City Hall had this orde
countermanded, and IN less time than /
took to close the places they were throw
open.
II cite these facts to prove that if tn
Police Department was in earnest ever
door in these alleys would be closed il
one hour.
This thing of playing with the la,
and making Judge Campbell the buffoon
or clown, is all for effect.
every woman occupying a house il
these streets knows that she must ceas
her vocation just as soon as she learn
that the law will be invoked against her
And so it is with the lessces. They al
know they are outside of the pale Of pro
lection in court.
THE whole trouble is that there is to,
much money and politics in this affa !,
This nuisance that Father Otis iustI
complains of could have been alb ate,
without its having been made public
the authorities saw it as respectable citi
zens see it.
Court proceedings and laws della