The San Francisco call., 1898-08-18

committee elected in 1892 was still in ex-
 istence, although it had exceeded its term and therefore it's successor was elected and continued to be the de facto general committee of the Democratic par ty of San Francisco. MT. Pepper resigned as chairman of the general committee m 1894 The vacancy was not filled until No Vember, 1895, and then the meeting or the general committee was called for the pur- pose of electing chairman. At this meeting there was test of strength. It was generally recognized throughout the | city and county of San Francisco that one element comprising the general commit tee was aided by Christopher A. Buckley,
 and it was considered that he, at that
 time was trying to gain control of the
 Democratic party. The other side repre-
 scented the anti-Buckley forces. It was a l clear test of strength-the chairmanship
 contest at that time. A. A. Watkins was l the candidate of the anti-Buckley forces.
 and J. H. O'Brien was the candidate of | what were termed the Buckley forces in l the general committee. 1 had been charged with being the emissary of 1 boss. At a meeting of the general com
 mittee. and at the request of MT. Gavin McNab himself, 1 had the honor to place 1 in nomination for chairman MT. A. A.
 man by majority of thirty-two. After
 the election the general committee ad | journed: and no other business was trans acted. Therefore, it Is proof positive that
 the only purpose of this meeting was to ascertain the strength between the two
 appointed by. Hon. Eugene N. Deuprey, chairman of the convention, was in exist ence, although up to this time it had held
 After A. A. Watkins was elected chair man of the general committee an idea ! was conceived by MT. Gavin McNab him. self that 1t would be proper to convene the general committee again fer the pur-
 pose of adjourning it sine die. Excuse me, am a little bit ahead of my story. | The twenty five members appointed by the municipal convention requested the chairman of the de facto committee. A
 A. Watkins. to appoint an additional committee tW6ntV-tiVe with the committee of twenty-five ap-
 pointed by the municipal. convention to Watkins, In conformity with the request that was made of him, appointed this
 additional sTd 4,nI committee of twenty-five; fifty good Democrats, the majority of
 them the friends of MT. McNab and of the leaders of the delegation from San floor of this convention. The leaders of
 the committee, the, de facto general com chairman, thought while that committee continued in existence there might be some question as to the validity of the
 reorganizing committee of fifty, so, there fore, In order to avoid any possibility of
 question as to the validity or legality of the committee of fifty, the. general com
 pose of adjourning sine die. It met and
 most of you gentlemen remember the cir cumstanceS of that meeting It was the stormiest political meeting, In my judg
 ment. that was ever held In the city and county of San Francisco. The general committee adjourned sine die, although a minority of the general committee con- tinued in existence. claiming to be the
 general committee of the Democratic party. Now, the de facto general com
 mittee having adjourned sine die, there
 was no other organization that could pos
 sibly represent the pemocratic party of
 side of the reorganized committee of fifty, composed of twenty-five members ap- pointed by MT. Deuprey himself as chair
 man of the municipal convention, and
 twenty-five appointed by MT. A. A Wat kins, the chairman of the general com mittee.
 This committee on reorganization as- sembled, and it called an enrolment un-
 der the auspices of the Democratic, voters
 of San Francisco. That enrollment was held and under the enrolment a primary
 was held under the auspices of this same
 be esg on ef fba At that organization of the Democratic party the
 man who held the control of that commit
 McNab himself Therefore I say here now, without fear of contradiction. that
 Mir McNab was the leader In the move
 ment that organized the general commit tee of the Democratic party of the city and county of San Francisco, that legally
 exists under the constitution of the party itself-the committee which he to-day is trying to have this convention throw aside.
 The primaries were held under the aus pices of the committee of fifty. A general committee was elected at these primaries. The general committee so elected after
 ward convened and elected Colonel William P Sullivan chairman. AS I remarked be- fore, minority of the general committee elected in 1895 continued in existence and claimed to represent the Democratic party. In the month of April. 1896, a prim- ary was called by the committee of which
 Colonel Sullivan was chairman for the election of delegates from San Francisco to the State Convention which assembled
 in this hall on June 20 of that year. The minority of the general committee, com monly called the Buckley faction, elected representatives to the same convention also You remember the contest that oc-
 cured on this floor at that time. The
 representatives to the convention who were elected under the auspices of the
 committee of which Colonel Sullivan was
 chairman, after a heated discussion and
 after grave considerable on the part of
 the committee on credentials, were seated
 as the regular delegates to the State Con-
 vention. as representatives from the city.