The San Francisco call., 1898-04-08
SOMETHING TO INVESTIGATE.

HERE is a Senate committee empowered to
 investigate State institutions It was appointed
 for the purpose of determining whether the funds for the maintenance of these institutions are being properly applied or being wasted. The com mtee will report at the next session o the LegSla- ture and there reasons for supposlng that 1t will have considerable to report It has visited asylus of every kind, reformatories and prisons That all the concerns it has looked into autlessly conducted is not believed and that shortages and mismanage- ment have been discovered will doubtless Ill time be made known in the proper way
 But there is State institution which should not be overlooked, institution which has been marked by fraud wasteulness and scandal in which the money voted by the people has been mlsapphed the ac- cepted plans ignored for the benefit of contractors inferior material used at the price of good material and in which altogether the men entrusted with the performance of public duty have shamelessy be- trayed the public It is true, they have Leen exposed but not by any person persons having authority more than call attention to the manifest shortcom- ngs It is almost needless to add that reference is had to the ferry depot.
 To erect this building the State voted large sum- That the amount would be ample there not the slightest to doubt. No calculation was made upon the circumstance that the Harbor Commission CTS might divert of the money from the pre- scribed channels It never entered the mind that specifications to be altered to suit bidders after their bids had been accepted and that instead of edihce sound and honest from the foundation to the tower there to be a structure very monument of fraud. The Call has shown conclusvey that the ferry depot is false pretense that in almost every department 1t is swindle, that the taxpayers have been deliberately and systematically cheated It has laid bare the facts and has not nestated to the culprits.
 But however much paper may do to arouse sen timent it cannot apply the penalty. It can show how the law has been outraged; it has no way of bring ing the offenders to bar. If they are dead to shame and the proper officials, clothed in the legal right do arragn them, then is the effort of the paper gone for naught Therefore The Call suggests that the investigating committee pay the depot a visit that they look plans make note of changes, the influences producing them and of the sorry result Let them listen to President Colnon and Architect Swain and weigh the words of the pair against the m disputable record Let them have experts to assist them, the suavity of the accused shall not mslead and ii they shall not find the depot rotten job, for which the responsible parties ought at least be dis missed in disgrace from the positions they have abused, there is merit in figures and no virtue in immutable truth
 The committee having in store the performance of this important duty includes General John H. Dickinson of Marin, J. J. Boyce of Santa Barbara, C. M. Simpson of Pasadena, E. w. Chapman and w. F. Prisk of Nevada. Here are five we'll -khown gentle men, each having had experience in public life each that there serious dereictons subject to correction by them It should be the business of every member of the committee to make individual effort to ferret out the crimes of which evidence has been laid before them, and which unrebuked and l. l.