The San Francisco call., 1898-05-27
THE VOTE
 ROLLED
 WAS LIGHT Significance of the TabuIated Returns. WORKINGMEN WERE BARRED POLLS CLOSED EARLY AND CAUSED COMPLAINT. Districts Where Small Property Holdings Are Situated Gave
 Majorities Against the
 New Organic Law.
W0RKINGMEN WERE BARRED
POLLS CLOSED EARLY AND
 CAUSED COMPLAINT.

San Francisco Is to have a new char ter. Such is the decision of a majority of the voters who had sufficient inter est in the present and future welfare of the city to go to the polls yester- day and cast their ballots for or against the adoption of the proposed organic law.
 The result was decided by about one- fifth of the voters of the city, a fact that does not speak well for the public spirit of the citizens of San Francisco in a matter that involves the very life of the city. It Is, besides, unsatisfac- tory because 1t leaves in doubt the question as to the real wishes of a ma jority of the persons who are immedi- ately affected by the question in issue.
 The total vote cast yesterday was 26.963 Of this number 14,3S6 were for the charter. 12,O25 against 1t. and 552 scattering. The charter was carried by majority of 2361 votes.
 The small number of votes cast proved a surprise both to the friends and opponents of the charter. and to account for it several reasons are all leged One of these is that the great public interest that has been taken in war news has to a certain extent served to divert attention from the i'm portance of the local issue. People who would otherwise have studied the provisions of the proposed charter were engroSsed with the fortunes of our sol- dierS at home and abroad, and did not find time to become partisans in a cause that appeared to be overshadow ed by the greater events in national af fairs. Many workingmen were unable to cast their votes because the polls closed so early that they were unable to reach the voting booths in time. Many complaints were heard on this score and it Is estimated that at least 5000 voters were prevented from cast ing their ballots for this reason alone.
 It is a significant fact that in the dis tricts where the greatest number of small property holdings are situated the majority of the vote cast was against the adoption of the new char ter The districts that returned a ma jority against the charter were the Twenty eighth. Thirty-flrst, Thirty second, Forty third, Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth.
 With the exception of one or two incidents of minor importance the cleo tion passed off quietly. To a stranger in the city the fact that an important election was in progress would never have been suggested, so little did the proceedings of the day interrupt the ordinary routine of business. Even the few stragglers about the polling places were dull for want of an occasional in cident to enliven the dead level of the days proceedings.
 The work of counting the ballots pro- ceeded much faster than was antici- pated. It was generally believed, judg- ing from the slow manner in which the ballots for Freeholders were counted, that some of the outlying precincts would not have their returns in before Il o'clock The men lost no time, how ever, in getting through with the work when the polls closed. An hour after the balloting stopped the officers of several of the precincts were on their way to the Registrars office with com plete returns About 7:30 o'clock the returns came in thick and fast, and the deputies In the office were kept on the jump. Everything was handled with dispatch, and two hours later the returns were in from all the precincts