The San Francisco call., 1898-07-25
PERSONALITY
 IN POLITICS Succeeds Decency in the Alameda Contest. |" DEAD CAT" IS THE LATEST PRIESTHOOD THE WEAPON OF THE PARDEE CAMP. A Northern State Committeeman Compares the Quarrel to a
 Punch and Judy
 Show.
" DEAD CAT" IS THE LATEST
PRIESTHOOD THE WEAPON OF
 THE PARDEE CAMP.

Show.
 Oakland Office San Francisco Call,
 sos Broadway. July 24.
 ."Do you refer to that Punch and Judy show playing a never ending engagement in Alameda County"
 The speaker was member of the State Central Committee from northern coun- ty. He was crossing to Oakland last Sat urday after the meeting and was asked what outsiders thought of Alameda gubernatorial campaign. His answer was sarcastic and when requested to explain fl he took two copies of Pardee's organ from his pocket, looked at them with far away focus to his eyes and smiled.
 There was good ground for his sarcasm. Unfortunately, Alameda's campaign for Governor has degenerated into stupid and offensive personal contest. Vitupera- ton. abuse misrepresentation. innuendo and all the methods known as dirty poli- ties" have been introduced and each side is blaming the other for the reprehenstble display.
 Here is a sample paragraph from pr. Pardee's organ of last Saturday:
 Mir Davis and MT Chapman have said that they have no use for any man or set of men wh, have ever refused to vote for the Repub 1fe97 nominees In municipal affairs. And Mir Chairman has said, from the same platform with Mr. Davis. that he regarded Dr. Pardee as dead cat; and Mir. Davis, by his silence. has ind0rsed what his friend, MT. Chapman said about pr. Pardee. When MT. Chapman abused pr. Pardee, as only Mir. Chap man can. Mir Davis sat quietly by and smil ingly assented to all that his political friend sad. And when Mir Chapman took occasion the straight Republican ticket in munlcipa! affairs, his friend, Mir. Davis, by his silence, if in no other way. assented to all of MT. Chap mans abuse.
 When political arguments get down to rthe dead cat" basis and to falsehood they are certainly of the Punch and Judy show order, and that the State thus views the Pardee-Davis wrestling match Is the fault of the principals. In an- other copy of Dr. Pardee's organ Is this direct falsehood, known to Dr. Pardee to be such:
 The true jnwardness of The Calls opposi- ton to George c. Pardee In this county is said to be that the line of political argument and the trend Of thought adopted as gospel by the Alameda County correspondent of John D Spreckels' paper Is formulated by the Demo- cratic boss of Oakland, Frank J. Mofitt.
 Following the line of stupid logic ap- piled to Mir. Davis by pr. Pardee, the doctor has by his silence indorsed it. If he will refresh his memory he will re- member that the man whom he now ac- wrote for pr. Pardee his notification to the State that he tthe doctor1 was a can didate for Governor. So well pleased was Dr. Pardee with the little effort that he pronounced 1t better than he could have done for himself and he was proud to see it go forth in his name. And the fol- lowing evening 1t was copied into the doctors organ verbatim. With the same dissimulation entering into every detail of the doctors campaign is 1t any wonder that the rest of the State refers to Ala medals Punch and Judy show.
 Even the people in this county are now to a large extent sharing the opinion of the other counties. They realize that they are being used in a game of bat tfedore and shuttlecock A few months ago the Enquirer was extolling MT Davis to the skies and speaking of him al the one man who could lead the Re- publican hosts to victory. This kept up for a time, and then Dr. Pardee came along He did something to that news paper Che says he didn't buy it), and from that time it has striyen most lu- dicrously to convince the county that the diet of cheese 1t gave them short time ago Is not good for its political df- gestion, and has striven to substitute chalk Now they would, very naturally, like to know when another chef may be expected with another bill of fare. 'Tis funny 'tis true and 'tis true 'tis funny and perhaps after all it does appear to an outsider something like Punch and
 It would seem also as if some of the interior papers have caught the spirit of the show, for Dr. Pardee publishes this from the Eureka Standard:
 Henry T. Gage, the Los Angeles lawyer Is being brought prominently forward by the politicians from the south while here 1t is believed by many that the successful candl- <. date will come from Alameda County, and that Dr. George c. Pardee, formerly Mayor of Oak land, will be the lucky man.
 MT Davis offsets this with a double shot from the same paper as follows:
 W. R. Davis is an able man. a clean, honest and honorable man. The good things said of Mir Davis by the Pasadena News are all true.
 That the Eureka Standard now has evidently caught on'' to the situation.
 Dr. Pardee also claims that he is in- dorsed by the organ of the San Jose this county as there is much to suggest that he has during the past few years taken lessons in politics from Jim Req.
 Of more ir- ~rtance just now than tran slent politics Is the question of the Ioca- ton of the fuse works that were blown to AtOms last Tuesday. The explosion was revelation to the people that lived in the vicinity. They had not the slightest idea they were living in such close prox- unity to such a mighty engine of death and the indignation meeting held last night was a very timely proceeding. If the evidence of the officers of the works De true that there WdS d UluCH smaller amount of powder in the magazine at the time of the accident than is usually on hand there should not be any need of a public demonstration to prevent the works being rebuilt in the same locality In other words. to rebuild at the scene of last Tuesdays explosion, is to wilfully eX- pose to the danger of instant death one hundred and sixty little children who at tend the adjoining school.
 The most notable incident of the catas- trophe, next to the death of the victims, was the shattering and demolition of the Melrose schoolhouse. It is almost be- yond belief that a powder magazine and a public school should be neighbors in a country as sparsely settled as Melrose. Fortunately the explosion occurred be- fore school was open for the day and while the 160 little ones were in their beds. Fortunately. also, there was d "smal" stock of powder on hand There is no guarantee that the Chinese em- ployes will not again quarrel, or the magazine be fired. and the natural infer ence from this is surely argument enough to prevent the works being rebuilt on the old site. There is yet anothe strong point brought forward, and that is that the development of the district must naturally be retarded by the presence of such a menace to life and property.