The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-11-02
The Mayor a Cad and Liar the Hireling
Bulletin a Fraud,
Vigorous Denial Of the Canadians Charge That the Priest Is
in PoIitics---The Chancellor Still Editor Of the
Monitor---Hefter's Attempt to Bride
Mrs. Susan Theal.

/ dishonor.
: NV tactics were successful. I re-
ceiyed no help from the newspapers;
I received no help from the politicians
The Bulletin says that it was the first
and only great secular daily to declare
Itself against the A. P. A. The Bulletin
lis fraud. The Bulletin came out
1 against the "A. P. A. when the A. +. A.
was. as an organization. shattered and
| broken, and then 1t came out only
when the discarded cashier of the
! Shortridges thought 1t a GOOD chance
| to gain Catholic subscriptions. Boyle,
who drew his salary cheerfully from
4 the A. p. A gang that once employed
him, was, when he was kicked out, just
| as willing to create his salary by pre-
| tending to serve the other side
The fight against Apaism In TINS
| city was not political fight. 1t was
| fight for the highest principles en-
bodied in the American constitution.
We, who made the fight asked help
| from no politicians and received none.
! From the papers we received just sucn
| publicity as they thought it would be
profitable to give 1t was fight made
| by the common people and carried on
to successful conclusion by the votes
| of the common people.
When two years ago it became my
| duty to oppose Taylor on the Repuoll-
can ticket, some Republicans talked OF
|
was a political device to help the Dem
| ocrats. They said: Taylor is not
member of the A. P. A. He has no
sympathy with them. He does not
| think it good policy to throw away
their votes.'' When 1 stood for the
principle that no man who accepted AID
and comfort from 4Apaists was
worthy of fFeemen's votes, l was ac-
cused: of doing politics for the Demo-
Gratis / was not accused. by Mayor
PheIan and his supporters. They were
glad to profit by my action. Then
/ they thought 1t just and laudable and
proper, because it helped them to attain
the object Of their ambition.
Now the situation is changed. Mayor
Phelat stands to-day where Taylor
stood two years ago. It is now my
duty to deal with the Democrat as
then 1 dealt with the Republican. l
were the veriest coward did the differ
ence in party make me- change my
course. L were worthy. Of every evil
thing said against me did sing dumb
because Mayor Phelan. is a rich man.
/ were traitor to my people did L
condone in the SoiGdoiSant Catholic the
crime 1 denounced in the Protestant.
If l am in politics now, as Phelan and
his. purchased Bulletin contend was
in politics two years ago; If 1t is
crime for me to be in politics now 1t
was not a virtue to be in politics then.
The crowd that ROW denounce priest
riding and clerical dictation were the
same hangdogs who shifted about my
feet: when they thought my footsteps
led along the pathway to power.
No man will dare hold that Mayor
Phelan can do no wrong. He has
grasped within these few months many
of the attributes of royalty, but not
even the most sycophantic lickspitt1e
in his train will declare that he is al
ways right 1t is quite possible that
he has pandered to bigotry. It is
quite possible that he is a moral
coward 1t is quite possible that his
mind is built on the same exfguous
scale as It's corporal habitation and
that he cannot grasp what principle
!: means. These things his followers
must admit. and admitting them their
course is not to howl about my power.
not to yelp about clerical dictation, not
ito snarl at the priest in politics. but to
face the facts and to sift the evidence.
If my contention is right then / stand
where I stood in 1896, where I stood in
1894. The fact that rich man now is
the culprit does not alter the principle.
The fact that the ninety-nine nonenti-
ties who pose as the Democratic party
are the sufferers does not change the
merits of the case. Either Phelan is
supporting men who have denied equal
rights. to Catholics in this town or he
mann, Dodge and Menzies purge them
selves before the people, and If he Is
then as a, traitor who has prof1ted by
the struggles of those who with a SIN
gle heart sought religious freedom he
deserves to be relegated to the lowest
round Of political damnation, even as
Judas is placed by the poet in the bot
tommost circle Of the hob of hell.
The question Of fact brings me to the
second article in the Bulletin, namely,
the letter signed by James D. Phelan.
In that letter Mr.. Phelan purports to
give the history of the negotiations in
the case of the Sailors Home. Either
the mental effort of speaking his little
campaign pieces has disabled Mr..
Phelan!s memory or he is guilty of de-
liberate mendacity and miSrepresenta-
ton. He: tries to make 1t that the
original trouble between the Sailors
Home and myself was caused by my
desire to have Mrs ThealPs society get
control of the institution.
MIR. Phelan is the last man in San
Francisco who should mention Mrs.
Theall with disrespect. The :sdistri-
button of the literature" at which he
now sneers was the means that made
him Mayor of San Francisco, and the
cowardly little cad only few weeks
ago tried to bride that same Mrs.
Theall with the promise of petty
Office If she would make his losing
fight.
Luckily, however, am not dependent
on Mayor Phelan's memory or on Mayor
Phelan's veracity for a correct descrip-
| ton of my attitude in the case of the
rival societies that were looking for
| the Sailors Home. In the Monitor of
January is / wrote:
"As to the ultimate disposition Of the
| Sailors Home we have very Ettle inter-
est Whether 1t should be or could be
conducted by any private society is in
our minds very doubtful proposition" =
On January % wrote
I'VE have no desire to mix ourselves
with the affairs of societies. We deal
| simply with the exterior question, Is
| the home under sectarian control?"
Therefore when Mr.. Phelan calls the
new society Father Yorke's society he
| is simply lying. He knows it was not
my society. He knows that / had no
| desire that that society should obtain
| control of the home, because my pri-
/ Yate opinion WAS that no private So