The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-06
The GalIaghers Seek
ing His Scalp.
PRIMARIES OR NO PRIMARIES
UNHAPPY PLIGHT OF THE ERsT
WHILE GAR.
Maguire's Supporters Have Com
bined to Freeze the Whisper
ing Boss Out of Local
Politics.

Tomorrow Whispering Gavin Nc
Nab, the erstwhile reformer and politi-
cal boss, will make a last despairing
effort to retain control of the local De-
mocracy. Having been stripped of
whatever limited power he may have
had in the State organization, he now
finds himself confronted with a situa-
ton that bids fair to reduce him to the
ranks in the party organization of
which he has held himself to be the
dictator.
The scene of the struggle is to be the
meeting of the Democratic City and
County Committee, otherwise known
as the committee of one hundred. His
opponents will be James G. Mcguire,
the Pinto Populist-Silver Republican
Democratic nominee for Governor;
Mayor Phelan and the Clan Gallagher
If he wins he will have control OF the
governing body of the local Democ-
racy and he can then revenge hlmself
for the Slight that was put upon MIN
when he and his friend Max Pepper
were given the CLASSY eye by Mcguire
when the selections for the twenty
members at large of the State Central
Committee were being made. II he
loses he will be relegated to the polt-
zeal scrap heap and the scenes that
knew him once will know him no more
forever.
1t is to be the last stand of the whis-
pering boss. His leaders, such as
Mayor Phelan, Schoolboy Afford. Gould
and the Gallaghers, have deserted his
standard and joined the ranks OF the
enemy. OF his erstwhile friends and
ieutenants there remains but Max
Pepper and Sammy Braunhart. Some
compassion is felt for those two gen
tlemen, for in the event of defeat they
will be unable to exclaim, All is lost
save honor"
The issue on which the McNab and
Mcguire forces will do battle is that of
a primary election for the selection OF
delegates to the municipal convention.
Mcguire and the Gallaghers desire that
a primary be held in order to concih-
ate the Harvey Rainey forces. Nc
Nab objects to a primary because he
has not enough followers among the
rank and file of the party to secure the
election of his delegates.
After the late Democratic convention
at Sacramento, at which Mcguire and
the other nominees of the Populist
party were ratified, IL was pointed out
to Mcguire that his only chance of
election was to secure large Demo
cratic majority in San Francisco. He
studied the situation and then an
nounced to the Gallaghers that he be-
leved il would be necessary to make
: peace with the HarneyARainey Demo-
Gratis as the initial step toward the de-
sired and necessary majority. To do
this he would have to turn down the
McNab people This was a task that
required the exercise of considerable
diplomacy, for the reason that the
aforesaid Democratic convention hao
recognized the McNab organization as
the only true governing body of the
San Francisco Democracy.
The scheme hit upon was to ignore
McNab and his supporters in the make
UP Of the State Central Committee and
thus prevent the Whispering Boss
from practicing his peculiar political
plishad this it was then agreed that the
influence Of the Mcguire Gallaghers
and the State Central Committee
should be brought to bear on the COM
rnittee of one hundred to force 1t if
possible to direct that primary be
held for the election Of delegates to the
municipal convention. If such a scheme
could be carried through it would give
the Harvey Rainey Democrats the OPP
pOrtunity they have been waiting for,
as there is little doubt of their ability
to carry a primary election and secure
the election of their delegates as
against those of the Whispering Boss.
would result in carrying out the wishes
of Mcguire and his advisers and at the
same time would not be antagonistic to
the implied mandate Of the State Con-
VentiOn.
The first part of the plan was entirely
within Maguire's hands and 1T was car
ried out to the letter. In selecting the
twenty members at large of the State
Central Committee Mcguire ignored
McNab and his friends and appointed
only such men as he could depend upon
to stand by himself and the Gallaghers.
McNab is still kicking, but his protests
have been ignored and arrangements
have gone steadily forward in the in
terest Of the final and most important
part of the plan.
A meeting of the committee Of one
hundred has been called for tomorrow
night and it is proposed at that time
to bring up the question of holding pri-
maries. If the Mcguire Gallaghers can
succeed in controlling majority Of the
committee a primary election will be
ordered and McNab's race will be run.
In the meantime the Harvey Rainey
forces are taking it easy, being con-
WINGED that Mcguire cannot do without
them and that he will be forced to
grant them recognition in one form or
another.
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THE CRYSTAL SWIMMING BATHS.