The San Francisco call., 1898-08-21

G oS e e os 30 6S oS e oS e e e oS os os o 1 After having attended political con- vention lasting three days and far into | three nights it is difficult to come to the consideration of anything else. l | have still ringing in my ears the en- comiums showered upon hopeful aspir- ants for office, who. being merely hu- man, did not deserve the praise they l got. I retain vivid recollections of trickery exposed, of ambitions crushed, of promises made in secret to be broken in public. Men called each other liars and had no trouble in establishing the allegations Honors thus being easy such episodes closed at once. The con- vention did not develop one person of extraordinary talent. Nobody rose above the commonplace. There was not single masterful speech, although that of Mayor Phelan was a good one, the effect largely spoiled by undigni- fled action while Mir Phelan was try ing to help the Examiner nominate Coffey. However excellent a jurist Judge Coffey may be, and however strong the faith in his integrity, the handicap of yellow journalism's sup port was too much for him. AS though this had not been too great weight the Los Angeles delegation must throw its S1 votes to Coffey. Whatever that delegation did was certain to excite the antagonism of all other delega- tions. Thus its friendship was fatal.
 
 To say a word concerning the Los Angeles delegation fell to my lot dur ing the week. l never saw parcel of men so effective in a negative way. They came with arrogant demands for everything; they went home beaten and humiliated, after having richly earned the experience. There were two or three able men in the crowd, but the rest were puppets, bound, gagged and not daring to so much as wipe the precipitation from their brows without having solemnly caucused and obtained the permission of Patton. do not understand how Patton or any body else can dominate a free-born American citizen In this fashion. To me 1t is the strange feature of politics, a profession into which I have dipped only deep enough to see the corruption, the insincerity, the open. palpable, un- blushing and generally unpunished fraud Men honest in their usual walk in life leave their characters behind them when they go into politics would not take the word of a profes- sional politician on a matter relating to politics, though he made oath to it., swearing until black in the face by the ashes of his grandmother. The up- right citizen, drifting casually toward politics, finds what awaits him, and either gets out or becomes a chronic, living by his unholy wits. The indi- vidual who has no connection with conventions more than to vote at pri- mary, when the boss consents to the holding of a primary, has no more to say about who shall be nominated at a convention than he has about the course of the planets or the tempera- ture of hades. The good citizen, elected to office and remaining a good citizen, Is a happy accident l wish he would happen oftener.
 Governor Budd seems to me an ideal chairman. He exercises complete con- trol, has a pleasing wit which acts as oil on stormy pillows. and while he oc- casionally violates parliamentary
 
 that instead of resulting in confusion it allays tumult and dissipates chaos When he was succeeded by Cassin, the contrast was painful Cassin may have ability in certain directions. think possibly he might blow corn. As a chairman he is a complete, abject and almost Imaginable failure. But sense of pity generally checked the hi- larious.
 Of course, the convention has been described in detail, and I only touch now upoR some salient features of 1t. The lack of enthusiasm was not strange, but the lack of patriotism was. The common emotion seemed to be a concentrated greed for office. Ma tional airs excited no response until some of us called attention to the fact that such airs ought to be recognized, and then the response was perfunctory and inadequate. I have no doubt the Republican convention this week will take a lesson from this circumstance. To sit under a canopy of flags and lis ten to the "Star Spangled Banner" without manifesting appreciation does not seem to me either good American ism or good Democracy.
 
 Not enough has been said about the gracious hospitality of Sacramento to- ward the two conventions. The man ner in which the Pavilion had been prepared bespoke a disregard of ex- pense, and the effect is highly artistic. Even the weather has thus far been kind, for while 1t has been warm it has not been oppressive, although far diff ferent from the sort prevailing in San Francisco. One feature of the capital city which strikes a summer visitor from the metropolis is the beauty of the girls as accentuated by the cos- tunes the state of the thermometer permits them to wear. There are no heavy wraps, no capes nor boas. q believe the arrangement San Fran cisco ladies muff1e their necks with in the evening is boa.) Instead, there are lawns and muslins and faces through which arms show, as beseems the genuine summer girl. My only ex-