The San Francisco call., 1898-06-02
At Least None Pushes
 to His Defense.
PEOPLE WHO DISLIKE HIM
DENOUNCED AS A BULLY WHOM
 EMPLoYES FEAR.
Trying to Enwrap the Process of Out fitting Ships for the Second :: Manila Expedition With
 Mystery Profound.

- It has often been the duty of The Call to direct attention to some pernicious instance of human frailty. In pur- suance of..this duty, it mentioned yes terday Schwerin of the Pacific Mail. To its sorrow, it was not able to men, tion him pleasantly. It was hampered by the circumstance that Schwerin' s personality has upon the observer much the effect produced by the presence of horned toad. The man, lacks winning ways. Yet it was in no spirit of un- kindness that an. effort was made to point out to Schwerin the error of his ways. It was sought to reform him, not out of regard for him, but as pro- tectfon to those who are forced into contact with him.
 Schwerin still persists in his right to keep. newspaper men from the dock at which steamers are now being fitted out for Manila He has a habit of per- sisting in certain rights. which nobody else recognizes. It was under his man. agement that the Colima went to the bottom, and under his able direction the New York went to pieces on the rocks of Point Bonita. Schwerin is not held in high esteem if the matter is to be judged from the contradictions ex- cited by the few remarks concerning him. Brief quotations from some of the letters received yesterday may. be of interest. A Battery street merchant writes as follows:
 You deserve the praise of every mer- chant Tn San Francisco, and you are getting it on all sides. I read with many others with extreme satisfaction your comments on R. F.. Schwerin, late of the navy, now the most detested man In transportation circles. have fre- quent dealings with the gentleman E {pardon the Word). His main idea seems to be to impress you with sense that he is master and you the serf: l note that you have overlooked his navy record. The fact is he left the service just in time to save the expense of a court martial. He. was executive of ficer of the Thetis. Uncle Collfs came to his rescue with job; hence more bad luck to San Francisco and her merchants.
 Of course the signature will not be given here. The merchant seems to have trouble enough now. But here are some extracts from another letter:
 l Call I read your editorials on R. P. Schwerin. AS an. ex-employe of that hurnbug I can verify all that you said about him, and a good deal more. It F wouldn't be a bad idea if you touched him up little about the way he treats people who call at his office to see him on business.
 After the loss of the Colima he had
 men brought to his office for several days to be coached as to the way they should testify before the court of in- quiry He also paid Captain John Met calf S25 day with free transportation, etc.. for testifying. If I remember cor ! rectly, he paid a like amount to an ex- pert from the Union Iron Works. 1 per sonally. prepared the vouchers.
 He has the men at the dock in such a state that they are afraid of their shadows. Every man thinks that the other is a spy on his action. He is about right, if one may judge by the way they carry tales to Schwerin, who encourages them and thinks it a fine thing to have his men ia such a state of misery. do not wish you to publish this over my name. $ The fact of my having a wife to SUD- port would not prevent Schwerin bounding me.
 | But these facts, interesting as they may be, are, after all, but side issues. Grievance arises from the circum- l stance that Schwerin does not intend to permit the public to know how the ships chartered from the Pacific Mail for carrying soldiers to Manila are be- ing fitted up. When the City of Picking | was being prepared the truth concern ing it leaked out and naturally excited indignation for the hunks put in were wholly without regard for the health or comfort of the boys who were to oc- cupy them. That Schwerin Is trying to keep details of the present outfitting a