The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-15

great purposes AID principles for which
you stand. We were placed before the
resenting and speaking the sentiments OF
the common peopIe Of the State, on the
occasion Of the meeting of each State
convention.
The speaker then named in succession
the nominees on the ticket, saying a COM
plimentary word for each.
ION the other side" he said, 1--WE have
ticket that certainly was not happy in its
presentation to the people of California,
of which i took occasion to say what
Senator White has more emphatica!ly
a convention dominated wholly by South
ern Pacific Railroad influences. It's DOM
ination by railroad influences was a mat
ter of common repute from all sections
of the State from which delegates went
to attend the convention.
Its platform is a railroad platform,
giving all that the Southern Pacific Com
pany could have demanded had the con-
vention turned the writing of the plat
form over to the company. 1t was turned
over to some of the company's represent
the product of their hands and minds.
Every known railroad candidate Snat was
supported in advance of the nomination
by the Southern Pacific Company was
duly nominated by the convention. Be
fore the convention named man Tor any
office on the Republican State ticket the
San Francisco Call procured from some
source the entire ticket that was to be
nominated and published it, from Cover
nor down to the last candidate on the
ticket, exactly as the convention AFTER
ward nominated it."
The speaker then took up what he
termed the issues of the campaign, dis
cussing them in great detail, speaking
successfully of each plank and section
of the platform.
Speaking of the plank in the platform
referring to the war he said: The plat
form commends and glorifies the noble
services of our soldiers and sailors IN the
They have added luSter to
countrys fame and glorified her flag and
made 1t respected throughout the world
And to them all honor. In the admin
istration of the affairs of the war certain
deplorable mistakes were made, mistakes
resulting from incompetency somewhere,
from negligence somewhere, from neg1-
had no good excuse. Yet we are not In
a position to place the blame, and we do
not charge it upon anybody in particu-
lar. The failure. to supply. our soldiers
properly with food and clothing and med
ical attendance and proper care is
scandal that must and will be 1nveSti-
it, belongs. But until that is done, until
after due investigation, we may say or
know who was responsible and compel
him, or them, to answer for that respon-
sibility, we are willing to treat that scan
dal as a common sorrow of the American
people and pass it thus in silence-no, not
excusable chapter, written by this tncom-
potency, written by this neglect , fur
nish needed supplies and care to . II SOL
diers, there has come even from that
dark and unpromising source a glory to
our nation that will live in history. with
the brightest memories of the war itself.
Out of all that dark and humiliatIng scan
dial has come the glory won by the vol
unteers of the Red Cross Society. Gap
plause.)
Into every breach left open, by official
negligence, to every suffering soldier, suf-
fering not because Congress had failed to
provide money for All his necessities-be-
and infinitely more-to the bedside of
every suffering and neglected soldier, to
every camp where privaton resulting
from lack of sufficient clothing, lack Of
sufficient or proper food, lack Of medicine,
lack of medical attendance, lack of nurs-
ing. went the glorious women of the Red
Cross Society and OF other religious and
benevolent orders devoted to that noble
work Their history must be written in
connection with the brightest work of the
Deweys and the Schleys and the leaders
on land and sea of all the military and
naval forces.
I know Of no incident of the war more
touching, more glorious, than was the
case of Annie Wheeler's trip to Santiago.
Annie Wheeler, daughter of General Joe
Wheeler, lived in Washington during the
your representative. l knew her as a
gentle, genial and popular society lady,
who would be expected to shrink from
rors of the hospital, yet at her country's
call she. volunteered and went imme-
diatey to the shore Of Florida eager to
she went bearing the love and pity of our
great nations heart down to the hospitals
Gearing tSose ST
tributes even to the smoking hell
s sf battle LED IN The which ab+,r her gallant
which her brave brother followed wee th the
flag. [Applause.] What she did every
sister of the Red Cross Society stood pre-
pared to do. What she did many Others
who went forth hut whose m
yet recorded upon the scroll of fame did,
and did bravely. Honor to them! And
ter of the wars history comes the glory
of the record made by those noble and
self-sacrificing American women. Zap
plause.]
The speaker here took up the plat
form and spoke at length on each part.
Judge Mcguire took up the subject of
the Democratic State platform and dis
cussed its various planks at length. He
also made lengthy reference to his rec
ord In Congress on legislation affecting
the interests of this State.
The platform declares for an amend
ment. No. 10, now pending to the con-
stitution of California, giving the people
of the counties in the State the right to
voice in determining by what rules
and In what manner their county govern
ment shall be administered. It declares
IN favor Of the principle of direct legis-
ioeaoA, lii 1dNol VI us immaculate appl1-
cation to the municipal affairs. Much
oenunciation has been heaped by the OPP
position press and by opposition speakers
upon this plank in the platform-direct
legislation. the control of their laws by
the people; that is what it means
It does not mean. as they contend, that
al al laws shall necessarily be adopted by
that method The Democratic system OF
government involves it in its very essence:
the Republican system is government by
agency, by agents selected by the people.
The Republican system which has been
acquiesced in in this country from the be-
ginning has given to such agents absolute
power, power not to be controlled by the
people through their terms of office. That
has been found to work badly 1t has
been found that combinations Of people
interested in special privileges have inter-
fered in elections, have sought byacorrupt
combinations, and Influences to control
elections, and have succeeded in doing so;
sentatives in State, county and municipal
government, particularly in municipal
government, in the great scramble and
struggle for the riches that come to spec
ial privilege under the fayors Of municipal
legislatures.