The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-27


less all power and all authority have
been delegated to Mr.. Phelan and the
few men with whom he conSultS.
have no diSrespect for Mr.. Phelan IN
dfvidually, but his ideas OF Democracy
and mine are as far apart as the poles,
and, on public grounds, see vital OBJ
jections to the success of his personal
candidacy.
There is need in San Francisco for
higher standard of municipal govern
ment. We have had succession OIL
bosses, with whom salaries at the CITY
Hall have been divided, and by whom
young men, In order to gain supsist-
ence from the public service, have been
driven to the extremity of degradation.
The field in which the taxpayer laDors
has been harvested and CLEANED for the
benefit of a set of ignorant and Hceh-
tious politicians, who would De con
temptuously driven from any business
enterprise which they undertook TO
usurp and manage, until the descrlp-
ton of the prophet has almost become
locally applicable: That when the
palm worm hath left hath the locust
eaten, and that which the locust hatn
left hath the canker worm eaten, ana
that which the canker worm hath left
hath the caterpillar eaten
1t is now proposed, as a remedy, TO
substitute for this regime a new form
of local despotisn1-that of a wealthy
and ambitious Caesar, in whom all po-
litical intelligence and virtue are as
sumed to be concentrated ana from
whom. therefore, all calls to office or
station should emanate. But both the
principle and the special application or
the principle are unsound ana I'M
American.
Mr. Phelan supports Mr.. j. G. Ma
guire and the platforms on Whlcn the
fusion ticket has been placed. There
nn dnCi g.
tain the office of Mayor as a way sta
ton to another destination, and who IN
that office would represent the substan-
tial property-owners and business men
of San Francisco, necessarily STANDS, II
not in his individual convictions, at all
events by his formal Endorsement, IoF
the referendum, the initiative, the own
ership of public utilities, including rail-
roads. by the Government, free silver
at sixteen to one and the single tax, at
least to the extent that it is covered by
proposed amendments to the conStlIu-
ton which Mr.. Mcguire and the fusion
ticket are pledged to support. In the
situation, as Mr.. Phelan himself has
made it, how can he fairly escape from
this dilemma? Mr.. Mcguire has &C
cepted all these innovations upon the
principles of the Democratic party and
upon constitutional rights, as inter
preted by all national parties, ana Mr.
Phelan has accepted Mr.. Mcguire and
become his champion on the stump L
do not believe that it would be just 10
say that, in his heart and in his mind,
he can indorse the anti-Democrat1c the
DRY of government by tyrannical ma
jorities, which would tear up the roots
of our system, Federal and State. But
this concession makes the case so much
the worse for Mr.. Phelan, because he
has allowed himself to be placed before
the people as a champion of the fusion
ticket, and especially Of it's head. If
Mr.. Mcguire should be defeated why
should Mr.. Phelan be elected? What
honest answer can be made to this
question except that If one should fall
the other should fall with him?
And this is not all. 1t is great mis-
fortune to any commercial city to nave
for its chief magistrate man to whom
the honor is merely a stepping-stone
for ambition, and whose eyes are CEN
tered, not on the plain duties that lie
about his feet but upon a distant sta
ton, which all his energy is bent to
reach. A high municipal office may be,
and sometimes ought to be, the means
of conducting a man who has fulfilled
its obligations with exceptional ability
and fidelity to loftier sphere of action.
But when a public officer substitutes
his own will for the call of his fellow
citizens and seeks to trample upon all
obstacles and crush others out through
the opportunities which his office gives
him, and thus force his way upward,
then, in reality, that man must be and.
is a failure. He who does not wait for
the summons, Friend, go up higehr,"
but declares 81 will go up higher" is
as obnoxious to the world as he is to
the gospel and is liable to find himself
in lower room.
The netting practice of Mr. Phelan
has been humorously treated in the
press. But innocent though he unques-
tionably was of any design to neglect
his duty it proved serious omission.
There was an incident in the history of
this municipality which ought to have
been warning and TO have been firmly
set in the minds of some of the gentle
men who gave Mr.. Phelan his promi-
nence in the Non-Partisan convention.
In 1874 a former Mayor of San Fran
cisco failed to count the money in the
city and county treasury, even by
netting" and his neglect almost cost
San Francisco a million and half of
dollars. In connection with Judge STAN
ley and some other citizens, George K.
Fitch the proprietor of the Bulletin
and part owner of The Call, through a
public meeting held at Platt's Hall,
saved that money. If 1t had been
counted it would never have been in
by Mr.. Phelan, and the count actually
made, Widber's defalcation might have
been aVerted
1 cannot of course speak for other
Democrats as to what they will do i'll
the municipal part of the election; but,
for my own part, looking solely to the
public good, I am as definitely in favor
of the election of Charles L. Patton as
1 am opposed to the election Of Mr.. Ma
guire. I have stated reasons which APP
pear to me to justify the defeat of Mr..
Phelan. / will state a few affirmative
reasons for the success of Mr.. Patton.
He is bright, energetic, thoroughly
honest man, native to our soil, and with
a sound professional and business train
ing. At all points he is Mr.. Phelan's
peer But he has special advantages
of his own. He is not candidate for
Governor or for the United States Sen
ate. He is only an aspirant, at first re
IuctantIy, for the office of Mayor. he
has exhibited unusual executive ability,
the exact kind of ability needed in this
municipality; and as Mayor, his mind
would : devoted to ths discharge or
the duties and the fulfillment of the Oh
lipations that would devolve upon him