The San Francisco call., 1898-12-13
They Resent the Friendship Of the Examiner for Colonel Burns and the
 Railroad.
Grants Saaried Agents Are Openly Boosting That They Have Written Pledges From Legislators Who Were Helped" With Their Employers
 Eastern Money.

For the first time since the announce
 ment of the result of the election the
 Democratic members of the Legislature
 are beginning to take an active inter-
 est In the selection of the successor of
 United States Senator Stephen M.
 White. This interest Is due primarily
 to the candidacy of Colonel Daniel
 Burns, but more particularly to the at
 titude that has been assumed by the
 Examiner toward Burns candidacy
 and the railroad interests that are sup
 porting 1t.
 Some of the more prominent members
 of the Democratic minority who con-
 sented to discuss the matter yesterday
 were emphatic in their declaration that
 party lines should be wiped out if such
 a course becomes necessary to avert a
 public calamity They contend that
 the Examiner, which pretends to be
 the leading organ of the Democracy
 having joined hands with Herrin and
 other political manipulators of the
 Southern Pacific Company for the pro-
 motion of Burns Senatorial candidacy,
 should not be allowed to place. the
 Democratic party in a false light by inference before the people of the State. These men claim that if Burns becomes a candidate before the Legis- lature it will then become the duty of the Democratic members of that body, knowing that the election of a Demo- cratic Senator is out of the range of possibilities, to join hands with honest Republicans in an effort to elect a man to the United States Senate who will enter the American Congress as a rep resentative of the interests of the peo- pie of California and not the will of the men who guide the destinies of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.
 That the Examiner has been taken into the railroad camp becomes more and more apparent every day-a fact that Is causing considerable resent ment to be manifested by the leaders of the Democratic party in the city and State, for the reason, they assert, that 1t places the party, in measure, in the position of supporting the schemes of the Southern Pacific Company. The Examiner is avowedly the mouthpiece and defender of William F. Herrin, the railroads political agent, and it does not go to the trouble of attempting to disguise it's support of Burns Sena- torial aspirations. It's agents and em- ployes are working openly in behalf of Burns, a fact that will be corroborated by score or more of legislators who have been "held up'' by the papers strikers. This has had the eff feet of reviving the stories recently to the effect that a "secret" contract has been entered into by the Examiner and the railroad company, said contract to extend over two ses sions of the Legislature and one gener- al election, during which time the com pany shall enjoy immunity from at tack by the paper
 A fair illustration of what majority of the members of the Legislature and his supporters. is given in an inter view had yesterday with a gentleman who is rightly considered one of the leaders of the State Senate. He said:
 "There are those who must, after all, sympathize with the fix of the political agent of a corporation who is forced to look up a candidate for the United States Senate on the moral and social level of his employers. It might be that the agent, left to himself, would prefer man who could play the cor poration game with background of ability-one whose past would not rise up to shame the people who gave him place, and incidentally scare off the unwary. But in such a case your political worker must consider The Senator he wants may be one thing; the Senator he must take must be of the ilk his cli- ents can undo-7tand and feel at home with in the gentle arts of addition, di- vision and silence Particularly the statesman ought to be one whom his employers have such hold upon through their knowledge of his darker past that he must necessarily stay bought and be unable, under any circumstances, to twit them upon his superior virtue. Such a task was set for MT. Herrin and his selection as a man meeting all of the requirements of the complicated situation is Colonel Dan Burns.
 Tt Is no small matter to satisfy a group of millionaires who have made their fortunes in robbing stockholders stuffing dummy corporations, rigging the market and breaking promises made to State, county and municipal governments, in selecting a candidate for United States Senator when so much is wanted in Congress in the way of special privileges. If the choice is respectable the dirty work may not be done; if vulgarly and criminally vicious 1t may be done for the benefit of the statesman himself or baked altogether. The thing is to strike the happy medi- um of rascality where the members of the corporations stand and where con- cert of action may always be depended on. In selecting Colonel Burns MT. Herrin seems to have hit this happy medium.
 For once the Senatorial choice is worthy of those who have made him and they in turn are worthy of 1t. The task seems to have been difficult one for the agent. but