The San Francisco call., 1898-07-04
. GREATNESS OF SELF-GLORY
SPIRIT OF THE, FOURTH MAY BE .f: ....~;.:'' DISASTROUS.
It May Extend to the Breaking Up
 of the Little Coterie That Has ....::::. Grown Rich and Lazy on = <... Politics.
Oakland Office San Francisco Call,

For one day Oakland is to forget the puny aspirations of ambitious individuals , and to devote her attention to things so great and noble that the selfish minds in her midst. cannot even comprehend them In common with all other parts of this Onion, the people of this city realized when the first shot of the war was fired that there. was something greater than personal party politics. There were a few, it Is true, so blinded by their environments Of self-importapce created by their ignor- gnce and smallness that they persuaded 2 themselves these baubles oVershadowed the great events that now quicken the pulse of the nation. During the past few days, however, even these have been forced to affect show of decency. al- though they undoubtedly believe that it Is shockingly bad. taste on the part of the public. to revere the: Deweys and Hobsons of to-day rather than themselves.
 Eighteen wears ago a noble-hearted sol :. dler who was brave enough to face the armies of the South, but who could not e 'WithStand. the: warfare of domestic troubles, hastened his freedom in an Oak ,. land hotel. ;. Before doing so he wrote a - short poem. This man was Richard Rea!f, and almost before the ink was dry on the final Expression of his soul he fired the shott that ended his sorrows. One line Of that poem almost, cOmpelS the belief that the noble soldier-pQet had been walking on Broadway and had been buttonholed ~ by those who think that cheap political ambitions are the nObleSt aims of exist euce. It is easy to ina zine that he was assailed as he passed down the street thinking the nOblest thoughts by politf- clans informing him that II am out for poundmaster," or Governor, or any other old thing with a salary attached to 1t. It was in October, and the probability is that with November election in sight this: assumption is correct. And that one line in his farewell to the world reads And the little, voluble, chattering daws or men" Perhaps another generation or these "daws of men has sprang up since Reaf. died, but the genius IS not extinct by any means.
 On this tdurth: of July, when the flag of the .Unioa is for the first time in his tory heinz carried by our soldiers into a new hemisphere, the paltry aspirations Of individuals never heard of outside their oWlEaNerY small world. appear by contrast to be nothing short of mOckery. The his tory of this Fourth is not being made by a feW:whQ sound their own Self-adulaton from the public platform at meeting be- fore a limited gathering .of interested per sOnal; friends. lt.is' not being written in the fronts of Broadway cigar stores. Flu 'ture .chrQnlcleS. Hlfl not contain anything of the 'EgTeat lights for preferment made by q few Alameda County curbStOne pOli
 tfCianS." They+Will- set forth in indellible letters the. ma mes of, those men whose pa tri0tiSin- consists of bravery such as the world admiresi. rather than of braggado- ca which: :nauseates-yet there are some "lltte VOluhle, chattering daws of men" who. have even to-day failed to realize the faCt.that. they have so little judgment as not to see the trend of public opinion in this county For mopths-for almost a year, in factEwhile the true American mind has been: entirely absorbed in Ques- tions that reached even beyond the con- fines of the Union, and while the coun- tries of the Old World were looking on with wonder and with awe at the manner in which this country was threatening to overthrow the old order of things and start the new century with a new history yet these little. voluble, chattering daws of men forced themselves and their self-intlated dreams upon an intelligent public, failing themselves to see the in- decency of such nonsense.
 Nearly everybody in Alameda County realizes that the semi-prOphetic words of Americas great hOme-pOet are now being fulfilled in their most sacred meaning, yet there are a very few little, voluble, chat tering daws of men" in our midst whose self-inficted blindness prevents them from appreciating the fact that human ity with all its fears. with all its hope of on their fate, but on the fate of those brave fellows toward whom on this Fourth the eyes of the world are turned and who are selling their patriotism with blood and not stultifying it with bombast
 There will not be an exodus from Oak land on this Fourth of July. Last year was the extreme in deadness reached by this city on the great holiday. This year Oakland has gone to the other extreme, and from the rising of the sun until long after it has sent its last Illuminating ray through the Golden Gate onto the Berke- ley hills, will this county be expressing it's patriotism. At the very commence ment of the preparations for the celebra- ton the very cOmmendable course was taken of putting the foremost conner Cial men upon the committee. Instead of as in former years, traducing the very breadth of the spirit of the day by leav- ing its observance to some particular clique, which as rule antagonized all other cliques, the policy has been adopted of making it what it. should bean Amer ican Fourth of July. The spirit shown by those. in charge has had the propeI effect and: has:spread all over the city. Instead of the. musty, water-washed dec OratiOnS that have done duty year after year, everybody has invested liberally in new holiday a ttiTe. and the city has never looked .so% rlehly' gay. Neither has there been anST lack of support of the fnancu committeet% hitin itself Is perhaps the best proof that. Alameda County did the right thing in. November, 1S9a
 There Is an: 1dication that the spirit of independence. in. this county will not be confined to the letting. off of fireworks or the many other. things that are but the eruptions, of a patriotic volcano For several years little political: bosses have arranged among themselves to distribute the county between them in such a man.
 Q of State and Federal patronage. Although every. loyal: Afamedan likes to see as much off e honors of politics as is pos. sible brought to=tkis. county. he does ob- ject to haY!ng il. all distributed in such manner. as to perpetuate a dynasty that Is at once an unnecessary expense and reproach. .sThe shackles that have been carefully, forged for years by. partisans anxious to maintain themselves in ease and luxury: .at3 the expense Of the tax nayers, are just now: very loose and should the present feeling of independence lnCrease they. will: probably be available Ior sale as. old iuiik next November
 .Ipere are plenty of honest. reputable, .s2yai. people in this county capable of ana ,b ser if} HiQf holding. public dfice. But lhe pool has i{e&n Kept in such a muddy jG,Gn2ili92@foy j,s Geais bX::the stirring. up o1 !Is nQisqmenes by tfiGse who inhabt it that that ne lask. of purifcation has seemed WtltialeSh ;ipnppSsfb4e. !1'hese have estab-
 l.shed a :}htlP: .Monroe dccfFine of fheir own Fn which" "has:.been So Interpreted as to so. guy ITeNe1t.. the: nraninulators from stepplng opt:".but which has. persstently PFTrenJed o,.Je others from stepping in, This. h2WeNeE. .is"not a year. of Monroe doc tIlIet ana even Alameda may realize this