The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-30
THE INNER CIRCLE OF CORRUPTION,

N this State no Senatorial money has been paid
| into the State treasury-not even the thirty thou
sand dollars needed to raise the credit of the can
didate from Mexico to par. Twenty thousand dollars,
supposed to have been used for Republican legislative
tickets has been traced to one purse but first the
closed life and next the illness of Milton ]. Green
have so far prevented the itemizng of this limited
corruption account Here and there few hundred
dollars have been placed A new ticket office on the
sixth floor of the railroad building has been uncov-
cred But after all, when the investigation at Sacra-
mento ended the Burns lobby had been almost dis
credited.
The unearned increment is the most effective ele-
ment in that kind of politics that sets the faces OF men
like Dan Burns toward Washington. 1t is more real
in ITSELF but even less apparent than the unearned
increment in real estate 1t eludes formalltles, &C
counts and inquiries under OATH Its Jingle is rarely
overheard Its existence is solid and its sound metal
ic but to the public it is silent as the sleeping
gold in quartz pockets.
The Assembly committee at Sacramento has de-
served and received credit for its of such ma
terials as it obtained 1t exposed some corruption
that struggled for or was pushed toward the light
It fully justified the cautious and exact statements OF
The Call But after all, it only scratched the outer
skin of Colonel Mazuma and drew few drops OF
his blood His less important operations, through
raw and nartistc agents. in some degree were ascer-
tanned But the inner circle of his influence, where
experience and system work with the dellcacy and
with the accuracy of watch, was hardly touched.
1t was touched, however. There is no bond OF
honor, OF sympathy or of genuine friendship between
constituencies politicians and unqualified or dis
qualified candidate for Senatorial preferment The
only tie that unites them is the unearned increment
The manager for Ulysses S. Grant was certainly
novice. and his use of money was easily unveiled We
sold not be surprised at effort to convert Grant
into 'scapegoat for Dan Burns. But the effort can
not succeed for many reasons, and chiefly and pre-
cisely because, as we suggested yesterday and have
repeated to-day, the inner circle OF Colonel Mazuma
was touched by the investigating committee.
The Burns artists do not wear broad-brlmmed
hats and shaggy eyebrows and invite detectives to fol-
low them into dark places They are at def
and simple in their legerdenain They trained
and inscrutable Witnesses and their skill is beyond
the reach of brief and rapid legislative inquiry.
They can throw net over unsuspecting integrity
with the dexterity of a Roman gladiator The one
thing they cannot do is to hide their associations,
their faces and their odor. They well known to
interested and scrutinzing citizens that where they
hover conjecture hardens into fact.
The following of Dan Burns is in itself sufficient
disclosure for the people of the State, sound in
heart and sound in BRAIN who cannot understand how
filthy political wave land political failure with
out single qualification in the Senate Of the United
States Even without legal proof every knows
the source and the character OF his support And
have already suggested these concentrations
made specific and driven home by the fall OF Speaker
Wright His quintuple relation to corruption is
conclusive answer to the question OF how Dan Burns
captured him. And that demonstration projects itself
with rational and unerring certainty into the inner
circle where the smell would have burst the nose OF
Cyrano de Bergerac it arrested the progress of the
Assembly committee.
The devil it is said, marks his own. The gang
surrounding Daniel Burns fuller of babbng integrity
than rotten egg is OF diseased meat is marked be:
yond the possibility of error These are the who
require caricature to identity them with humanity
They would be probably turned OF the lower re-
gions for moral unceaniness, but they pesti-
lential concentration at the State Capitol
Considering their surroundings, the legislators
who, like the venerable Judge Clough, are clean
within and wear the rugged faces OF unpurchasable
integrity almost entitled to rank heroes even
if some of them do thirst for Journalistic blood and
seek to escape the gallery of legislative immortals
We hope that they may substitute right for Wright
in the Speakers chair and sternly vindicate legsa
tive honor, but also hope that before they destroy
the press they may avert their destruction by de-
stroying Dan Burns and by honoring the demand of
the citizens OF California through the election OF
qualified Federal Senator in the person of a Repub-
lean, statesman and gentleman.