The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-04

politics. Here and there they went, VOW
ing futile vengeance because they did not
receive the favors they sought and did
not deserve. Some day they will pledge
their worth at the primaries for pull
TO get them out of jail A throng gath
cred in the different police courts to see
the new Judges assume their judicial dig
nifty, and many wondered who will be the
new clown of the police bench.
Movement and confusion, a babel Of
tongues and a Fastening of feet charac-
terized the morning hours. The actual
and significant ceremony of the transfer
Of the city government did not take place
until the afternoon, when the old Board
of Supervisors stepped down and out and
the new board took possession. But dur
ing the morning the transfer of the vari-
GUS municipal departments was made. In
many offices some clerks We're retained to
initiate their successors in the duties of
their positions. All the courtesies of ex-
change were given. The retiring officers
showered upon their successors congratu-
lations they did not feel. and the new
corners accepted well wishes with a pride
they could not hide.
At the noon hour the affairs of every
municipal department were moving
smoothly. 1t was remarked as an I'M
usual circumstance and a very creditable
one that the outgoing officials and their
deputies did not loot the great civic
building, as has been done at the close of
many administrations. Hitherto Ii has
been considered to be a sacred privilege
for retiring municipal employees to steal
everything that was not nailed. This year
the custom was not observed. In many
OF the offices, however, notably that of
the, Assessor, it was observed that very
little attention had been given to cleanli-
ness. Most Of the janitors, ii would ap-
pear, had occupied sinecures.
At o'clock in the afternoon the crowds
in the corridors deserted their post and
congregated in the chambers of the
Board of Supervisors. At 2 o'clock the
city government was to be transferred
formally to the new administration. The
great assembly hall of the Supervisors
was crowded to the doors. The main floor
presented maze Of expectant and dis
appointed faces, showing too clearly sthat
If some had won by the change of gov
eminent many had lost A turn of thx,
political wheel had thrown them into the
street, but they could not resist the
temptation to see how the other fellows
liked the change.
In the gallery Of the main chamber. in
the committee rooms and waiting apart
ments the crowds surged. Shortly after
2 o'clock the members of the retiring
ana lNCOulli6 DOdIuS, IOllOWeQ DY Judges,
department officers, clerks and invited
guests, filed into the assembly chamber
After brief ceremony and the presenta-
ton of credentials the. new board was in
stalled into office. 1t was not uninterest-
ing to watch the faces of the new mem
bers and to wonder which of them may
some day be pictured as the solid eight or
nine of the administration. In the retire.
rnent of the old board there were two
tache and DR.. Rottanzis public decara-
ton that he had been honest during his
term of office. That declaration pro-
voked a storm of laughter which the
Mayor made no attempt to suppress, as
he smiled himself.
After Clerk Russell had read the min
utes to himself for an hour Mayor Phelan
delivered his message. The document
was a voluminous and wel-written one
that dealt critically with subjects of the
highest concern to the municipality The
Mayor made many important recon-
1nendations, most of them dependent, he
declared, upon the charter for operation.