The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-01-04
A BLIGHT NOW RESTS ON
THF ROOM OF RT1RNC

supporters. So it was that Burns, with
his army Of touts and healers from
San Francisco, came to Sacramento
with a great show of glad smiles and
a jingling of small change, secure i'll
the belief that the battle was won be-
fore the votes were counted and that
all that was left for them to do was
to wait until the proper moment to- do
the shouting.
1t was at this point that Burns ven
tured into the open and declared:
Il am a candidate for United States
Senator"
This was twenty-four h9urs ago. The
intervening hours since the announce
ment was made has not changed the
fact of his candidacy, but it has altered
its complexion. Men who were wiling
to be on friendly terms of intimacy
with him yesterday are to-day either
declaring their allegiance to other can
didates or processing their inability to
support the candidacy of Colonel
Burns.
Now that Burns has, by his declara
ton Of yesterday, dissolved all doubt, If
any existed, as to his intentions, there
is a scurrying of legislative feet such
as was not anticipated by either his
friends or his opponents. 1t would
seem that the consequences of as
Sociation with the Burns boom is
now looked upon as a badge of
corruption, and there are few who
care to leave public opinion and
court social and political ostracism
by lending support to the man who, as
an official of the State, was indicted on
twelve counts by the Grand Jury of this
county for fraudulently appropriating
the funds of the people of the State
which had been intrusted to his care.
There is blight on the Burns boom,
and a serious drought is threatened
among the heelers who live by his
smile.
Every resource within their reach is
being resorted to by the Burns men to
give an air of respectability to his cam
di lacy. The San Francisco Federal
brigade has been pressed into service
for this purpose. In this connection
there is a large-sized row brewing. A
majority of the Federal office holders
who had combined to support Burns
owe their present position on the pay
roll of the ederal Government to
United States Senator Perkins. It is
we'll known that Senator Perkins has
expressed himself as being opposed to
Burns candidacy. Unless the con-
spirators can succeed in electing Burns
there will he a new crop of Federal
office-holders in San Francisco within
the next ninety days. Knowing this to
De true, lHe HeIupeIS VI lHe FeueIdl
brigade are employing every artifice to
spread the belief among State legis-
lators that. they are in Sacramento in
the interest of Burns with the full con-
sent and approval of the administra-
ton at Washington So far as is known
this plan of campaign has so far been
without effect, but it is not unlikely
that it will bear fruit not at all in ac-
yordance with the desires of the men
who are engineering the scheme
The developments of to-day are not
the only surprises that are in store for
Colonel Burns. In spite of the fact that
he is making all possible use of the
friendship of Governor elect Gage, the
patronage of the State and the power
of the Southern Pacific Company, he
will find his name third on the list
when the votes are counted after the
first ballot next Tuesday.