The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-02-13

geles has expressed considerable adj
miration for the plan of Mr.. MeEck,
but when questioned, he. refused to say
anything about his stand on caucus
matters. A number of other Bullaites,
however, are quite free. to say that the
plan is "a good one and that they Will
support it if an agreement to that eff
feet can. be reached. And for no OBJ
scure reason the present tail-enders in
the fight are General Barnes and Bulla..
Barnes polls eleven votes and Bulla
thirteen. Besides, Bu1la claims he will
fail heir to all but: one. of, the votes,
including the two for Bard; that are
at present being: cast for "hoaters. =
Likewise. men of the Bulla faction
modestly. claim: title to the greater
number of General Barnes; votes as
soon as he: shall have got through with
them. The little fellows, according to
the southrons figuring, would be froz-
EN-. stiff on the first ballot and would
then come over to him, all except
Brown of San Mateo, who is understood
to be inclined: to Barnes. Barnes. OF a
consequence, would be next to- go, and
with. the strength. that his demise would
give to Buila, the southerner would be
able to cope with some considerable
chance of success with the two leaders
Burns and Grant--particularly since
vote to either one of the latter, in the
face Of the disclosures that have been
made of their political methods, is not
accompanied with any degree of honor
or safety to- the man who casts 1T when.
he desires to go back to his home and
constituents.
Dan, Burns will go into anything from
a friendly talk to a. secret caucus. In.
fact, he has preached them all success
siVely since. he. came up here and has
not only preached but worked hard fol
the adoption of one plan or the other.
All. this talk Of caucus. to-day, ali this
apparent change, of sentiment and
Willingness for an. open. caucus, is sim
ply the. result Of his political skill and
faculty for Connubiating. From dawn
to nightfall his henchmen have
preached the doctrine of caucus. have
appealed for it as. a tradition honored
in the history of the party. Falling OF
the desired result, they have gone
about it. Indirectly; -.
= The big. shipper in the home town of
the legislator has beer appealed to;
little temptations in the way of freight
concessions held out to him. The
Southern Pacific ehirelings. combined
with the Burns tOuts,. have entreatedt
cajoled and Threatened and he has
wound up by. making a personal appeal
to the representative from his section:
Z. S. Grant; General Barnes and r.
n. Bulla are alive to the meaning and
purpose of the proposed party council,
and the indications are tonight that
the scheme. will fan as fiat as.'t the sham
mercantile. Endorsement which Burns
procured. in San. Francisco through the
agency. of Nose Gunst.. When it was
proposed that Republican local COM
mittees in all sections. of the. State
should meet and pass resolutions adVis-
ing Republican. members: of the LegiS-
lature to go into, caucus. Burns sup
hfa XKfOl win L1a Of fI,o
party organization, but when prompt
expression from the people came to the.
erect that no Senator at all would be
better than Burns the tOuts fell back
in depair, and complained that Herrin
was throwing them down." Now Her
rim comes to their rescue, and they are
loudly boasting that the battle is won.
Burns; in all his political experience,
never. encountered such q contest as the
one in which he is. now engaged. He
fancied at the: outset that he could win
with the hidden support of the rail-
road and the secret pressure Of the
party organizations. especially as he
was backed by Phil .Crimmins and
Martin Kelly but as the. fiftieth ballot
is about to. be taken he is no nearer
the winning mark than he was the day
that Wright and. .JilsOn betrayed their
cons utuents: =. The proposed caucus
scheme, which the railroad organs ,ad-'
NpIcrAS III. 'OlkOItSy' VII Gl4u I'll ldlluI6
as dismal as that which marked the
downfall of previous efforts to delude
the. members OF the Legislature.
Burns. cannot account for Ies failure
to advance his Voting. strength simply
because he has miscaileulated from the
beginning the force of public sentt-
ment The flatterers and ). parasites
surrounding him. do not. or dare not.
tell him the truth.
The assertion -prevfously~ma in The
Call that Grant would be willing to step
aside in order that Republican Sem
ator may be elected provided Burns
would agree .to%retire. is verified to-
night. There lis: no doubt that Grant
has so expressed himself Burns has.
however, accepted the concession for
the sake of harmony. I'M party as a
confession of Weakness upon Grants
part and redoubIed. his efforts to aug
ment his strength. The. chances now
are. that the Grant men will have no
moEe talks with: outsiders, but simply
line up with more.:detern1ination than
ever. and stay. until Burns is forced to
retire - 80 :. -.