The San Francisco call., 1899-01-23
WAITING FOR THE BREAK
All Factions i'm the Senatorial
Fight Realize 1t Must Soon
Come, and All Express
Great Confidence.
BY HENRY JAMES.

/ into the light by his membership of the
same body. Both these men are for
Bulla, and while they may have de-
rived some joy from the dragging in of
| Grant, Cosper was dragged in himself,
and then witness reached out and
brought Bulla in, too. As a partial
| compensation, Burns has been subpe-
naed, as well as others supposed to
! know something about the expenditure
! OF the colonePs money. l suspect Mel
lick of dyspepsia
AS a member of the Assembly. La
Barre has said nothing. and as mem
! Der OF the committee, not much. but he
/ is at every meeting, is alertly attentive
and wants to know if 49, Grant money
went into his distric4 Grants man
ager said that money had gone there.
! and as La Barre is not accused of
knowing it. he is naturally curious to
find out who got it. La Barre is smooth
shaven and spectacled, with the air of
a scholar. Opposite him sit Burnette
and Sanford Burnette strikes me as
an able and earnest member. anxious
for the truth, and being a Populist and
Democratic combination he can get
into Republican muss without fear.
Sanford has the same advantages of
having no Republican candidate to
hurt, and all candidates seem to look
alike to him.
have been glad to speak well Of this
committee, only urging it once to raise
the temperature of it's feet. Then the
mercury did go up. OF course the ma
jority personally, would be glad to let
go. They cannot more than surmise
where they will be led. My belief is
that in the exploitation of the Speakers
disgraceful tactics, and the bringing of
that official into contempt the commit
tee accomplished nearly all its work
No WhiteWaSh could save Wright. AS
|
will resolve itself into a simple ques-
tion of Veracity, with the witnesses
about equal in number. Outsiders may
weigh the integrity of these witnesses;
for the committee to do so would re-
! qulre a degree of courage such as it
may not possess. If there is any way
! Of escape, however, from the charge
| that Cole wrote the letter Judge Clough
told about, and that its purpose was as
asserted by the Judge, 1 fail to see it.
However, if it can be proved that can
| didates have bribed or tried to bribe
| there will remain no course but to
throw them all out and select one
whose camp is not under suspicion.
! Yet If any of the factions are on the
verge of being terrorized into disin7
tegration they have still the nerve to
conceal their symptoms.
This has been quiet and restful
| day. The sun has been shining and the
politicians have been absent. Many Of
them went to the city last night.
have talked to-day with Grant men,
Bulla men and Burns men, and all of
them exhibit splendid faith. None of
the lot is ready to admit the possibility
or defeat. The Bulla followers depend
upon break which is certain to come,
the Grant men upon general principles,
the Burns men upon the fealty of their
adherentS, the caucus and the inevi-
table break which they say will be to
their advantage. All leave the Barnes
men out OF reckoning, although the
reason for this is not clear.
Much will depend upon the investiga-
ton. If it can be demonstrated that
money has been improperly used by
any candidate he might as well bank
his fires and go home. 1t must be re-
membered, however, that the verdict of
the committee, and not the verdict OF
the individual, will be the standard Of!
judgment II there is any gentleman
who is whittier than snow and who has,
Senatorial ambitions now is his time to
get in.
A local paper has seen fit to
jump all over me for having made
a mistake and then corrected it. I
expected some small soul to do this,
The mistake and the correction seem to
irritate about equally. AS a matter of
fact, when data has to be hastily gath
cred there is always the possibility Of
error, and the man who, finding him
d II
is, to express the truth mildly, a lunk-
head and an ass. The opinion alluded
to is as near immaterial to me as any
thing could be, but the buzzing of a
mosquito is annoying. When l arrive
at the high estate of being free from
mortal weakness it will be time to take
a pledge against declaring myself per-
feet. In the meantime, to the critic is
left the pleasing sense of perfection,
and upon it modesty forbids intrusion.
A Democrat said this afternoon that.
while his peo~le had expected to vote
for White to the end they were get.
ting so sick of the daily roll call with
the stereotyped result that he did not
know what would happen, but thought
some Democrats were weakening and
would throw few votes any time these
would be sufficient to end the contest
Toni0ht the situation seems to be
unchanged. The ballot tomorrow will
be the same as it has been; or I miss a
guess. Some startling testimony is ex-
pected before the investigating commit
tee, but it will fail to startle, or an
other guess is missed If Lamberson
a-~ears he is to tell whether Cosper
offered to support Grant for $4,000, but
the fact that the figure is placed so
high would, regardless of the principles.
of ANYBODY involved, tend to weaken
tie alteration.
Wright has not paid back the $3.50
he received. He said he had ordered 1t
paid several days ago. Perhaps the
wiref got crossed.
A number of bills not designed to pro-
| mote the welfare of the pubic purse
have been introduced. In the excite
ment of not choosing Senator these
| things ought not to be overlooked.