The San Francisco call., 1899-07-08
BUBONIC POLITICS.

THE CALL had hoped and almost expected that
provision would be made for a representative
municipal convention of the Republican party
this year; through which ticket would be presented
composed OF such independent, strong and unexcep-
tonabe Republicans that at the polls would
be overwhelming. 1t seemed that. with the new plan
of municipal government, to take effect January I,
1000 and with the transparent and exaggerated dea-
gogsm of Mayor Phelan and his most blatant sup
porters, a better opportunity to secure sound bus-
ness administration Of local affairs under Republican
auspices could not have been devised.
The disappointment we have so far experienced pro-
duces mingled regret and indignation. 1t is apparent
that the treacherous railroad attempt to turn the
municipality and the State over to the fusion Dem
ocracy which originated last year is under full head
OF steam The action Of the Republican County Com
mttee on Thursday night in adopting the blanket
plan of electing 800 delegates a municipal conven
ton demonstrates the ascendency in that body OF the
corrupt and monopolisc elements that the clean, in
teligent and manly Republicans of San Francisco are
pledged to repudate The dissoue political associa-
ton between William F. Herrin and Daniel M
Burns of which Kelly and Crimmns the figure
heads, took absolute control OF the committee and
impudcntly notified the community that in the NUM-
cpal contest the representative principle is to be ig
nored and that Republican citizens must smash party
dination.
There are eighteen Assembly districts in San Fran
cisco. It had been we'll understood that convention
Of 500 members with seventeen elected from each of
these districts would not only be completely repre-
sentative but would concentrate uncomfortable nelli-
genCe and judgment. William T. Herrin Daniel NJ.
Burns and the entire Kelly and Crimnlins contingen
have no machinery that would enable them to carry
eighteen separated primaries, all occurring at one
time That plan generally acquiesced in by the pub
lie and by the press would have produced an assem-
blage OF nominating Republicans unsurpassed in our
municipal history. 1t would have placed before the
voting mass of Our people the American conception
OF popular sovereignty contrasted with the auto
cratic methods of Mr. Phelan and his Committee OF
One Hundred.
But the vperous renegades who offer their party and
their country for sale day by day would rather die
from their stngs than submit to any rule OF or
dinary decency, and they could survive dose of
genuine Americanism. Therefore, they combined
their corrupt experience in deliberate effort to re-
duce the Republican Of the city to the grade
OF autOmatons or puppets. By selecting seventeen
in each Assembly district, aggregating them into
one ticket of 900 men and compelling every citizen
who participates in the primary for the whole
number they multiply the power OF their own de
graded tools and overcome the controlling repre-
sentative influence OF intelligence and OF TeSpeCtabI1ty
1t is in this way they propose to swamp education
and independence in the tenderloin and to establish
the local omnipotence of the vilest of raorous
corruptonists that infested metropolis contain
ing schools, churches and homes.
The Huntington monopoly and all the other vii
lanies associated with it bent upon enascuating
the charter they cannot udcially destroy Their
interference with Republican politics is of their
methods OF procedure. But they also have revenges
crafty for the defeats they have recently sustained
"Rule ruin" is their undertaking principle They
not merely claim their possession Of a local and
State despotism, but they the public to perceive
and acknowledge the claim and live in scared obedi-
ence to their demands.
The are not propitious for political rascality
this year The Call has expressed its strong desire for
a sound Republican administration of the municipal
government In this respect it has not stood alone
1t now again the corruptionists who appro-
priatey retained J. NJ. Chreen in their loving en-
brace that it will indorse this blanket scheme to
turn the Republican organization over to Mr. Hun
tington William F. Herrin Daniel NJ Burns and
Crimmins and Kelly, and that it will not support but
will vigorously oppose each and every nomination
that carries the faint ets the odor OF the railroad
monopoly the boss or the machine
We trust that some plan may yet be found to secure
a respectable convention and sound Republican
ticket and that the treachery of the railroad to the
Republican party may be frustrated, But time is
short and everything has end What is to be done
should be accomplished quickly